It’s a Wednesday evening in downtown L.A.’s Historic Core, but it feels like a Friday night as diners pour into the Must wine bar, spilling out onto its already full outdoor patio.
Late last year, after a nearly three-year hiatus, Must co-owners Rachel Thomas and Coly Den Haan were finally able to reopen their popular joint after the original version was forced to shut down in an unusual property dispute.
The pair, who created rooftop lounge Perch in Pershing Square in 2011, are creating another bar, called By the Way, which is to open at 438 S. Main St. next year. The newest offering will be around the corner from Must’s spot on Winston Street between Main and Los Angeles Street.
Thomas said when finding the new space it was important to open in a building with a good landlord and a contract they liked, especially after the drama surrounding its first restaurant.
“(Must) was our first project and all we wanted was to open,” said Thomas. “In the beginning, in particular, you’re so hungry to open something you’re willing to overlook certain things that maybe you shouldn’t overlook.”
By the Way is planned to be a European-style bar that’s open all day, serving light fare such as coffee and pastries in the morning to cocktails at night.
Den Haan said the 2,300-square-foot space, of which about 1,500 square feet will be dedicated to bar space, will have an intimate neighborhood feel. It will feature a live jazz band and a piano will be built into the bar.
“You could come in for an aperitivo or, in the morning, you could get a coffee and croissant,” she said. “At night, you could come with a friend and get a cocktail.”
Negotiations for the space with the landlord took about three months, and in the end, Thomas said they agreed on a 20-year lease. The partners plan to spend about $500,000 building out the space.
Uncorked
Thomas and Den Haan opened the first Must in 2008 with the aim of creating an unpretentious, neighborhood-style wine bar.
It opened in the midst of the revival of downtown as a restaurant and retail destination that followed the Los Angeles City Council’s passage of an adaptive reuse ordinance about 15 years ago that allows developers to convert century-old buildings into apartments and lofts, which in turn increased demand for retail options.
“There was a period in time where over 36 new restaurants opened up in a 12-month period,” said Adam Tischer, vice president in the downtown office of real estate services firm Colliers International. “I don’t know if you’ll ever see that again in the history of downtown, but that doesn’t mean there’s not a sustained appetite for restaurants.”
Must became a popular spot with downtown locals who would come in and play board games on Sunday night. Attractions included the serving of bottles of Colt 45 malt liquor in a brown paper bag.
But it came to an abrupt end four years ago on the morning of July 3. Thomas and Den Haan had been subleasing the space from Julie Rico, former owner of adjacent hot-dog restaurant Weeneez. When Rico sold her business, the new owner took control of both spaces and moved to consolidate them. Thomas and Den Haan said they only found out about the eviction when they arrived to find the locks had been changed.
The two filed a lawsuit against Weeneez shortly after the lockout; the case is still pending.
Den Haan said when the news broke that they had been evicted, downtown landlords began contacting them to relocate Must. As they searched for a new spot, the pair began working with Jeffrey Fish, owner of the Pershing Square Building, to create a two-level rooftop lounge called Perch with a third floor for special events and private parties.
Thomas admits they were hesitant to open up the 11,000-square-foot lounge.
“We did small neighborhood spots, and this was like a club,” she said.
Although Perch was popular, after about a year, the partners decided it was time to sell it and focus on reopening Must.
They found a home on the ground floor of the luxury Jeffries apartment building in the Old Bank District and with the help of investors, whom they would not name, spent about $1.5 million building out the 2,800-square-foot restaurant.
Den Haan and Thomas said it was important to raise additional capital through investors because they intend to open more restaurants and expand into other areas such as retail products.
“You can open a lot more places than sort of eking your way to one restaurant at a time,” said Thomas.
