Midwest Girl In A Cali World
So it’s Saturday night. I’m coming down from partying in North Hollywood the previous night. When I meet up with my friend who lives in the historic Adams area I’m ok with having a night in and chilling with some slices of pizza from Delicious Pizza. We decide that before we take our little walk through the quaint neighborhood that we would indulge in a little bit of mid grade rum and walk the strip to see what low key festivities we can get into.
The thing about this neighborhood is that just like many neighborhoods all over America. You can feel the soul of people that once bustled through this now ghost town that has a new vibe of gentrification looming over it. It’s eerily quiet and desolate and one can tell that it’s on the precipice of becoming big box hipster heaven. However, for now it’s a shell of a place where you may catch a glimpse of a white person walking an expensive dog in a place that you definitely would not have seen them walking at all 20 years ago.
It leaves the neighborhood natives leery and a little bit fed up of the encroaching “3rd wave of hipsters”, that come in and decide that anything reminiscent of the days of old –including the black and brown people- should be shunned and pushed out of the neighborhood.
However, it was this leeriness that made my friend -who’s lived in said area for years- a bit apprehensive as we walked past this little low key storefront. The place looked like a bar, but wasn’t technically a bar.
We didn’t want to gawk all the way so we kept going hoping something may be going on at Delicious Pizza or Fais Dos Dos. We looked across the street and saw that there was nothing happening at Delicious. After having a couple of shots of mid grade rum, I was totally over pizza and wanted to keep the party going. We walked a few more blocks. We quickly realized that there was nothing going on West Adams except for some artists late night paint balling the wall of Gallery 38 . However, whatever was happening on Adams this night was at this low key storefront that looked like a bar but wasn’t really a bar.
On our way back we stopped off to take a picture of Easy E dressed to impressed holding a hand full of his crotch while clutching a bottle of champagne in the other. After taking a picture of The Boy In The Hood, I decided to tell my friend that we are gonna just step on into this haunt and make a night of it. “All they can tell us is no” is what I say.
We approached, and the door was opened. People were bustling by the door and I took that as my queue. A dark haired, cool natured lady greeted me with a nice “hi”. A strawberry blonde guy with curly hair topped off with a fisherman hat tinkered with the makeshift sound system that consisted of a sound board that ran into speakers and a selection from an I Pad. To the left was a small stage with a mike.
“I’m, not like officially the greeter, but you’re welcome anyway”, says the dark haired girl. I guess she could sense our apprehension. Here we were looking like the long gone natives of this neighborhood, walking into a social club of the second wave of hipsters- you know the ones who moved in while it was sketchy, and savored the mixing of the two
The bar was the hull of a boat and the walls were covered with nautical gear that appears to have lasted through the ages. My acquaintance quickly noted that they had Monte Cristo rum and that it was the cat’s meow.
I myself being of Midwestern descent quickly noticed the spouts of beer. They came from the side of a refrigerator that looked like the ones that we all have in our home. I myself was a little upset that my fridge didn’t come with that feature. With excitement I approached the proprietor who greeted me with a nice “Hey, I will be with you in a second.” When he came back magic happened.
“ I would like a Rolling Rocks”, I say.
“I see you have Monte Cristo.”, my acquaintance quipped.
The proprietor lit up, “Wow are you a seaman? Not too many people know about the Monte Cristo.”
“No. I am a chef, my acquaintance replied; but I know good rum.”
“Anyone that knows good rum is good with me. When I go out boating if I don’t have this on my yacht people are typically disappointed. That’s why I have it here.”
We grabbed our drinks and plopped down at a booth in the back. We exhaled because we had now been officially welcomed into a place that 10 minutes ago we thought that we would get ejected from.
We sipped slowly on the rum and the nautical themed decorations that were everywhere. They probably would’ve been considered cheesy had they not been authentic as hell. You could tell this guy grew up pretty wealthy and ended up down to earth. The seating in the place reminded me of the chairs that were bolted to the ground in the storefront Pentecostal church that I had grown up in back home. It makes me wonder if that place was previously just that.
The music was welcoming and divey. It’s patrons that were there when we walked in were in awe of the sight of an African American pair in the jaunt or maybe new faces. Either way a few looked over their shoulders to catch a glance of the new additions for the evening.
As time elapsed everyone slowly but shortly walked off to the back which made me wonder where they were going. We played it cool for a second and then curiosity got the best of us. As we approached the back we were greeted by cool patio that was warm from the heat of a fire pit. The fire pit was surrounded by what looked like more Pentecostal chairs- lol-. Everyone knows that a drinking and smoking patio is a haute commodity to have.
As the night grew on, the now proprietor/ my new favorite person pulled out his 8 track collection and the night took a lovely turn. The night went analog for a second. This nautical themed place took everyone out to sea. Everyone began picking songs from out of pristine velvet lined original a track carriers.
We listened to Phoebe Snow, Van Morrison, The OJs and Ohio Players of course. Unfortunately, the 8 track eventually needed rest. The electro- magnetic fields for all of these new gadgets wore it out after a while. I thought that that was so cool that I was able to play music that was not digital and pause for a moment in time.
That night I left in awe and also concern. There was a new gem in the neighborhood. It didn’t look like the West Adams of old. However, it was very nice to be able to unplug in the middle of the concrete jungle; in a place that was nautical themed. I would tell you the name and place, but then it would blow up the spot. I gave you a lot of hints as to where it is, plus I think the proprietor likes it that way.
