SAN MARCOS -- A businessman is voicing frustration after his attempts to host classic car shows at his year-old Mission Road restaurant ran into a pricey city roadblock.

A San Marcos spokeswoman said Demetrios James Kefallinos made the mistake of not telling the city about his plans for the shows before he opened the Money Pit.

However, Kefallinos said he did tell city planning employees about his plans, only to see them shrugged off until he held two car shows.

His restaurant occupies a former bank building on the corner of Mission Road and Bennett Avenue. Vacant for years before Kefallinos signed a long-term lease for it in 2007, the freestanding building is part of an aging and partially empty shopping center tucked under an overpass near Highway 78's juncture with Nordahl Road.

The center is anchored by a Stater Bros. grocery store. Kefallinos said last week that he spent about $500,000 clearing the old bank building of debris, rats and cockroaches, decorating the interior and landscaping the exterior before the Money Pit opened.

The restaurant's decor revolves around a bank theme, and the former occupant's vault door stands embedded in the floor inside the Money Pit.

Kefallinos said he paid about $10,000 in city fees before the restaurant opened, including $3,000 for a conditional use permit and $5,000 for traffic cameras yet to be installed at the intersection by his restaurant.

After it opened, the Money Pit -- which serves burgers, healthy wraps and other American-style fare from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily -- quickly began attracting customers. Kefallinos said many of them have praised him for improving the shopping center.

He and Riverside car-show organizers Gary and Carolyn Ewing began holding monthly car shows in the center's parking lot in December.

Each of the two shows attracted several dozen classic car owners and their vehicles, plus dozens of passersby who stopped to look at the cars, Kefallinos and Carolyn Ewing said.

They were forced to halt the shows in February, though, after the city told Kefallinos he needed an $1,800 special-events permit to continue the events.

The Money Pit owner said that he normally would see such a fee as a good investment for his business. However, the charge is objectionable this time, he said, because the city is requiring him to go through the entire conditional use permit process again -- including a public hearing like one held before the Money Pit opened.

The public hearing would give nearby businesses and residents a chance to object to potential noise, crowds and other issues related to the car shows.

City spokeswoman Jenny Peterson said the shows would have been factored into Money Pit's original permit if city officials had known about the car shows from the start.

"They didn't indicate (their plans) to us," she said. "So I'm not sure why they're telling you that. It's not accurate from our perspective. …. It wasn't until they were open and operational that they started holding these car shows, at which point they were cited for operating without a permit."

A nearby restaurant, Dalton's Road House on Nordahl Road, has held its own monthly car shows for years. Dalton's owner Marty Ewart said he did not obtain a permit for those events.

He recently applied for one, though, after city officials told he needed to do so, he said.

"It's something that nobody's ever said anything about," Ewart said. "But now that it's been brought up …"

Carolyn Ewing said she and her husband, who is a disc jockey at shows the couple organize, had been arranging the events in other Southern California counties for "many, many years" before teaming up with Kefallinos. During that time, the couple has never had to get a city permit, Ewing said, adding that other communities seem to welcome the events.

"The whole thing is, the cars don't just come and sit there," she said. "They're bringing revenue to the city. I mean, each time Gary and I have been down there, we stopped and got gas before we came home. And we've eaten at the restaurants. I've even shopped at the market that's there (in the San Marcos center)."

Kefallinos, who owned and operated seven restaurants in various Southern California cities before moving to Carlsbad two years ago, said he hopes to persuade city officials to give the Money Pit a break, given its contributions to San Marcos.

"I think, in this economy, the city should embrace businesses -- not make it hard for you to be viable," he said. "You have to be nice to them, not give them the runaround and things."

Contact staff writer Andrea Moss at (760) 739-6654 or amoss@nctimes.com.