Windward Juice - Serving Juice In The Alley

Some of the best things about Venice are its hidden treasures. It's always a treat to turn a corner and be delighted by something unexpected ... something special ... something great. So it was when I walked down the alley behind Windward and discovered Windward Juice.

I'll be honest, I was tipped off. Windward Juice is in the back of Animal House, and owner Ronny Kleyweg is one of my all time Venice favorites. He had some space in the back of the shop, back where they store all the Vans, and he thought, "Why not turn this into a juice shop?" Because, why not? Juice is delicious. Alleys are cool. Bam.

The little door in the alley looks like you could be anywhere in Europe, all brick and charming. There are little shelves that detach and go in for the night, and in case they're hustling up front, there's a little button to "Press For Juice". Get it?

We made our first stop on fourth of July, and it was such a calm reprieve from the madhouse of the beach and Boardwalk back there in the alley, sipping on juice with my friends. I got the "Quench", which was watermelon, mint and lime - perfect for the Summer holiday. Delish. All the juices are locally made by Clover Juices.

All the good vibes are also locally made. Get in there and get yours!

Windward Juice
66 Windward Court/Animal House
310-392-5411


They open at 8 am!

All Hail The Hatchet Hall!

The wait is over ... Hatchet Hall opens tomorrow! We celebrated that fact over the holiday weekend with a friends and family dinner that was one for the ages. We ate. We drank. And there was no way to not be merry.

Co-owners Louie and Netty Ryan (of Temple Bar, Townhouse, Menotti's fame), and Owners/partners from the beginning, Jonathan Strader and Chef Brian Dunsmoor took over the old Waterloo & City space, and it has been beautifully transformed into the place that we're going to constantly be hanging out at. I was in there just about a month ago when it was completely gutted inside, and the incredible amount of hard work, elbow grease, and evident labor of love that has happened is truly impressive. The place is simply gorgeous.

From the airy entrance and outdoor patio that greets you, all the way to the back bar (our new headquarters) where the wooden walls and floors are so cozy and inviting, you will never want to leave. And that's without even talking about the food yet.

The FOOD. Chef Brian Dunsmoor is back with his Southern home cooking, and it's seriously ridiculous. Plate after plate of delights would show up, and disappear before I could even do that foodie take a picture of your food thing. We ate so many perfect and delicious oysters that one in my party said, "Uh oh, this is going to make me randy." Ha! True though.

As it was the friends and family opening, we just kind of sat back and let the kitchen bring out whatever they wanted to. The menu is big, and every last thing sounds eye-rollingly delectable, so we could not go wrong. In fact, in the partying that ensued in the back bar after dinner, when comparing notes with our fellow diners, almost all of us had a different favorite. Some other peoples' favorites were things I hadn't even tried, so there will be more than enough to keep each visit interesting to the palate. Oh my goodness, is it all so good.

Highlights for me that night were the dandelion salad, super flavorful and not at all just a boring salad. The chopped steak on grilled bread ... delish. The grilled octopus was one of the best things I've ever tasted, right up there with the ridgeback prawns with carolina gold rice, oyster mushrooms and bacon. WHAT?! Yep.

The skillet rainbow trout was perfection and made you feel like you were truly in the hunting lodge that the back bar feels like, complete with antler and taxidermy decor. The grilled carrots were among the best carrots I've had prepared, and the roasted game hen with bread salad was top shelf. That already sounds like so much food (we were sharing) but we hadn't even scratched the surface.

Other friends' faves were the lamb sausage ("My favorite thing BY FAR" - Nicely), the tea smoked duck, and the beef fat potatoes (simply an ecstatic groan from our friend who had them). Maybe the top best thing I had though was when Dunsmoor came out of the hectic first night kitchen to greet us, and bestow upon us thin, delectable, melt in your mouth like cotton candy slabs of country ham, followed with a bourbon chaser. Ham and bourbon! It was pretty decadent, and I instantly felt like a smooth old man ... in the best possible way. YUM! There is even a cocktail on the impressive drink program that is called the In Fashioned, and that one has ham bourbon and pecans going on, about as Southern as you can get.

Then we got to drinking ... and forgot about dessert (But I heard the blueberry peach crisp was Summer itself). Oh well, another among a million other reasons to go back. This is going to be our SPOT.

It's just so great, I can't say enough about how wonderful it all turned out, and how happy I am for the Ryans, Dunsmoor, Strader, and all the excellent Hatchet Hall staff (many of whom have come along from other the Dunsmoor collabs: Wolf In Sheep's Clothing, Hart and the Hunter, and The Ladies Gunboat Society). It's a hot spot before it even opens tomorrow!

Lacey Kay Cowden is also back with her exceptional art, adorning the walls, menus and the sign out front. Her whimsical animals are seen fishing and hunting and wielding their hatchets, all the better for us to eat with.

As the night wound down in the wooden bar, we all just went nuts. Laughing and celebrating and rejoicing in the fact that Hatchet Hall is open, and couldn't be more awesome. There is soul in this place, from the old tile ceilings laid in the walls from Menotti's, the taxidermy from The Townhouse, and the hearts of all the longtime Venice residents who all came together to make this a clubhouse for great food and great times, for years to come.

All Hail Hatchet Hall!!!

It all starts tomorrow.


Hatchet Hall
12517 Washington Boulevard
Los Angeles, 90066
310-391-4222

Defend Venice - Happy 110th!

As we prepare to celebrate our Independence as a country all long weekend long, let's not forget that it is also the 110th birthday of our Venice on July 4th. This is a great time to spend enjoying all the things that make Abbot Kinney's dream town such a wonderful place to live and visit. Go to the beach, hit the skatepark, stroll the canals, surf the Breakwater, cruise the Boardwalk, check out the murals, visit the galleries, support your local businesses ... just appreciate the bejesus out of it. Love it. Because then it will really make you want to defend it.

It's not the first time in its history that Venice has had to face down corporate and foreign money, or the rapid encroachment of chains and those days' hipsters. It's always been a challenge, but a challenge that has always been met with defiance and passion.

The photo above is from the archives of The Free Venice Beachhead. Bulldozers were coming to tear down another beloved house and the tree in front of it, and that dude was not having it. Nor should we.

Defend your Venice. Celebrate your Venice. Wish it at least another 110 years of being a home for all of us who don't want to be like everyone and everywhere else. Above all, have FUN while you're doing it!

Happy 110th Birthday, Venice! We sure do love you.

*I believe Tshirts and Posters of this image are still available at FreeVenice.org

Lacey Kay Cowden + Matt Ellis = Bright Moments

Well, Lacey Kay Cowden sure ended her June residency at The Townhouse with a slam bang finish! Phew.

After entrancing audiences each Tuesday in June with her dulcet tones, Cowden wrapped it up last night with perhaps her strongest performance ever. We're great friends, so I've seen her play a lot, but last night was something special. The confidence and strength displayed as she wove her musical tales of rambling and roaming, loving and learning was of a performer both feeling it, and knowing it, down to her bones. Her backing band made it all extra powerful, with a real T-Bone Burnett kind of sound that we all just loved.

*{Note to Mr. Burnett - You should probably work with Cowden. You'll love it.}

Playing the stories off of her Go Great Guns ep, Cowden simply killed it. Like, I watched people fall in love with her in front of my eyes. I love it when you see people get turned on to new music that they DIG. It's a special kind of alchemy that only comes along every so often. Rad.

Another great friend (and Cowden's ep producer) took the stage next, and similarly scorched it. Matt Ellis and his band brought their rock and roll heat to the already boiling room, where even my hair was almost curling down there in the Del Monte Speakeasy. It really felt like Summer finally, the heat and rock and fun with your friends that pretty much define this season.

Friends! That's the best part of these shows, that everyone on the bill are friends, so all of the mutual friends are in the audience too, and everywhere you turn it's another happy greeting, another heartfelt embrace, another story to tell, another rug to cut. It was also the very last night of my friend Mario's 30's, so we got DOWN in fine fashion (there was even a little break dancing going on).

Ellis regaled us with his catchy-ass songs (mainly off his excellent most recent album, The Greatest Escape), that always stick in my head for days after I hear them. He brought up his lovely wife, Vavine, to join him on my favorite number, "Seven Years At Sea". It's so lush and sublime, and watching them sing this beauty together is so great I can barely stand it. Seriously.

I was pretty much going nuts with my friends the whole time, thus not doing any note taking, but I can tell you that every song placed Ellis and company more firmly in the collective palm of our hands. I realize there's some hyperbole going on here today, but that's what it felt like to me, so there. Aside from the two Ellis hecklers right in front (aka bff's), that is.

All that good music only made us want more, and we got it from DJ Bright Moments (Paddy Wilkins). That dude spun us right up into a frenzy, jamming everything from Prince to "Happy Birthday" for Mario. Bright Moments will not only get you dancing, but remind you that in that moment are actually experiencing for yourself a blindingly bright moment.

We collapsed out the door, singing and dancing all the way home under the almost full bright Summer moon moments.

Stoked.

Painterly Skies Over Venice

If you were lucky enough to behold the sunset over Venice last night, you're probably still swooning over it today.

It felt like a privilege just to be standing underneath it, to bathe in the neon colors of the Heavens. The social media feeds blew up with one photo more gorgeous than the next ... but none of them could capture what it was really like to be there, basking in its glow. The photograph above by Ray Rae of Venice Beach Photos comes pretty close ...

These are the every day miracles that let you know there is always something bigger than us all, and that together we can all be something bigger ... and better.

Wow. Just wow.

Gratitude.

Amazing Grace In The UNITED States

This has been the week we needed in these United States Of America. After weeks and months of pain and tragedy and awful news everywhere you turn ... we finally got some victories. The Supreme Court yesterday voted 6-3 in favor of the Affordable Care Act, ensuring that millions of Americans will continue to receive the damn expensive health care they need. This is HUGE. And long overdue.

Then this morning, the Supreme Court votes 5-4 in favor of Marriage Equality. The rights of marriage upheld for everyone, no matter who you love. This is MASSIVE. And way past time. Our President gave a wonderful speech celebrating this landmark decision. Please watch - and appreciate - how very far we've come.

Then after that, President Obama gave the eulogy at the memorial service for the slain North Carolina minister, Reverend Clementa Pinckney. It is an incredibly moving speech, showing us again that yes, we've come so far, but also how very far we have to go. But today, across the nation, we are able to revel in the AMAZING Grace that is possible when hearts and minds are open, and acting in the name of love. Our President breaks into that very song at the end of the memorial speech, and it is a special moment ...

...one that shows how incredible and amazing everything can be when we are all truly UNITED.

Today, I can say it and truly mean it, with pride ... God Bless America.


*I bet it's gonna be going OFF tonight at The Roosterfish! Cheers, Friends!

I Grew Hemp

If you've been paying attention when walking around town lately, you've probably seen this little tag on the sidewalks.

I Grew Hemp! I love that they not only grew hemp, but that it pleased them so that they went around painting the town about it.

Hemp is a great plant, super rugged and super valuable (and has really nothing to do with weed, so that it was ever illegal to grow is just silly). If you have a yard, you too should be planting hemp. And milkweed for the butterflies. And lavender for the bees. And whatever else you like for you.

It's Summertime ... Grow everything! Including, and most importantly, yourself.