Out-Moded: the (non) 24-hour joint

Riddle me this: when does 24 not equal 24?

Apparently, when L.A. is opening an around-the-clock restaurant.

It happened yet again. Another restaurant which not only made promises of opening but opening with 24-hour service has failed to deliver. If you've been keeping track, Mode played the hurry-up-and-stop game more avidly than the usual L.A. restaurant. Opening on Halloween? Nope. Some time before Thanksgiving? Uh uh. Finally, finally, the last day of November promised a full-fledged opening. 

You've probably heard about the snafu already—Mode is closed. Indefinitely. Again. Why? Why, people? How was the estimation that far off? It's one thing to get delayed with city permits and all that, but why overreach the 24-hour mark only to fail. We saw a bit of it already with Lift in Hollywood: it didn't open to never close, and now it's backpedaling a bit, hoping to open for 22 hours...eventually. And what's up with Kitchen 24? 

While we here at Metromix would usually have the luxury of hearing Mode's demise from the comforts of our office, we actually had to experience the debacle firsthand last fateful Friday. Since it's right down the street, we thought we would drive over around 9-ish—a fair time to scope out the scene. Unfortunately, its spot along Olive isnt' that intuitive, and Mode's halo of light doesn't outshine its neighbor, an unseemly place with a huge sign that reads:

Heh. It almost too perfect and literal a joke considering Mode has this fashion-model-theme going for it. Can anyone say objectification?

There's absolutely no street parking allowed along that block of Olive in front of Mode except for a couple of lots that will let you park your car for no less than $5. No thank you.

After the business of finding parking three blocks away and avoiding eye contact with panhandlers, we finally found ourselves inside the shiny glass box, gaping at the lighted runway (there's actually a freakin' runway) with the plasma that streams Fashion File or Models, Inc. or other on a constant loop. The host walked up to us nervously in a white puff parka that looked straight out of "Zoolander" and a passable "Blue Steel" impression on his face. 

"Uh...we're closed...?" (Of course the model/poser speaketh in a upward lilting end note.)

"What? You just opened today."

"Uh...yeah..but now we're closed? The kitchen ran out of food."

"Okay, so you don't have anything to eat at all? Not a speck of food?"

"Um...that's what they told me?"

"So aren't you supposed to be 24-hours?"

"Yeah. Just not today."

And scene. 

Perhaps Mode failed to account for anything more than model-sized appetities (ah, no wonder Fashion Cafe folded!). Or, perhaps it's redefining the 24-hour restaurant: open for a mere 24 hours before closing for good. Now, that would be ingenious.

—Jiyeon Yoo