“What America needs now is a drink.” ~ President Franklin D. Roosevelt

Amendment XXI (click to enlarge) | Source: NARA

While the quote above may be more appropriate than ever, FDR said those words back in 1933, after 13 years of Prohibition were finally ended.

From repealday.org: “On December 5th, 1933, Utah, the final state needed for a three quarters majority, ratified the 21st Amendment, repealing Prohibition and restoring the American right to a celebratory drink.”

Although it’s been 76 years since the end of Prohibition, Repeal Day is a relatively new tradition, the brainchild of Portland mixologist Jeffrey Morgenthaler. You can read the story behind Repeal Day on his blog.

REPEAL DAY
Saturday, December 5, 2009
www.repealday.org

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This Saturday, December 5th, some of L.A.’s favorite cocktail venues are hosting Repeal Day celebrations. So do your patriotic duty, exercise your rights as an American, and raise a glass (or two) to the 21st Amendment!

The Edison

As we’ve come to expect from the Edison, when they do an event, they go all out. Repeal Day is no different, as the Edison will be offering ice skating with Santa at Pershing Square, then a special cocktail featuring its exclusive blend of Woodford Reserve back at the Edison.

6pm-8pm
Ice Skating in Pershing Square
532 S. Olive St.
With a gift from Santa
Hot chocolate and treats for the first 100 guests

8pm-9pm
Cracking the Barrel of Edison’s Christmas Blend of Bourbon
108 W. 2nd St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 613-0000
www.edisondowntown.com

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Comme Ca & Pizzeria Ortica

David Myers’ Comme Ça and Pizzeria Ortica will be celebrating Repeal Day (in West Hollywood and Costa Mesa, respectively) with a mix of classic and new school cocktails.

• Classics: Old-Fashioned, Sidecar & French 75
• Mary Pickford (rum, pineapple juice, grenadine, maraschino cherry)
• Colony Cocktail (gin, grapefruit juice, maraschino liqueur)
• Barbary Coast (Scotch, gin, crème de cacao, heavy cream)
• Bacardi Cocktail (rum, lime juice, grenadine)

Buy the first cocktail for $11, give ‘em the password (“Roosevelt,” natch), and pay just 76 cents for the second (limit one per guest).

Comme Ça
Repeal Day menu
Friday, Dec. 4 – Sunday, Dec. 6
8479 Melrose Ave.
West Hollywood, CA
(323) 782-1104

The Repeal Day menu will also be available at Pizzeria Ortica, from Dec. 4 through Dec. 11.

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Casey’s Irish Pub
Repeal Day Party
9pm-2am
Feat. live music by The Damselles & TC4
DJs Pony vs. Tiger

Dinner & drink specials
Prize for best 30′s attire
Free fedoras while they last

613 S. Grand Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90017
(213) 629-2353

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Word is that Tony’s Saloon and Rivera also have special Repeal Day shenanigans in the works, so stay tuned…

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Update 12/5: Julian Cox announced that Rivera’s Late Night Cocktail Menu will be specially priced at $5 in honor of Repeal Day. Classics like the Manhattan, Corpse Reviver, and Blood and Sand will be available from 10pm to close.

Rivera
1050 S. Flower St, #102
Los Angeles, CA 90015
(213) 749-1460
www.riverarestaurant.com

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3. World Cocktail Day

According to Editor Mary Melton, the article is intended to “herald the return of the bar—not the velvet-rope animal of yore but the chummy neighborhood pubs, crowded wine bars, and fanciful cocktail emporiums that now constitute our nightlife.” With that in mind, the story covers 15 bars, divided into three sections: Cocktail Bars, Wine Bars, and Local Bars.

The Cocktail Bar section is spot on, featuring Rivera, Bar Centro, Roger Room, the Varnish, and Copa d’Oro. Other than Bar Centro, they’re all personal faves and places I’d highly recommend to anyone. As interesting and unique as Bar Centro is, I don’t go there regularly and can’t really say it’s a favorite. LA magazine certainly likes Bar Centro; in last month’s Best of LA issue Bar Centro was crowned with the city’s Best Manhattan.

The Local Bars list is great as well, including Tony’s, Laurel Tavern, Wurstküche, and Verdugo Bar. Tony’s and Wurstküche are pretty close to each other and are regular stops on my downtown excursions. The Arts District is very lucky to have them both! Also listed is Simmzy’s, which I haven’t been to but will definitely check out the next time I’m in Manhattan Beach.

Besides the capsule reviews, there are nice sidebars like the Varnish’s Marcos Tello demonstrating how to make a Sazerac, and Musso & Frank’s Manny Aguirre critiquing a few classic cocktails at Seven Grand, the Edison, and Mandrake.

All in all, it’s a fun read and well worth checking out.

Best New Bars
Los Angeles Magazine
September 2009
On sale now
www.lamag.com

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2. 10 Los Angeles Bars in Food & Wine's Top 100
3. Esquire's Best Bars in America

“This is the kind of day when you want to be belly-to-belly with a good woman, in a warm bed under a tin roof with the rain beating down and a bottle of good whiskey right next to the bed.”

~ Hunter S. Thompson, The Great Shark Hunt

Friday night saw the soft opening of Tony’s, the latest venture from Cedd Moses and his 213 group. The bar’s location on the southern edge of the Arts District is somewhat remote, especially compared to other 213 ventures located in the heart of downtown. Tony’s is easy enough to spot; the “Tony’s” cocktail sign up top shines like a beacon on 7th street. The Toy Factory and Biscuit Lofts are just a block away on Industrial, and their residents will likely make Tony’s one of their regular watering holes. Rare for downtown is Tony’s attached parking lot, absent a valet and free, which was a nice touch.

Tony's: much darker than this.

Stepping inside Tony’s, we were immediately enveloped in darkness. As our eyes adjusted we saw a pool table off to the left, which saw some regular use throughout the night. Smokers hanging out in the patio also got to play ping pong, which may not have the mystique of pool but will no doubt see plenty of action over time. The bar itself runs the length of the room, its most notable feature being the huge longhorn head mounted above it. Chalkboards above the booths to the right list spirits by group and prices. The reported homages to Hunter S. Thompson were subtle: his photo was mounted by the men’s room, a diorama/shrine was located in the back. If anything, Tony’s itself is a salute to Thompson’s prodigious thirst for whiskey.

It was quiet early on, but by midnight Tony’s started to fill up. The crowd was lively, and though it was busy it never got packed, which was fine for a soft opening. One sour note: the music was blasting at an ear-splitting volume all night. I don’t know to what extent the staff were aware, but having to scream to my boothmates was ridiculous. We noticed other guests cupping their ears and retreating to the patio. Hopefully this gets sorted, it’s the kind of thing that could mar an otherwise enjoyable night of drinks.

Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey.

The cocktail menu was still being finalized on Friday, but with a whiskey list a mile long guests weren’t wanting for options. I was looking forward to trying Stranahan’s, a small batch, 94 proof whiskey made with local ingredients (e.g. water and barley from the Rockies). Stranahan’s is aged in charred, new oak barrels like bourbon, so I ordered an Old Fashioned. The tasting notes from Stranahan’s and elsewhere mentioned wood, smoke, sweetness, caramel and vanilla. It certainly made for an unusual tasting Old Fashioned, quite literally different than any I’ve had before. My fellow imbiber (and Old Fashioned connoisseur) Scot noticed hints of chocolate as well. If you order a Stranahan’s, make sure to check out the bottle; it’s hand-labeled with a batch number, the distilling date, and the distiller’s signature and comment. I neglected to examine the bottle at Tony’s but will definitely do so on my next visit. I finished up with a Knob Creek Manhattan, nicely executed and a good way to close out the night.

Tony’s simultaneously fits into and breaks out of the established Cedd Moses model. It’s yet another update of an old downtown spot, designed with an eclectic eye and meant to evoke the comfort of an old neighborhood bar. But Tony’s is also isolated from other 213 spots, and might indicate that Moses is again anticipating a time when development catches up to his vision of a future downtown LA.

Tony’s
2017 E. 7th St. (E. of Mateo)
Arts District
Los Angeles, CA 90021
(213) 622-5523

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photo: Yamashiro

First up, Daily Candy notes that the Pagoda Bar is reopening tonight. Nestled just below Hollywood’s venerable Yamashiro restaurant, the outdoor Pagoda Bar overlooks the pool, the 600 year old pagoda (California’s oldest structure, according to Yamashiro), and the city below. With Memorial Weekend just around the corner, it’s the perfect time to check out the Pagoda Bar’s unique combination of gorgeous views, Cal-Asian apps, and of course the signature cocktails.

The drinks all have names related to Yamashiro’s history, from the Fashionable 400 Club (in the late 1920′s, Yamashiro’s was an ultra-exclusive Golden Age Hollywood hangout) to the Purple Swan (the pool used to be a lake with rare Australian swans). And then there’s the infamous Norman’s Mai Tai, named after Yamashiro’s first bartender, who brought the secret recipe over from Hawaii some 40 years ago. Check out the Pagoda Bar cocktails menu and picture yourself imbibing under the stars.

Pagoda Bar
1999 N. Sycamore Ave. (at Franklin)
Los Angeles, CA 90068
(323) 466-5125
www.thepagodabar.com

photo: peden+munk

Tonight is also the soft opening of Tony’s, the latest from Cedd Moses and his 213 group. UrbanDaddy calls it “an all-American saloon on a no-man’s-land patch of Downtown road,” and notes the booths, chalkboards, pool table, and darkness.

Even better, UD remarks on the homages to Hunter S. Thompson in the interior design; the mind boggles with the possibilities. It wouldn’t be a Cedd Moses bar if there wasn’t a great whiskey selection, and the Thompson theme continues in the form of Stranahan’s whiskey (or as my drinking buddy Scot would call it, “hooch”), made by Thompson’s Colorado neighbor.

With Royal Clayton’s and the red hot Church & State on nearby Industrial St, this part of the Arts District now offers a nice little bar crawl for downtown denizens and urban adventurers alike. And if something is happening at the nearby Premiere Events Center on Imperial St, you’ve got the makings of a long, epic night.

Tony’s fully opens on Monday, May 18.

Tony’s
2017 E. 7th St. (E. of Mateo)
Arts District
Los Angeles, CA 90021
(213) 622-5523

Related posts:

1. Whiskey & Ping Pong at Tony's
2. Caña Rum Bar Soft Opens Tonight
3. Los Angeles Magazine – Best New Bars 2009