Villain's Tavern

Clifton's

The interior of Villain's Tavern looks right out of Deliverance

By Katherine Davis

The Last Bar Before You Fall into the River

Villains Tavern looks like the kind of place that's been around for decades. The dust-gathering glass bottles decorating the front window, the bizarre antique furniture, and the crowds of eager customers all suggest the well-loved charm of a very old establishment. The bar's distinctive character does not, however, come from its age. In fact, Villains has only been open six months. That old-timey flavor comes from its careful design.

The clever plan behind Villains Tavern was conceived by the bar's owner, a woman with an eye for eccentric little details. Her name is Dana Hollister, and she has been setting trends around L.A. for years. You've seen her imaginative work in local favorites like Brite Spot in Echo Park and Bordello in Downtown. Originally an interior designer who has worked with names like Tim Burton and Courtney Love, Hollister knows exactly how to create a fun and memorable atmosphere.

A few years ago, Hollister acquired a less-than-glamorous space on the deserted corner of Palmetto Street and Santa Fe Avenue in Downtown. At the time, the building looked like an unassuming convenience store, but with a strong vision and a few years of work, Hollister turned it into a bar so trendy that people are waiting in lines to get in.

Hollister's love for antiquity is immediately apparent in Villains Tavern. She explains she worked from the idea of "layering old salvaged and interesting pieces of architecture over the property to give it a sense of time." So it was a few old treasures, like a recovered doorway from a defunct Hollywood apartment building, which made the design come to life.

Inside, a huge variety of collected antiques, from deer heads to painted portraits, adorn the busy walls. To further set the mood, Hollister created stained-glass-style lighting inside the bar by lining the floor-to-ceiling front windows with nearly 700 antique bottles filled with colored liquids. Then there is the bar itself. An authentic relic of the late 19th century, the large wooden piece, which sits front and center in the main entryway, carries a lot of visual impact.

"It's a little bit like a church," Hollister says. "Whenever I'm [designing] a space like a bar, the bar itself becomes like the altar."

The striking, mirrored Gothic arch adorning the wall behind the bar (a transplant from a 19th century church in Brooklyn) completes the look of this shrine to imbibing.

The old-fashioned-yet-modern theme of Villains Tavern does not stop with the décor; it carries over seamlessly to the menu. Hollister explains the idea is to be "taken gently into the future in a way that kind of reminds you of the past." The brief food menu does just that, offering old standards like burgers and grilled cheese sandwiches, but with surprising additions like bacon cherry marmalade or tamarind relish.

In the same way, manager Dave Whitton's carefully designed cocktail menu revives several classic drinks with trendy new twists. The Russian Mule, for example, updates the nearly extinct beverage, Moscow Mule, with ingredients like mango and candied ginger. Other drinks, like the Edgar Allan Poe, include nostalgic ingredients like eggnog.

However, one should not become so distracted by the cocktails as to overlook the beer selection. The seemingly endless row of taps offer the light, the stout, the hoppy, the sweet, and everything in between. And keeping with the antiquated theme, you can guzzle your drink out of a vintage-style mason jar. One of the menu's best offers is the mix and match where you can match almost any shot with a beer for as little as $8.

If a shot chased with a jar full of beer is not enough to guarantee you a fun night, Villains Tavern provides entertainment to cover the gap. The comfortable, romantically lit, outdoor patio area opens up to a small stage where folksy local bands like The Dustbowl Revival or The Marietta James perform nightly. The patio also has a small bar that helps keep traffic and libations flowing.

The hardest part of one's visit to Villains Tavern might just be finding it. On its isolated location, Hollister admits it's "officially the last bar before you fall into the river," but says that that is just another aspect of the bar's nostalgic charm. "I love the idea that you go to the middle of nowhere to get there. It's like an old roadhouse in the '40s."

Like its Downtown L.A. neighborhood, Villains Tavern has the feeling of something that pays homage to the past while aspiring towards all things modern, interesting, and fun. And as Downtown L.A. continues its cultural reawakening, Villains Tavern might not be in the middle of nowhere for long.

Villains Tavern is located at 1356 Palmetto Street. Open Tuesday through Saturday, 5:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. 21 and over only. No cover charge.

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