The Arepa Stand in Mar Vista: Venice Blvd Bar Proposal

The Arepa Stand's new storefront on Venice Boulevard closes at 4 p.m. A different company, Good Standing Venice LLC, has asked Los Angeles City Planning for a full-liquor permit at the same address. In its slides for the Mar Vista Community Council, the company lists its hours as 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. If the permit goes through, one address in Mar Vista would run two businesses, one after the other. Right now the request is on hold with the city, and the neighborhood council hasn't decided whether to support it.

From a Sunday Stall to a Storefront

Most people in Mar Vista first ran into The Arepa Stand at the Sunday farmers market. According to the Westside Current, siblings Mercedes Rojas and Zeus Ferrini started the business at the Mar Vista Farmers Market in 2019, cooking recipes from their Venezuelan heritage. Their mother, Belinda, helped them get started, along with California farmers and friends. The business later added markets in Playa Vista, Torrance and Hollywood. Before the arepas, Rojas spent more than ten years in professional kitchens, including a stint as chef de cuisine at Lucques under Suzanne Goin.

On August 20, Yo! Venice reported that the business had soft-opened its first permanent location at 12906 Venice Blvd. Every arepa on the menu is named after a part of Los Angeles. The 405 has braised beef, black bean purée, fried plantains, cotija and cilantro. The Hills is a vegetarian mix of black bean purée, market greens, sofrito, plantains and avocado. The Cheester is built around queso de mano, a Venezuelan artisanal cheese. The current menu on the business's site also lists The Westsider, The East LA, The Red Queen and The Notti's.

The storefront didn't replace the market stall. The Arepa Stand's locations page lists the restaurant as open Tuesday through Sunday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., closed Mondays. It also lists the stand at the Mar Vista Farmers Market on Sundays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The market's food vendor roster still includes it. The market itself runs Sundays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Grand View and Venice Boulevard, just down the street from the new shop.

The Night Shift on Paper

The storefront is the daytime half. The nighttime half is in City Planning case ZA-2026-3205-ZV-CUB, filed June 23, 2026. The applicant is Good Standing Venice LLC, represented by FE Design & Consulting. The case asks for two things. The first is a Class 2 Conditional Use Permit to serve a full line of alcohol on site in a new 1,602-square-foot restaurant. The second is a zone variance so the business can operate with zero on-site parking spaces, where the code would normally require 10.

The September minutes of the council's Planning & Land Use Management committee describe the project as a "small cocktail bar located behind the Arepa Stand restaurant space," with "food service in partnership with Arepa Stand." The applicant's own presentation says The Arepa Stand would add no indoor seating. It also says Good Standing plans to serve zero-proof drinks alongside the full bar.

The size and hours aren't the same from one document to the next. Here is what each one says:

The case description on file with the city allows for longer hours and more seats than the plan shown to neighbors. A conditional use permit is the stage where hours and seat counts usually get pinned down as conditions, so which version ends up in the final permit matters. Every document agrees on a few things: no live music, no DJ or dancing, and no outdoor customer service.

The planning submittal also shows what the address used to be. It describes three areas: 706 square feet labeled as existing take-out restaurant and retail, 704 square feet of retail and 192 square feet of storage. Together they add up to exactly 1,602 square feet, the size of the proposed restaurant. The minutes list "conversion from take-out use to restaurant use" as part of the proposal. So the request would combine all three pieces of the building into one sit-down restaurant permit, not just add a bar to a counter.

What Came Up at the September Meeting

The project first went before the Mar Vista Community Council's PLUM committee on September 10. According to the minutes, neighbors who live next to the property and committee members raised four main topics:

• Parking. The applicant's parking study counted about 28 open spaces in the surrounding commercial area at peak hours. People also discussed using nearby lots, including possibly working something out with Venice High School's parking areas.
• The rear patio. Neighbors next door worried that a future operator could try to open the back patio to customers. The applicant repeated that outdoor service isn't part of this proposal.
• Noise. When neighbors asked about amplified sound, the applicant confirmed there would be no live entertainment and that everything would happen indoors.
• Trash. This got the most discussion. Neighbors described existing problems with dumpster pickup and access along Beethoven. They also asked what would happen if the current waste arrangements with neighboring properties changed. The applicant agreed the issue needed more study and a backup plan.

None of these four is about the arepas. They're all about the back of the building after dark, which shows where the two halves of the proposal differ. A take-out counter that closes at 4 p.m. and a bar that's open until 1 a.m. have very different effects on the alley, the curb and the dumpsters.

The meeting didn't end in a vote. The minutes say a motion was made but nobody seconded it, and the applicant agreed to come back and present again at the next PLUM meeting.

Where the Case Stands in October

The endorsement was back on the agenda for the PLUM meeting on Thursday, October 8. As of today, October 10, no record of that meeting's outcome has been posted. On the committee page, the link labeled as the October 8 minutes opens the September 10 document.

Here's what the public record shows right now:

1. City Planning. The case was assigned to a planner on July 31. It's marked "On Hold," it hasn't been accepted for review, and no hearing date has been set.
2. The full neighborhood council. The Mar Vista Community Council's Board of Directors meets October 22 from 7 to 9 p.m. The board's posted agendas don't go that far yet, so it's unconfirmed whether this case will be on it.
3. What a council vote does. A neighborhood council's position is advisory. The PLUM committee was considering whether to recommend that the board support the project. The applicant's slides asked the committee to "forward support to the MVCC Board." Whether to grant the permit and the variance is up to the city.

For anyone who wants to weigh in, the best places are the council's committee and board meetings, plus a City Planning hearing once one is scheduled. Questions about patios, hours and trash pickup get put on the record at those meetings.

What Runs Either Way

The daytime half doesn't depend on any of this. The arepa counter's listed hours of 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday, have nothing to do with the liquor case. The Sunday stall at Grand View and Venice is still on The Arepa Stand's schedule. So if you know these arepas from the market line, you can still get them on Sundays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. On the other days of the week, the counter is a short walk up the boulevard.

Later this month, the Mar Vista Community Council is promoting PorchFest LA in Mar Vista and Culver City on October 24 and 25, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. It's free live music on front porches and driveways, and the council's post invited residents to sign up as performers, hosts or volunteers. Four days earlier, on October 22, the Board of Directors meets.

If you're watching how this stretch of Venice Boulevard changes, or you're curious what a use change like the one at 12906 could mean for the block around your home, I'm glad to walk you through how these permits get decided and what a pending case can tell you. Brooke Bryant follows Mar Vista's corridors closely. Let's Connect.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.