NRPLUS MEMBER ARTICLE

F
irst they cut the electricity, so the Tinhorn Flats employees hooked up generators.

Next, city officials padlocked the doors. Employees used saws to cut them off.

When the city finally erected a chain-link fence around the Burbank, Calif., bar and grill this spring, Baret Lepejian’s son, Lucas, set up a food truck outside.

For months, when state and city leaders ordered all California bars and restaurants closed during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, Tinhorn Flats opened. For people with COVID-19 fatigue, the cowboy bar with swinging saloon doors became a refuge.

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But with California finally set to fully reopen by mid-June, Tinhorn Flats …