Josiah Citrin, the proprietor and chef of a Santa Monica restaurant with two Michelin stars, opened a brand new steakhouse a number of months in the past off the Sundown Strip. He’s already involved about whether or not the restaurant can survive.

The explanation, Mr. Citrin mentioned, is singular: a West Hollywood metropolis mandate that staff be paid at the least $19.08 an hour, the very best minimal wage within the nation.

“It’s very difficult,” Mr. Citrin, 55, mentioned of the brand new minimal wage, which took impact about two weeks earlier than he opened his doorways in July. “Actually, it’s nearly inconceivable to function.”

His sentiment is extensively shared amongst enterprise homeowners in West Hollywood, a metropolis of 35,000 identified for eating places, boutiques and progressive politics. In current weeks, many homeowners have written to lawmakers, pleading for a moratorium on additional will increase to the minimal wage; another is scheduled for July, primarily based on inflation. And final month, a number of marched to a neighborhood authorities constructing carrying indicators that learn, “My WeHo” and “R.I.P. Eating places in West Hollywood.”

Their sense of duress arises partly from geography. The jaggedly formed metropolis is bordered by Beverly Hills to the west and Los Angeles to the north, south and east. Some streets start in Los Angeles, slice by way of West Hollywood and finish in Beverly Hills. You may be in three cities — barring, in fact, visitors — in a matter of minutes.

And meaning West Hollywood’s small companies have opponents down the road with decrease prices.

Past elevating the minimal wage, the West Hollywood ordinance, which the Metropolis Council authorised in 2021, requires that every one full-time workers obtain at the least 96 hours a 12 months of paid time without work for sick depart, trip or different private requirements, in addition to 80 hours that they will take off with out pay.

The State of California’s hourly minimal wage is $15.50, the third highest in the nation, trailing solely the District of Columbia at $17 and Washington State at $15.74. However simply as every state’s minimal wage can supersede the federal minimal of $7.25 an hour, greater than two dozen cities throughout California, together with West Hollywood and several other within the Bay Space, have increased minimal wages than the state, in response to the Financial Coverage Institute, a nonpartisan suppose tank.

In San Francisco, it’s $18.07; in Los Angeles, $16.78.

Chris Tilly, a professor on the College of California, Los Angeles, who research labor markets and public insurance policies that form the office, mentioned analysis had proven that gradual and reasonable will increase to the minimal wage had no important affect on employment ranges.

“The declare that minimal wage will increase are job-killers is overblown,” Mr. Tilly mentioned. However “there are doable downsides,” he added. “One is that financial idea tells us an excessively massive improve within the minimal is sure to discourage companies from hiring.”

Over the previous 12 months, staff in a number of California industries have seen important pay raises due, in lots of situations, to wins by organized labor. Well being care staff at Kaiser Permanente services secured a contract that features a $25-an-hour minimal wage within the state. Quick meals staff throughout the state will quickly make a minimal wage of $20 per hour, and resort staff have obtained important pay bumps throughout Southern California.

Till lately, West Hollywood adopted the state’s minimal wage will increase, which have risen yearly since 2017, typically by a greenback at a time. However that modified with the brand new ordinance, which included a collection of will increase.

Genevieve Morrill, president of the West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, mentioned that whereas her group wished staff to earn a dwelling wage in an more and more costly a part of the nation, she felt that the ordinance had achieved extra to harm staff, who’ve misplaced hours or, in some instances, their jobs after locations have shuttered.

Across the time the current wage bump took impact, Ms. Morrill helped greater than 50 native companies, together with Mr. Citrin’s restaurant, write a letter to the Metropolis Council outlining their issues. They referred to as for a moratorium on additional minimal wage will increase by way of 2025 or till the speed aligns with the Los Angeles charge. In addition they requested that the town roll again the mandated paid time-off coverage.

West Hollywood, which was included in 1984, was the primary metropolis within the nation to have a Metropolis Council with a majority of members who had been brazenly homosexual. It has promoted itself as “a pacesetter in lots of important social actions,” together with, amongst different issues, advocacy for H.I.V. causes, reasonably priced housing and ladies’s rights, in response to a submit on the town’s web site.

While you stroll alongside Santa Monica Boulevard, which cuts by way of the middle of this metropolis, a bustling vitality fills the sidewalks. A number of residents are catching up with cellphone calls whereas out strolling their canine, and others are grabbing a latte or strolling by way of an artwork gallery. Individuals are doing calisthenics in a park. At night time, the town’s vibrant bar and restaurant scene brings a buzz.

Mayor Sepi Shyne, who was sworn on this 12 months, mentioned companies had lengthy been part of the material of the neighborhood.

“Our companies are additionally the spine of help for staff: Lifting staff with honest pay is a part of securing financial justice and a brighter future for everybody,” mentioned Ms. Shyne, who helps the minimal wage ordinance however mentioned she was critically listening to resistance from the enterprise neighborhood.

Final month, the Metropolis Council, of which Ms. Shyne is a member, authorised about $2.8 million in waivers, credit and advertising and marketing {dollars} to assist the enterprise neighborhood. The Metropolis Council, she mentioned, has additionally directed employees members to get suggestions from staff in regards to the impact of paid time without work.

A significant supporter of the ordinance was UNITE HERE Native 11, which represents 30,000 staff at accommodations and eating places throughout Southern California.

Kurt Petersen, co-president of the native, mentioned West Hollywood was setting a typical that needs to be replicated throughout California and the nation. “It has raised dwelling requirements and given staff the safety of paid time without work,” he mentioned.

Close to the intersection of Santa Monica and La Cienega Boulevards, Paul Leonard plans to open a location for his pet grooming enterprise, Collar & Comb. He has operated at different areas, a number of blocks away in Los Angeles, since 2019. The preferred service, Mr. Leonard mentioned, is a full-spectrum specialty groom for canine underneath 20 kilos at $166.

In an interview, Mr. Leonard mentioned he was not involved in regards to the minimal wage as a result of he paid his groomers at the least $23 an hour.

“All the things goes up, and so ought to wages,” he mentioned.

Steve Lococo, who has been part of the enterprise neighborhood for many years, mentioned small-business homeowners “have under no circumstances been heard” during the last two years in West Hollywood. He has raised costs — a median haircut, beforehand $150, is now $195 — and his enterprise, B2V Salon, which he co-owns with Alberto Borrelli, has reduce to 5 workers from 9. Firstly of the brand new 12 months, Mr. Lococo mentioned, the salon will assess staffing once more.

“There have to be modifications to this ordinance,” he mentioned. “These days, it’s identical to, you’re feeling as when you have no say as a enterprise proprietor in how issues are achieved within the metropolis.”

In the meantime, Mr. Citrin, who has run eating places within the Los Angeles space for greater than 25 years, mentioned the employees at his West Hollywood restaurant, Charcoal Sundown, which makes a speciality of prime cuts of meat, had fallen to 35 from round 50.

At high-end eating places like his, Mr. Citrin famous, servers typically make good cash — generally greater than $50 an hour when ideas are included, he mentioned. Most nights, his West Hollywood restaurant makes income similar to what his Los Angeles and Santa Monica eating places usher in, however his overhead prices are increased in West Hollywood. For now, he mentioned, he’s uncertain of his future within the metropolis.

He typically wonders if it’s simpler to easily concentrate on his eating places elsewhere within the space.

“That’s one thing I have to reply within the coming months,” he mentioned.