Bringing the Cool to Santa Monica
Basement Tavern
"For some reason, the cool bars in Hollywood
have to be hard to find, and have no sign. It's kind of like a speakeasy kind of thing. It's kind of
cool. It's like you're in on some kind of secret, you know? You tell a chick
you've been some place, it's like bragging you know how to find it."
So yes the above statement (delivered by Jon
Favreau in Swingers) is true for the bars of Hollywood but chances are it never
cross the minds of the people of Santa Monica that we’d truly have a gosh
honest cool bar in our somewhat quiet beach town. Yet seven months ago that’s exactly what happened with the
appearance of the Basement Tavern @ the Victorian.
One of the best kept secrets on Main Street. Some people might not even know there’s
a bar there because the Basement Tavern is hidden underneath the historic
Victorian house in (where else of all places) the basement. But we all know it’s not just the
location that makes something cool (and while we’re talking about it there are
a lot of things that can make a bar un-cool: pretentiousness, overcrowding, overpriced
drinks, really anything that shows the seams that it’s trying to be cool, thus
having it pass by the state of cool to the state of un-coolness).
But Basement Tavern is cool. A speakeasy (which is yes a super hip
word in the bar world at the moment but works in this case) that has live music
five days a week and nary a cover charge. There’s no website so don’t even look (although there
is a pretty active Facebook Page).
There no Red Bull and Vodka served on the premises (Hooray to that one) instead
Santa Monica casualness is mixed with high class Bourbon mixology. Oh, and there’s no sign (okay there’s
one but its teeny tiny).
“The average
guest is way smarter than you think they are,” notes Garner Gerson co-owner of
the Basement Tavern. He and his
business partner Paulo Daguiar were interested opening the basement
space at the Victorian with minimum modifications but both of them were aware
that it had to be a very specific concept. “We knew we couldn’t open up a dive bar, or a sushi
restaurant, or a nightclub,” notes Garner. “It had to be this bar.” The bar has an ultra lounge feel that’s not
overwhelming. Garner continues, “it’s
a place where people can go out and feel comfortable at a great price.”
Up until a year
ago the Victoria was known as the place you go to for the farmers market or to do
weddings yes, but not yet the hippest kid on the block. This yellow shingled
Victorian mansion has quite a history. The building, actually built in 1892 and located near
the Hotel Miramar, was picked up and moved to its Main Street location in
1973. The building was then a
variety of restaurants, but in 1989 Gerson’s father took over running the house
and the Victorian House has been in the family ever since.
A couple of
years ago Garner and his brother Garrett considered utilizing the basement
space, with hope of making it into the Ivy for the Westside. Which is definitely tricky when we’re
in the middle of an economic crisis and no one wants to spend seventeen dollars
on a cocktail. But the Boys
of the Basement took it on as a challenge. “What Paolo has done with price points of cocktails is
amazing” notes Garner. The Bourbon
based cocktails at Basement Tavern all run between eight to ten dollars. “This was able to happen by making
specific choices, like not having cocktail service and bringing in Brad.”
Ah yes, Brad. If
Garner and Paolo are the brains and the drive of the Basement Tavern than Brad
Twigg is the heart and soul. (Both Garner and Paolo jokingly referred to Brad
the unofficial mayor of Santa Monica.)
General Manager, mixologist, and music director Twigg wears many shirts
at the Basement, some of them plaid.
Originally from Maryland, Brad moved here 10
years ago and along the way has worked at most of Santa Monica’s hotter spots;
the World Café, Voda, 217,
Wilshire, Big Dean’s just to name a few.
Working a bar definitely runs in his blood. Growing up his mother was in the bar business and rumor has it that his great grandmother was one of the first female
bartenders in Chicago.
“I’ve always
been a fan of Bourbon,” notes Brad. “In high school, the only thing we could
afford to drink was Bourbon, bottles of Jim Beamy and Lord Calvert were $5.99
at the time. It just sort of
stuck.” As luck would have it what was once an economic necessity has become
the cool drink of choice.
Although ten years ago this traditionally Southern drink was thought to
be headed the way of the Hot Toddy, today it is gaining enormous popularity. “I’m happy to work with brands. We just brought in some new Bourbons so
now we’re now up to 75 or so in total,” explains Brad with a smile.
Most of the
Basement’s drinks are Bourbon based (although there are some Vodka offerings
also for those looking for a more classic cocktails i.e. most (but not all) of
the female patron population). One
of the most is popular is the Delia’s Elixir
drink using Buffalo Trace Bourbon (a Kentucky Bourbon), Agave (which Brad
prefers over simple syrup), fresh Raspberries, Lemon juice. The drink is named after Delia the
infamous ghost of the Victorian House. Not much is know about her other than she was once
employed at the Victorian when it was a residence and that she didn’t die in
the house (something that is mentioned multiple times when talking about Delia
to the Basement Boys, so superstitious customers worry not).
Now to get to
the plaidness. It’s best to say
that Basement Tavern is now known as a “plaid friendly location.” Inspired by the Wednesday night’s
Bluegrass music, the plaid started just for fun with the bartenders wearing
plaid for the Get Down Boys Bluegrass performances. Then the patrons starting plaid-ing it up (and it
should be noted we are also in the middle of a flannel fashion revolution) and
then the Yelpers started writing about it. Needless to say you were warned.
These shirts are
really just a symbol of one of the most important aspects to Basement Tavern’s
feel: music. ”Brad takes the music
seriously,” notes Garner. Sunday
and Monday are dark for music.
Wednesdays is the aforementioned Bluegrass night, Tuesdays has
Christopher Hawley an Jack Johnson-esque guitarist playing during the Santa
Monica Food Trucks, Thursday is Jazz Funk Fusion night, and Friday and Saturday
are twists on cover bands like Urban Dread, which plays reggae covers of top
forty songs. All without a
cover. Most of them Westside
bands. “I spend a lot of time
here,” simply notes Brad. “The
music we play is important.”
Only a little over six months old and the
Basement is already expanding.
Along with the tavern in the basement there is now a bar on the ground
floor. “We thought what a fun idea to be at a bar
and potentially not know there’s a bar underneath us,” notes Garner. And as of last month the bar is
now offering a full service dinner menu. The cuisine is “Basement Food” aka what you want to eat
when drinking Bourbon aka food you want to eat before drinking and/or after
drinking: burgers with blue cheese, truffle fries, and kabobs with four different
sauce choices. The kitchen will
always be open, serving food till two every night.
On a larger more
metropolitan level the Basement Tavern has the honor of being in charge of
creating the liquor offerings for Cavalia, the equestrian show running in
Burbank. But don’t think
that it won’t remember its roots.
On Valentine’s Day the bar will show its love for its community. Guest who present a receipt form any
Santa Monica Main Street restaurant from 5 to close will receive a glass of
complementary Champagne.
That is what the
Basement strives to do: being big by acting with small details. And it’s definitely living the dream.
“I’ve always wanted to be doing what I’m doing right now,” notes Brad.
And so coolness
has come to Santa Monica. Not with
huge fanfare and a glaring sign, but the way cool always should roll in - smooth
to the point of not being noticed, but once it’s there you definitely can feel
a change to the temperature of everything surrounding it. We’re just glad that Basement Tavern is
doing it here, allowing Santa Monica to be just a little bit cooler.
Kat Thomas is a Santa Monica based writer who can't define cool, but knows it when she sees it. You can see more of her writings at edibleskinny.com
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