SHOREbar soft-opening Saturday in Santa Monica
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Consummate cool guy John Terzian (of the buzzy nightlife-producing h.wood group) will soft-open a new lounge in Santa Monica on Saturday called SHOREbar.
Located on Channel Road, between the Hungry Cat and Giorgio Di Baldi, in the former Hideout bar space, SHOREbar touts a cocktail list by mixologist Vincenzo Marianella of the esteemed craft cocktail haven Copa D’ Oro.
The redesign, featuring a nautical theme and an ivory-and-brass color scheme, was done by Rosetta Getty and is being referred to as ‘Nantucket chic,’ which immediately conjures images of Vampire Weekend. I like the idea of a bunch of sun-soaked preppies in pastel Lacoste shirts and boat shoes reclining in this beach-adjacent hang. It’s very summer-like.
There is a second, smaller upstairs bar that is reserved for members only. There you can keep a house expense account, order food from local restaurants, throw wild parties and have access to your very own locker to keep, well, whatever it is that you keep in a locker at a bar.
Although unlikely, it’s my personal hope that SHOREbar can help usher a new spirit of artsy revelry into the Santa Monica Canyon neighborhood, which has a rich history of just that.
In 1948, the writer Christopher Isherwood, whose short stories about Berlin inspired ‘Cabaret,’ rented Lee Strasberg’s house at 333 E. Rustic Road -- a short walk from SHOREbar -- and came to believe it was haunted. He wrote in ‘Lost Years: A Memoir 1945-1951’ about ‘the intensity of the unpleasant psychic atmosphere.’ Isherwood, who lived in Santa Monica Canyon until his death at age 81 in 1986, called it ‘our western Greenwich Village.’
But hey, I’ll take our western Nantucket.
SHOREbar, 112 W. Channel Road, Santa Monica. (310) 429-1851.
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--Jessica Gelt
