A comedian has turned the growing number of business closures on Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade into a viral drinking game. Harrison Baum shared a video on Instagram documenting his experience taking a sip of beer for each establishment that has recently shuttered its doors on the once-thriving street.
Baum's video shows him standing in front of closed businesses and consuming 38 sips of beer, reflecting the same number of closures. During the video, he questions the sustainability of the remaining businesses, noting the significant number of empty storefronts. "There are a lot of people here, do you think they’ll be able to sustain business?" he is heard asking.
The Third Street Promenade, a prominent Los Angeles attraction in the early 2000s, has seen a significant decline, with major retailers like Old Navy, Gap, and H&M, as well as the AMC theater, vacating the area. The Britannia Pub, a fixture on Santa Monica Boulevard for three decades, is also slated to close at the end of July, to be replaced by a Taco Bell Cantina. The Misfit Bar and Restaurant closed in April after a 15-year run.
Sources suggest that a combination of factors, including rising rents and concerns over safety, homelessness, and crime, have contributed to the promenade's decline. Publicist Michael Levine, author of "Broken Windows, Broken Business," described the situation as "heartbreaking." He stated that "tolerating small signs of disorder—graffiti, loitering, unchecked vagrancy—you send a signal. And people respond to signals. Customers go elsewhere. Businesses close. Investors retreat."
IMAGE1: ![People walk past multiple empty retail spaces with "Retail For Lease" signs in Santa Monica, California.]( "People walk past multiple empty retail spaces with "Retail For Lease" signs in Santa Monica, California.")