Huset - Your Home For Scandinavian Design In Venice

I love Huset. I've loved Huset since even before they opened, so it was high time I finally sat down with its owner, Holly Hallberg, and talked about how great it is to have a place for Scandinavian design (and treats) right here in Venice on Abbot Kinney!

Now, I'm 100% purebred Norwegian, and there are certain traditions that go along with that. I host a Christmas Glögg party every year, and I like to wear a little something that makes me look even more Viking. One year I was searching online for just the right frock for that year's shindig, and came upon a website called "Huset" (meaning "Home" in Swedish). Every single thing was adorable. I noticed that the site was based out of Malibu, California, so included an invitation to the owner to join us for glögg if she was able, and that's how I met Holly Hallberg.

Hallberg was unable to join in the festivities that year, but we kept in touch online, and in 2010, I received the good news that she was going to open a physical store on Abbot Kinney! We met in person, and Hallberg was just as lovely in real life, and it's been a true delight to see her store - and herself - thrive here in Venice.

A native Californian, Hallberg grew up with designer parents, so that aesthetic was in her blood. While working in the film industry in the sound department, she met her Swedish husband, Per Hallberg (an Oscar winning sound editor), and was soon an honorary Swede (but I still like her. That joke is for the Norwegians). Spending a lot of time in Sweden led Hallberg to wonder why there was no real great spot to get all the wonderful Scandinavian goods available over there, here in the U.S., and set out to do something about it. Huset was born online in 2007, and Hallberg has been procuring gorgeous, beautifully made Nordic items - from candy to fashion to housewares - ever since.

Abbot Kinney was always the spot that Hallberg envisioned for her store, and when the former maternity store (the name escapes me right now) space opened up, Hallberg leaped at the opportunity. Her dad did the build out for her, and the beautiful space was soon open for business, with all the Scandinavian flags represented in this destination for goods from the (my) old country.

"I felt like we would be appreciated here," Hallberg told me, correctly. "Abbot Kinney had a good vibe, it fit our demographic, and I wanted to create a full Scandinavian experience for both the locals and tourists." To transport everyone to the nations that always come in first in the happiness polls (and educate them), Hallberg spins Scandinavian music playlists, you are welcomed in by birch trees and blondes speaking Swedish, the air smells great from the scented Nordic candles, and you can taste the same candies that kids of all ages eat up all over Northern Europe (with extra special treats available on the weekends!).

The sweets section was really amped up when Hallberg expanded her store's space late last year, and Huset is one of the only places you can find the loose, bulk candy that is so beloved - and so good! - by anyone who grew up with it. In fact, I offered some to my Danish friend, Tim, last night at the VNC meeting, and he already had some in his pocket! Good stuff.

As Abbot Kinney rents remain ridiculous, Hallberg invited her friend, Anthony, to open up a shop within a shop (as is done all over Europe), and The Mac Studio opened up for business in the back of Huset when she expanded. Not to be confused with the makeup store, The Mac Studio is your place in Venice to get your Mac items fixed. You can bring in your computer or phone or Ipad for repairs, service, data recovery, education, or whatever it needs, all without waiting forever for one of the "geniuses" to help you at the Apple store in a mall. Fast, reasonable, awesome. Put this info in your back pocket for the next time your tech goes nuts and stroll on over!

Hallberg loves Venice, and recently got an apartment in town, because Malibu doesn't have the same vibes as Venice does ... or the Huset store! "Venice is special. No other beach city has what Venice has, and we need to protect it." She's speaking my language (which is good, because I don't speak Swedish). If you've been in Venice for any decent amount of time, you know what we're talking about. Venice has been like a sanctuary, with an invisible moat around it, protecting it from lameness and closed minds and Republicans (often one in the same) since its inception, and YES, we need to protect that. You know. Hallberg explains, "Venice has its highs and lows, but that mix is what makes it cool. We're not Beverly Hills, and we're not deep Compton, we're somewhere in between. I love the eccentricity." And I love her for loving it.

There's truly something for everyone at Huset, where the whole family can shop together. Mom will love the beautiful clothes and household goods, Dad will dig all the new items for men that are coming in (think knives, cool accessories, Viking needs), and there are a zillion darling things (THE cutest clothes ever) for kids - plus all that candy. There's also something for every price point, from real expensive Scandinavian designed furniture and centerpieces to a marble eraser from Denmark for 50 cents (plus all that candy!).

LA Magazine voted Huset the "Friendliest store in L.A." a few years back, and Hallberg is very proud of that. She makes sure that Huset embodies the Danish concept of "Hygge" (cozy and charming living) and "Fika", the Swedish word for a cozy coffee break, and soon you begin to understand just why those countries have such a high quality of life (and clean up at the Olympics! Go Norway!!!) I asked Hallberg what her most favorite item in the store was, and without hesitation she walked me over to a basket full of sheepskins called "Gotlan". They are the coziest things imaginable, and Hallberg knows the very farmer that makes them. As cold as it was in Venice yesterday, this is just the right thing for your chilly, starry nights by the fire. Hygge!

Hallberg's own Venice go-to's are getting her coffee from Menotti's, and her gifts from another design wonder shop, Tortoise (who I also still have to sit down with and learn their tale). The merchants of Venice are all great about shouting out the places that they love and support, and that gives me some hope that there is still a grass rootsy aspect to our dear Venice. And, as almost all of my interviewees say at some point, that Community is also vital to Hallberg, and why she chose to work and now live within that spirit. And - again - to protect it.

Viking friends (or "Scandophiles" as Hallberg refers to herself), there are weekly arrivals of fantastic pieces coming to Huset from Europe, so there is always something new to discover when you stop in for your own dose of hygge.

SKOL to Holly's Huset!

Huset is open every day from 11-7.
1316 Abbot Kinney
Venice
#424-268-42143


The Mac Studio
#855-622-3497

A Holiday Medley And A Happy New Year!

Things were so crazy before I left for the holidays that I never got to say THANK YOU/TUSEN TAKK to all the fun folks who came out for Glögg Fest 2015! We ate, drank, and were merry, and it was the perfect send-off for my time back home in the Minnesota snow globe.

Only there was no snow in the snow globe. It looked like Tim Burton Christmas when I landed in Minneapolis, and jackets weren't really even necessary when we had our family dinner at Murray's a couple of nights before Christmas. Everyone in Minnesota seemed pretty happy about this ... I was not. Minnesota is not supposed to be brown in December. Sorry.

We did all the usual running around leading up to Christmas ... shopping, meeting up with friends, seeing Star Wars, taking in a Minnesota Wild game with the Nelsons ... all the usual good kind of madness. It was nice then, to take a moment to appreciate the silent and calm night when we finally sat down for the Christmas Eve service at Mindekirken. It was so beautiful that I cried and could barely sing ... as usual.

Christmas Day found us enjoying the fun and chaos of Christmas at the Hendrickson's, where it was a joy to catch up with everyone, and see how much bigger the kids had grown. We had a Christmas miracle when we got just about everyone gathered around at once to take our Spartan Christmas photo! Always a classic ...

The party went pretty late on Christmas night, late enough for us all to see it begin to snow, and I mean SNOW! It continued on all night long, and the barren trees were quickly transformed into branches of confectioner's sugar, all sparkling and perfectly white. I was so happy I couldn't contain myself, and my brother Paul and I soon realized that we had to stay up all night long, walking around in it all. Bur first, we had to get our Mom outside to take photos of her with the snowstorm swirling around her. Because, of course!

We're very lucky that our Mom is such a good sport. The kind of Mom that not only thinks it's great that you're out capturing beauty in the middle of the night, but will have hot chocolate waiting for you to warm up with.

Brother P and I both agree that it was one of the best walks of our entire lives ... all flawless perfection, surrounded with the kind of silence that only comes with a true snowfall. Magic.

I raced around doing all the holiday in Minnesota greatest hits ... Fa la lattes at Caribou with friends, a birthday skating party at The Depot for Kate ...

... A Vikings game watched with leftovers and best friends ... a visit to the Walker for the great Hippie Modernism show (where you could lie in hammocks and listen to Hendrix!).

I decided to stay in Minnesota for New Year's Eve this year, without even a hint of a plan. For years I've been hearing about how Woodlake Nature Center lines the winter pathways with luminarias on New Year's Eve, for people to ski, snowshoe, and walk around the candlelit nature and reflect on the year behind and to come (that's what I wanted to do, anyway), and I was all over that.

It was so beautiful you almost couldn't stand it ... but it was also super, extra cold, and I for sure couldn't stand that. We didn't make it all the way around, but long enough to appreciate how gorgeous it was outside, and how good it would feel when we got back inside.

Inside was a wonderful crab legs dinner at my dear friends', The Krsniks, house. Everything was absolutely perfect ... best friends, delicious food, wine flowing ... and then a horrible feeling of nausea passed over me at the same time a burning sensation began in my throat. Oh, NO! All the putting off of a cold I'd been doing before the holidays had finally caught up with me. I was in bed by 10:30 pm on New Year's Eve. Great.

My Mom got me up to see the ball drop. I nodded, said a muted "Happy New Year!" and was right back in bed. I flew back all super sick, and just today have ventured outside of my room for the first time (reluctantly, but work calls). It wasn't my ideal way to start a new year, but I'm not mad. It's all uphill from here!

I have mad library books to read (and books to write!) so it was all good, especially when I saw a lovely first sunset outside my sickbed window.

I might say this every year, but I really have a good feeling about 2016. Sweet '16! Oh, the stories we'll tell! Fittingly, my horoscope this morning contained a quote, "No one else sees the world the way you do, so no one else can tell the stories that you have to tell." - Charles de Lint

Exactly. Looking forward to sharing them all with you in this exceptional new year. CHEERS to us all, everywhere! Happiest New Year.

Glogg Fest 2010!

Glogg Fest 2010! It was a dark and stormy night in Venice, California on Monday, but spirits were high, and warmth was yours the minute you walked in the door. For the uninitiated, Glogg (Scandinavian mulled wine) Fest was something I started a bunch of years back (I lost track and have to look it up, but I'm not attached to numbers ... ask my former math teachers) to share my Norwegian family traditions, and get my friends all smashed together with holiday cheer before we scatter around the world for the holidays.


It has grown in size and legend (one friend asked me in October what day it would be this year so she could take the next day off - ha!) over the years, but the crucial elements of coziness and friendship are what I believe makes it fun, and perhaps even a holiday staple for some by now.

There was a change in venue this year to my brother, Paul's, house, as, well, I got new carpeting and it's a maroon beverage. He also has a fresh rooftop deck that was bedecked for the season with all sorts of bright lights - that unfortunately shorted out in the pouring rain. That same storm forced us all to remain inside, roof-less, but that just made it all the warmer. I thought people might blow it off as it was on a busy holiday Monday in a downpour (Glogg does not compete with other holiday jams, which is why it's not on a weekend night), but nope! Some came on bikes in rain ponchos, holding umbrellas. Some walked. Some took cabs. Some actually found parking near the beach! Even Knuckles, the funniest dog in Venice, came out for some holiday belly rubs and adoration.


Each year, my dear friend Brigette and I bake hundreds of cookies, in a now 15 (!) year tradition. We give them away to our friends and colleagues, and then what's left become the treats for the Glogg Fest.


This year, the lefse (Norwegian tortilla type thing made out of mashed potatoes) for the party arrived on my doorstep from Minnesota just a couple of hours before tip-off! Very perfect.


It was appropriate that we were all drinking the Viking beverage, as our beloved football Vikings were playing this night in Minnesota OUTSIDE for the first time in like 29 years, after the Metrodome collapsed under heavy snow a couple of weeks ago. They lost, but we won, each time a glass was refilled and SKOL!!! was yelled, with increasingly more gusto. Viking style.


Hugs, kisses, Christmas carols on the hi-fi, holiday sweaters, cookie crumbs in beards ... all made for a warm feeling as we ultimately departed back into the dark night, (where somewhere buried in the clouds, a lunar eclipse was going down - another reason the rooftop would have been radical, alas) unless that feeling was actually a buzz ... but still.


Every time I glanced around from my post ladling the steamy Christmas potion into another cup, I could only beam at the fun and revelry swirling all around me. THAT is the point after all ... not the stress, not the stuff, not that there's one poor guy working at the Venice P.O. on the busiest shipping day of the year, not telling people what you want for a gift ... it's KNOWING that you already have such unbelievable gifts in your life, and recognizing that with fierce gratitude. Every single day, but especially now.


We came together to share and celebrate our warmth, laughter, friendship and love ... and wrap up another year feeling super blessed to have each other in this crazy world.


TUSEN TAKK! SKOL!! GOD JUL!!! ... To you and yours!