Established in 1915 by Italian immigrant, Cesar Menotti, Townhouse is the oldest bar in Venice and one of the oldest bars in the Los Angeles area. I can't wait to go back! These cute bits of design are nice nods to the past, when people were chugging booze under the cover of darkness, a constant threat of police raid hovering over. The Los Angeles City Council publicly condemned the 1943 "Zoot Suit Riots" and acknowledged the city's role in the treatment of Mexican Americans during a dark chapter in the history of the Chicano community. "He'd say, 'George, if the people find us, that's good,'" says Czarnecki. I think everyone who has worked here has had some sort of an experience like that.. Happy Hour runs 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. daily. The photos are from later that evening during the show. The drug-addled clientele added to the dangerous texture of the local dive. If you enjoyed this article you might also like to read about another haunted bar in America, known as Lafittes Blacksmith Shop. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. Then in June 2007, local husband and wife duo Louie and Netty Ryan took over the bar and renovated the space. And then there was the part about actually getting down to where the alcohol was served. The onset of the spring season heralds the arrival of fragrant flowers in bloom and all the critters that enjoy them, including the Easter bunny and families who anticipate his arrival with egg hunts, parades and questionable fashion choices. Be polite - give feedback in a constructive way. They've been grandfathered in. The Del Monte Speakeasy Company Profile - Dun & Bradstreet See eight destinationsbelow and the full 12 on Travel + Leisure. The downstairs area became Club Del Monte, a performance space. The thirst for neo-speakeasiesthat is, vintage bars with atmospheres and cocktail menus to reflect the clandestine 1920s glamour of the Prohibition Erahas not abated in the years since the first, Milk & Honey, opened on Manhattans Lower East Side. During Prohibition, a grocery store on the upper level was a front for a basement-level speakeasy, called Menottis Buffet. Discover how these unique places connect Americans to their pastand to each other. Discover all the ways you can make a difference. Del Monte Speakeasy - 52 Windward Ave Planning a trip to Los Angeles? The Del Monte Speakeasy Venice, CA 90291 - Restaurantji Lauren Walser served as the Los Angeles-based field editor of Preservation magazine. Call: +1 415-883-7793. First, you had to know that the speakeasy even existed there in the basement of a Venice, California, grocery store. Opened in 1915 by Italian immigrant Cesar Menotti, the Townhouse was one of the more popular drinking posts on Venice's Windward Avenue. Townhouse The Del Monte Speakeasy sits in the basement of the Townhouse restaurant and was an actual speakeasy from 1920 to 1933. There were some ownership changes in the following decades, as well as name changes. TOWNHOUSE COCKTAILS - 124 Photos & 429 Reviews - 52 Windward Ave, Venice, California - Music Venues - Phone Number - Yelp Townhouse Cocktails 3.2 (429 reviews) Unclaimed $$$ Music Venues, Cocktail Bars Closed 4:00 PM - 2:00 AM (Next day) Hours updated 2 months ago See hours See all 132 photos Write a review Add photo Terms of Service apply. As always love your work <3 3:). Fact: The Del Monte Speakeasy was a tried and true speakeasy during prohibition, cleverly hidden underneath a grocery store above. During Prohibition, one could sneak downstairs to the Del Monte Speakeasy, where booze was smuggled in via underground caves and catacombs that led in from the Abbot Kinney pier. The P.E.T. Squad Files - Del Monte Speakeasy | Stream Free - The CW Network Address 52 Windward Ave Venice, California Website: Phone: Upcoming Events No events in this location Share On: Tweet Learn how historic preservation can unlock your community's potential. The story goes that during Prohibition, Ma McGillin locked the front door and swore not to unlock it until it was over. Wingtip w/ Theo Kandel in The Del Monte Speakeasy. The Del Monte Speakeasy Company Profile - Dun & Bradstreet There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. Cant wait to go back some day. 176.28.8.102 As Frank got older, his body ravaged with illness, he'd open the downstairs speakeasy less and less. The National Trusts federal tax identification number is 53-0210807. Menu for The Del Monte Speakeasy provided by Allmenus.com. Memorial Day Massacre: Workers Die, Film Buried, Henry T. Segerstrom: Imagining the Future, Fight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World, Bridging the Divide: Tom Bradley and the Politics of Race, The First Attack Ads: Hollywood vs. Upton Sinclair, Can We All Get Along? 2023 usarestaurants.info All Rights reserved. Even though the bars now serve alcohol legally, they just have a more legitimate feel to them. One of the bars female guests claimed to have her hair pulled on by invisible forces while inside the female bathrooms alone. Performance & security by Cloudflare. Home page . Draft. Bringing you the campus, the city, and the world, wherever you are. 2023 National Trust for Historic Preservation. Upstairs, however, is less speakeasy and more dive; most of the beers come in cans (including Miller Lite and PBR), with craft brews like North Coast Brewing Companys Scrimshaw pilsner on tap. Salsa night, great drinks and entertainment!! Location: 52 Windward Ave., Venice, CA 90291. Established 1915. usarestaurants.info is not a booking agent, and does not charge any service fees to users of our site. S2 : E3. Suite 500 Cloudflare Ray ID: 7eeeb7f88ea3d5e5 13 Modern Speakeasies Straight Out of the 1920s - Travel "Sure, get your groceries here." The Del Monte Speakeasy | Bars in Venice, Los Angeles - Time Out The Del Monte Speakeasy The | Corsair They have great djs and live bands. Thursday, Aug 3, 2023 at 8:00 PM. Great place to party on the weekdays. A Creative-Haven for all far and wide with five nights of live music and comedy! Events. But then I have to bring them up short and point out that if it wasn't for Louie Ryan, we would probably be sipping Starbucks on that property instead of whiskey. Wingtip is the work of San Francisco-bred singer, songwriter, producer, and DJ Nick Perloff-Giles, whose uplifting and often buoyant brand of pop has yielded streaming hits like 2017's Sophie Strauss collaboration "Rewind" and 2019's "Heartworks." A veteran bartender explains the history of Venice's oldest bar. Sometimes it would sit dark for a month or more. Once delivered to Menottis Buffet, Menotti would deliver liquor to the hotels across the street. Today, the bar acts as a perfect time capsule for the era, bartender Max Martinez tells, Weve kept the place the way its been. Historic Bar and live music venue. Smaller boats would then transport the goods underneath the pier, where there was a maze of maintenance tunnels that wound through downtown Venice -- and through Menottis basement. These are establishments that have been around for so long, they have actual rooms on their premises that once housed places where you could get illegal hooch during that terrible time between 1920 and 1933. "This was a club of one, and Frank was the only member." But when Prohibition hit, Menotti did what any self-respecting bar owner would do: He flat-out ignored it. Get a D&B Hoovers Free Trial. We already have this email. Foursquare can help you find the best places to go to. A trapdoor led to a basement speakeasy during Prohibition. As the contemporary speakeasy trend rages on, it seems apt to also celebrate the many American bars operating today that were actual speakeasies. Fri, 22 Nov 2019 03:02:45 +0000 View Detailed Check-in. Beneath the stands of produce was a basement full of booze, one that could only be accessed through a trap door, lowered on a rope-operated dumbwaiter two people at a time. Learn about The Del Monte Speakeasy at 52 Windward Ave, Venice, CA 90291, United States. That trend continued with the bar's second owner, Frank Bennett, who made one of the most dramatic structural changes to the building in 1968: Getting rid of the trap door in lieu of actual staircases. Speakeasies, which were illicit establishments that sold alcohol during the Prohibition era, were often masked by deceptive store fronts with passwords required to gain entry. Best Speakeasies in Upland, CA - The Blind Rabbit, Veuve Noire, The Speakeasy, 10 1/4 Pasadena, Ilegal 1895, Thompson & Twain Prospecting Co, Apparition Room, Chapter 4 at Les Amis, Graceland, The Obscure Distillery Jimmy Glennon is drinking a LOVE Hazy IPA by Almanac at Del Monte Speakeasy. Contact Us. Take a look at all the ways we're growing the field to save places. Read stories of people saving places, as featured in our award-winning magazine and on our website. "He'd say, 'I'd be damned if I was going to put a man at the door standing there with his thumb up his ass.'" McGillins also has a mean martini menu, and every year on December 5, the anniversary of the ratification of the 21st Amendment, the bar serves a marteani in a teacup, a nod to the cunning of Ma McGillin. Monday . Hit up the place on a "Red Light Wednesday . That 1920s history lives on with The Prohibition, one of The Caves signature cocktails: French-press Russian Earl Grey tea, Baileys Irish Cream and a splash of whiskey, served in a teacup. The Del Monte Speakeasy - SeatGeek Today, you can take stairs down to the Del Monte Speakeasy. (Menotti's is now the upstairs Townhouse bar.) History Townhouse The new design is an intentional juxtaposition of classical Speakeasy architectural references and modern touchstones. Haunted party people float through beastly botes in every corner of our mysterious city. The Del Monte Speakeasy - Dexter Story Dj vu! She has visited some of the most famously haunted places around the world in search of evidence of the paranormal. usarestaurants.info is not responsible for content on external web sites. As one of Americas oldest bars, the McGillins Olde Ale House, which opened in 1860, survived the Civil War, Prohibition and the Great Depression. "Louie went to the designer [Natalie Chappelle] and said, can you decorate this so if Cesar Monetti himself stepped into it, he'd know where he was," says Czarnecki. Nearby Restaurants. As such, Frank was not worried about putting money into advertising to bring more strangers into his home, believing instead in the power of word-of-mouth testimonials. Martinez elaborates: Once, a few years back, I had just opened the bar, there was no one else in the place besides me and one gentlemen who was sitting at the bar. Drink Spirits with Spirits at Haunted Los Angeles Bars Privacy Statement And both floors make it easy to think youre back in Venice in the early 20th century. Awesome 1920s style spot on bottom level of the Townhouse bar with live music and a fun crowd. Townhouse Venice - 52 Windward Ave. Bar, Music Venues, Cocktail Bar . You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. Sign up to unlock our digital magazines and also receive the latest news, events, offers and partner promotions. Review: Del Monte Speakeasy - Cond Nast Traveler Your IP: Your IP: A great place to go to when you need. ", Public Media Group of Southern California is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.Tax ID: 95-2211661, 2023 - Public Media Group of Southern California. You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. The crowd, energy and music are top notch. With 1933 and the end of Prohibition, Monetti dumped his produce stands and turned the upstairs back into the main working bar. Terms of Service . Were this place in my hometown, my liver would be in DECIDEDLY worse shape than it is now. Bars Restaurants Celebrities Los Angeles is world-famous for its nightlife. We have people coming from all over the world who have heard of this bar and made it a point to come here while theyre in LA," Martinez boasts. Costumes, live music, speciality drinks, Martinez reveals. Protect the past by remembering the National Trust in your will or estate plan. Townhouse - Wingtip in The Del Monte Speakeasy Today both floors serve craft cocktails worthy of that bygone era in a space thats both cool and cozy. After the repeal, the grocery store was scrapped and the bar re-opened in the upstairs area. Frequently Asked Questions. Dinner | Speakeasy Novato | Novato Townhouse's live entertainment basement, The Del Monte, was a true speakeasy during Prohibition (1920-1933) and a night-life nucleus, serving many nefarious and infamous characters of the day, masked cleverly by Menotti's grocery store above. "He simply didn't want to monkey with it," says Czarnecki. Privacy Policy . How the Movies Gave Los Angeles a Zoo. The bartenders had to police the grounds on their own, a demanding job in the '70s and '80s when the area was ground zero for experimental drug use. Cleverly disguised as a grocer the Del Monte Speakeasy sourced alcohol illegally via the Canadian ships and elaborate underground tunnel systems beneath Venice. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. Washington, The Mint Saloon, which opened in 1907, was forced to rebrand because of Prohibition, becoming Mint Cigar Company and Soda Shop. "Yeah, we're a grocery store now," he'd tell the town's residents. The Illegal Years of the Del Monte Speakeasy. On the sand and steps to Del Monte Beach in beautiful Monterey, Surfside Apartments offer beach living at its best. Established in 1915, Townhouse is the oldest saloon in Venice, featuring an original speakeasy, serving unique classic & seasonal cocktails. ", Thankfully, the Ryans don't follow old Frank Bennett's mindset when it comes to hiring security. michael frick/mophonics. 52 Windward Ave, Venice, CA 90291 (310) 392-4040 Website Suggest an Edit. When asked whether or not hes ever had an encounter with the supernatural, Martinez pauses his duties as a mixologist and says, Ive worked here for 10 years. Your Privacy Rights Overview. Thursday, Aug 3 to Friday, Aug 4, 2023. Impressively, it wasnt raided once. Walk down the beach, ride your bike or take convenient public transportation to all Monterey activities, and colleges. Rumor has it that the now deceased former owner is often seen sitting downstairs, keeping watch over his beloved bar. The 20s-inspired cocktail menu changes regularly, since many of the ingredients are sourced locally, with offerings likegimlets,fizzes and, of course, lots of gin. "I was about to start looking for work," says the 67-year-old Czarnecki, "which, at my age, well, I haven't hit the bricks in a long time" Luckily, Louie and Netty Ryan -- the husband-and-wife team responsible for Little Temple, Temple Bar and The Virgil -- stepped in. Schallers Pump, the oldest continuously operating bar in Chicago, got its name from the pump that brought in beer from the adjacent Ambrosia Brewery during Prohibition. But they're fun, not real. The Del Monte Speakeasy, below the Townhouse in Venice, is one. We were chatting, and he got up to use the bathroom, he came back and said, Who the fuck is that guy in the bathroom? He described the guy as being huge and wearing a black hat with a suit and tie.