Issue 35 — Chinatown Punk Wars🏮 + The Death of DTC CPGs 🥫
Plus a bunch of openings...
BITES
The Fishwife divorce is making headlines. Emily broke it down best in Friday’s newsletter. 🎣
Speaking of law suits, it turns out the recently shuttered Sweet Lady Jane wasn’t that sweet after all.
Bar Bandini kicked off their co-working space last Friday. Here’s what the $20.98 ticket gets you:
Access to the space, wifi + outlets from 9-3pm, complimentary RISE nitro cold brew from 9-11am, 10% discount on the bar after 12pm (LOL!)
WorkWell also hosts these work spaces the The Grant in Glassell Park. Idle retail space? In this economy? I don’t think so.
Right after I got into shucking… raw oysters were linked to norovirus… sick! 🦪
Watch out Pijja Palace, there’s a new spicy rigatoni in town… and this one has kimchi in it. Meet Jilli — Serving friendly Korean dishes, honey butter chips, soju + natural wine.
More Openings…
Nico’s: wine shop upstairs, bar + venue downstairs. Comedy shows soon, in Atwater.
Naughty Pie Nature 🍕 Echo Park’s latest pop-up gone permanent, in the old Slasher’s space
Cipriani Beverly Hills: celeb fave with old-new york energy — the supposed birthplace of carpaccio.
Miirch Social: casual Indian spot, DTLA
Kinrose Creamery: baklava and sour cherry ice cream in old-town Pasadener
Cafe Upper : K-Town coffee shop serving matcha einspänners and tomato basil tonics. Coffee shops love cement lately.
BBQ + Rice landed that little corner spot on Sunset (you know the one)
Modern Bread and Bagel: opened in the former Montana Breadblok space (now that just makes sense)
Sakurako: Omakase only in Little Tokyo | $250 pp
My Fall 2023 list of openings in Issue 27 is already so outdated. I’ll make one for Winter ‘24 soon…
Chinatown Punk Wars
Stay, a non-alcoholic cocktail bar just opened in Chinatown. Feelings on the opening are mixed. What’s far more interesting to me though, is the location they opened in. The new zero-proof bar sits in what used to be an iconic punk venue called Hong Kong Cafe that rivaled with another across Central Plaza. Naturally, I went down an internet hole…
In order to understand the significance of Hong Kong Cafe, you must first know about the other restaurant turned venue, Madame Wong’s.
Opportunist, Paul Greenstein took notice of the not-so-busy restaurant, and tapped Esther Wong to see if they’d be willing to open up their doors to local bands. The Wongs weren’t exactly thrilled with the idea, but agreed to let him try out Tuesday nights.
Pretty soon, Paul was booking pretty big acts — and the plaza was packed with punks. But eventually Wong started to get sick of the rowdy shenanigans. Apparently Esther pulled two members of the Ramones off the stage to make them clean up graffiti they had left on the bathroom walls.
Wong decided to take on booking the acts herself, leaning towards a slightly more mainstream, new wave crowd… leaving the punks to look for another venue. When Esther closed the door to Wong’s, Hong Kong Low opened theirs.
Just across the plaza from Wong’s, Hong Kong Low turned their upstairs banquet space into a new venue and Hong Kong Cafe was born. Black Flagg played some of their first shows ever there. Punks were pogoing so hard upstairs, diners below feared the ceilings would cave in. The bands formed an understanding with the cafe. When it got too unruly, damages were simply taken out of the band’s cut at the end of the night.
So ‘on one side of the courtyard was Esther Wong and her skinny-tie-wearing new wave bands, and on the other was the Hong Kong and the punks.’ — 99 Percent Invisible
Hong Kong Cafe mocked Madame Wong’s with their copy-cat ads in the paper. They pulled elaborate pranks, and the press ate it up. Pretty Savage. Both were short lived, but had a very concentrated impact. Hong Kong Cafe closed new year’s eve 1980. Madame Wong’s closed after a fire in 1986.
Esther was a strong business woman who didn’t take shit from punk kids. And although she didn’t really love the music, she was kind of punk herself… rejecting the status quo, pivoting her business, going against her community and welcoming the underdogs. LA Times remembered her as ‘Punk’s God Mother’ in 2005. Key players of the time disagreed. It was Hong Kong Cafe, not Madame Wong’s that was the real spot for punk.
By 2009, Madame Wong’s had been turned into a loft. Former FYF Festival promoter Ben Kramer and his roommates put together some shows with Wavves, Devendra Banhart, and Vampire Weekend. In 2016, the loft was featured in Dwell. It was later listed for sale via Tracy Do.
Hong Kong Cafe had a short-lived resurgence in the 90s’, then it was gift shop called Realm for a while until it sat empty for a few years. And now the legendary punk venue is Stay, a non-alcoholic cocktail bar owned by Joaquin Phoenix’s sister. ‘Drinks’ start at $18.
More on Punk’s ‘God Mother’ + the Chinatown Punk Wars in this 99% Invisible podcast / transcript 🎧 and in this PBS video segment. 🎥
Get in loser, we’re going shopping. IRL.
CPGs are headed back to retail.
Fly By Jing is now in all Albertsons + Safeway stores nationwide. What once was a shoppy shop gem is now available everywhere. ‘47% of Gen Z respondents said they prefer to shop in store over online — which is more than any other generation.’ So of course, brands are prioritizing retail again.
Online shopping is for browsing, and in-person shopping is for buying. Stats back this up. Sure, I discover lots of new sauces and snacks online (maybe in one of Snaxshot’s roundups) But I’m probably not placing any orders and I’m definitely not paying shipping for a $7 bag of chips.
But after seeing something online for a few weeks, and then finally spotting it IRL, it’s like fate. Of course I’ll buy it!
In-person you might even come across a free sample or a demo. (Which is actually how I was introduced to Nour at Altadena Bev!)
RECENT BITES —
Cookies taste better when you don’t bake them all the way (and especially when someone else bakes them for you.) Thanks Rach!
Finally tried the new ‘berry’ Ghia, and I swear it kinda tastes like Worcestershire sauce. It’s giving bloody mary mix. Pls try so we can discuss!
Leftover Basque birthday cheesecake from Wife + Somm ;) HBD Shelby!
Chloe’s got me HOOKED on Yogi’s Egyptian licorice tea. For lunch the other day, she made me minestrone ~ ribollita with rosemary croutons and a carrot tartine with white bean puree, pistachios & hot honey. P.S. Chloe making me lunch is a true privilege that I do not take for granted.
I’m going through a ramen phase — I’ll grab some noodles from Amigo’s Liquor (next to cookbook) and throw together my own sauce. This was with Woon Stir Fry Sauce, Fly By Jing Chengdu Crunch, mushroom powder, + black sesame.
Good House Keeping’s new Sesame Dream (left) and a Psychic Hand (right, off menu, but highly recommend). They also just made their own mezcal?
Always leave room for dessert… I grabbed a slice from the new Flouring in Chinatown. The slices were as stunning as they were delicious. Not cheap though.
🔗 Last Week’s Most Clicked Link:
The Hagel x Adidas Samba looks straight outta Flamingo Estate x My Theresa’s gingerbread pop-up.
Ali’s aka the best shop on Fig got a shout out!!!!! waving to him 3 when I walk by is the only constant in my life rn ...good to know about his noodles selection... I highly recommend his Goldilocks just right 4 packs of TP!
GHIA is better with yuzco