Beach cleanup
With all the buzz around downtown’s nightlife revival, it's like the Westside renaissance has gotten shafted. But that's changing fast thanks to a slew of bars debuting fast and furious with hot makeovers.
Remember
Mor Bar in Santa Monica?
Gone! It’s now Main, a sleek, contemporary
nightclub that serves fancy drinks like Bellini cosmos and espresso martinis. And,
of course, there’s Chloe, which regular Metromix readers know is my favorite
new bar. (Check back here on Tuesday for a video tour of the bar. Until then, enjoy this lovely photo of a leggy blonde that is not me.)
Over in
Venice, the Garter has gone from gross dive to seductive lounge—think Western
saloon meets French burlesque—and Townehouse Cocktails has gotten a deep clean
from the dudes behind Temple Bar and Zanzibar; a good thing since it had
smelled like urine for decades. (Lore has it that Jim Morrison would hose down the wall after a few too many.)
And this just in: The Arsenal just reopened after a quickie renovation. Property manager Justin Hollingsworth tells me it’s evocative of how the bar looked in the old days, with a black-and-zinc bar, but that it’s also been modernized with HD TVs and a larger patio. (In the old days, you didn’t have to smoke outside.)
How these polished spots will change the Westside scene remains to be seen. I’m just glad girls are making the scene in bras instead of bikini tops.
—Alexandra Le Tellier
