BAR ROBBERIES LEAVE VICTIMS RATTLED.

Byline: Lisa Van Proyen Daily News Staff Writer

As gunmen held guns to their heads, threatening to kill the bartender and patrons at the Jolly Sailor pub, P.J., a longtime bar regular, thought her life was over.

``I'm dead. That's all I could think, I'm dead,'' P.J., who declined to give her full name in fear of retaliation, said Tuesday.

When the ordeal was over, the employees and customers had been roughed up and robbed in one of a rash of takeover bar robberies in the Reseda area during the past month, Los Angeles Police Department detectives said. At least four have been held up in that time, police said.

The masked gunmen apparently target neighborhood bars, where they point guns at patrons while stripping them of their property, said Detective Bert Luper of the Los Angeles Police Department's Robbery Special Section unit.

The most recent incident was at the White Oak Inn bar at 1:45 a.m. Tuesday in the 17700 block of Saticoy Street in Reseda. Five gunmen stormed into the tavern and rifled through 14 customers' pockets before kicking in doors and raiding cash registers, Luper said.

In a bar robbery last week, Copper Bucket cocktail lounge owner Russell Yeager said gunmen terrified employees and customers at 1:15 a.m.

The Instant Replay bar in the 21900 block of Saticoy Street in Canoga Park was hit about three weeks ago, police said.

No serious injuries were reported in any of the takeovers, Luper said. But the incidents are traumatizing customers and employees.

``It was the scariest thing in my life. I wouldn't want anybody to go through it,'' said one Jolly Sailor victim, who said a robber aimed a gun at her head during the 1:45 a.m. robbery Sept. 13.

Customers and employees are still shaken by the incident, Jolly Sailor owner Clive Morris said Tuesday.

P.J. said she walked out of the bar's restroom earlier this week, just as a customer clapped his hands.

``My eyes went in and out like Roger Rabbit. I get scared. I'm on pins and needles. Each time I close my eyes, I see them,'' P.J. said.

Police say bars are easy targets - especially, just before closing, when a majority of the hits have occurred - because most patrons are inebriated and cash registers are full.

``I think when people have been drinking, they are not as quick to react and therefore they become more vulnerable,'' Luper said.

At the Jolly Sailor on Sherman Way in Reseda, a male customer tried to tackle one of the gunmen, but the gunman pushed him against the wall. Another robber told his counterpart to shoot the customer, witnesses said.

``I just kept thinking, Please don't shoot near me,'' one witness said.

Shots were not fired in any of the incidents, police said.

Another victim tried to call 911 on the pay phone during the ordeal and also was thrown against a wall by one of the gunmen, P.J. said.

Some of the bars, including the Jolly Sailor, now plan to close earlier in the night until the robbers are caught, Morris said.

``What else can I do?'' Morris asked. ``My customers and my bartender are more important than making a couple bucks.''