A few complaints serve to block a proposed live music venue in downtown Pacific Grove.

Michaela Kuenster has plans to open a music venue with alcohol sales in downtown Pacific Grove, but already the protests have begun, typical of the town where a small but loud cadre of residents oppose most everything new. Her use permit was appealed by one resident on Aug. 11 and others filed a complaint with the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC). Kuenster feels like she’s living in the fictional town of Bomont from the 1984 film Footloose, in which Kevin Bacon’s character fights the town leaders who outlawed dancing.

“We’re living in the town of Footloose, but I’m about to ‘Kevin Bacon’ it,” Kuenster says.

The music on her first Instagram post for her proposed record store and live music venue, Pop and Hiss, is the movie’s theme song by Kenny Loggins. (She named the business for the imperfect sounds one hears on old records or cassette tapes. “It sounds a little gritty, a little unclean,” she says.)

She’s proposing to turn the former space of a silk screening shop at 215 Forest Ave. into a record store, with a live music space and bar in the back of the building facing 220 Grand Ave. The parking lot of the shop will be used for outdoor seating with a food trailer. It’s a dream the piano teacher has had for a while. Then early this year, the building she’d been eyeing became available, as well as a new type of liquor license available exclusively for music venues, thanks to a rule that went into effect on Jan. 1.

The license, a Type 90, was so new that the agents at the Salinas ABC office weren’t sure how to process it at first. Kuenster was the first in Monterey County to apply for it. The license allows live music venues to have a full bar without the sale of food; minors are allowed on premises. P.G. code doesn’t exactly address Kuenster’s plans, but Community Development Director Anastacia Wyatt issued a conditional administrative use permit on July 17, finding that alcohol sales are allowed in the downtown commercial district. Conditions include no food or alcohol between the hours of midnight-7am, and decibel limits on music indoors and outdoors, with no outdoor music after 10pm.

Loud music late into the night isn’t in Kuesnter’s plans, she says. She envisions more of an acoustic music venue for all ages, where up-and-coming musicians have a place to play, including her own students at the Pacific Grove Arts Center. She believes the family-friendly space will bring a new activity to P.G. “The kids that come in [to piano lessons] are desperate for something to do,” she says. “I don’t understand why there’s such resistance.”

The first test for Pop and Hiss comes in an administrative zoning hearing at 10am Monday, Aug. 21, in the P.G. council chambers. Should Kuenster prevail, objectors could appeal to the Planning Commission and later City Council, which could push back opening beyond her intended October start date. She’s waiting to hear from the ABC on the status of the protest. If it’s found to have merit, it could take from six to 18 months to secure the liquor license.