An open call for east side singles.
Plus Henry Barrett doesn't think LA is ugly, Canyon's wine-forward future, and a Snow White house for rent.
Happy Friday, everyone. Last night I went to Jason Stewart’s event with Flashfood at the Gelson’s wine bar in Franklin Village. Guests included LA Grocery & Café owner Caitlin Sullivan, Oscar winner Cord Jefferson, and Substack power broker Max Stein; Jason made sure the little sushi plates being passed around came with fish-shaped soy sauce droppers. Moving forward, all parties should be held at grocery store wine bars.
Tonight I’m venturing to West Hollywood (for the first time in….months) for dinner at Sunset Tower and drinks at Chateau. Then it’s back east to Chinatown for Loose. For those wondering, 74% of you said the correct way to walk the res is counterclockwise.
In today’s issue: architect Henry Barrett doesn’t think LA is ugly, an open call for the hot guys of the east side, Canyon Coffee might serve wine and beer soon, yet another coffee shop is coming to Echo Park, Ali LaBelle’s gift guide is out, and one of Los Feliz’s famed Snow White cottages is available to rent.
East Side Singles returns next week ❤️
At long last, the East Side Singles roundup returns next week — and in an effort to help the extremely eligible ladies of the east side find love (or at the bare minimum, lust), this roundup will be all-male. If you’re an eligible east side dude, or if you have an undeniable guy to nominate, DM me.
Henry Barrett doesn’t think LA is ugly. And he’s an architect.
A few months ago, while procrastinating on any number of things, I stumbled upon this Silver Lake craftsman in Architectural Digest. I loved it, and subsequently spent a good twenty minutes digging into the work of Henry Barrett, the east side-based architect and designer who restored it (and lives in it).
Days later, when I offhandedly asked Rob Aquino who I should interview for the Rag, his immediate and enthusiastic answer was….Henry Barrett. So I made it a priority to meet him. As I quickly learned over drinks, Henry has great taste, the best references, and a more contemporary approach than his 1912 craftsman might suggest.
You were previously a New Yorker. How’d you end up in Silver Lake?
When I first moved to LA, it was a trial for six months. I moved with some friends from New York, and we signed a six-month lease to see if we liked it. We were in Beachwood at another architect’s house — this guy Andre Herrero. We ended up staying there for a year and a half. And then I bought [my] house and fixed it up.
Did you know you wanted to be on the east side when you moved here?
No, I realized that gradually. I didn’t know LA at all. We found [Andre’s place] through a friend of a friend, and we just took it. And then we gradually got the hang of things.
One of the more common complaints I hear about LA is that it’s an architecturally ugly city. As an architect, what are your thoughts on that?
I think it’s actually architecturally interesting! It’s so eclectic, everyone can kind of do their own thing. It’s one house [of a certain style], and then the house next to it is a completely different style — everyone just goes for it. It’s fun to see the traditional storybook stuff right next to the Case Study and midcentury houses, the Thom Mayne and Frank Gehry. It feels really western, like everyone’s totally free to do whatever they want. The city’s totally not cohesive, and there are a lot of infrastructure gaps, which can be kind of ugly. So I feel like it’s really an urban issue, not an architecture issue. But I wouldn’t know how to fix it, because that’s also its charm.
Other than the architecture, what inspires you about LA?
I like the freedom a lot. I feel like because it’s a more acting- and music-oriented city, a lot of the creativity is freer — it’s kind of emotional, rather than intellectual. I also love how the buildings react to the landscape. They didn’t flatten the city, so you have hills in the middle of it, and you never know what you’re going to get in terms of sites and views and so on. On the east coast, everything’s flat and prepared for the build, so everything’s just a regular building. But here, it constantly has to be a weird building in a weird shape because it’s on a hill or an irregular lot. People are attracted to LA because there are so many different natural features — the mountains, skiing, surfing, all that — and I feel like the buildings react the same way.
Do you have a favorite building in LA?
Oh, my god. I really like early Gehry buildings. I love the Thom Mayne stuff from the ’80s. I love Schindler buildings that are stepped along the hillside, because I just think that’s so smart.
I imagine it might be hard for an architect to pick a place for himself. What drew you to your current house?
It almost felt like the end of LA. Like, you go up the hill and it gets really quiet, and the city kind of fades away. You can hear the crickets. And coming from New York, I sort of romanticized the idea of having a little house with a yard and everything, so it fit that perfectly. It’s a very low-key house, but then you go in and it has insane views of the city. That kind of did it for me.
And finally, your top spots on the east side are….
There’s a great bookstore in Atwater Village, Alias Books East. I love Speranza, it’s so good. I love Ètra, with all the plywood, and I really love Taix. It has such a specific vibe, and my friend has a party there. And then Varsity, the vintage clothing store.
🍽️ And now for some table scraps…
From the tip line — an application to sell beer and wine went up in the window at Canyon Coffee this week. The number of people who reached out to me with this news was frankly staggering. I’ve long said there’s clear potential for Canyon to extend its daily hours and become a neighborhood wine bar in the evenings — they’re already open until 6pm three days a week (5pm the other four); what’s a few more hours and some alcohol? L’Appartement 4F has had huge success with this exact model in Brooklyn, and there’s a captive audience waiting to spend their money on Canyon’s version. According to several sources I spoke with, the pending liquor license is initially just so Canyon doesn’t have to hire out for the many evening pop-ups they host. That said, it also clearly opens the door for a more permanent evening operation moving forward.
The Los Feliz 3 has a new director of programming. The nonprofit American Cinematheque, which manages the neighborhood-favorite theater on Vermont, just named Chris LeMaire as its new DoP. As part of that role, he’ll decide what movies play in Los Feliz (and also at the Egyptian in Hollywood and the Aero in Santa Monica).
I really wanted to steal a Gelson’s-branded wine glass last night, but I didn’t. I then looked online to see if I could buy one, and unfortunately that’s also not an option. A bit of free, unsolicited advice to the powers that be at Gelson’s HQ — you should sell the branded wine glasses (and also the tallboys).
From the tip line — Dumbstruck Coffee is opening soon in Echo Park. A reader pointed out construction permits in the coffeehouse’s name in the recently refurbished strip mall at 1498 Sunset Boulevard (where it’ll be neighbors with A Tí and a StretchLab location). Dumbstruck, which launched in the City of Industry and recently opened a location in Koreatown, will face heavy competition on that stretch of Sunset. Good luck to all involved.
Netflix has officially greenlighted Win the Mall, an eight-episode reality competition series in which contestants compete to take over storefronts and eventually…manage the entire mall. Yes, this is real. According to the streamer’s PR release, Win the Mall “is for anyone who ever dreamed of what it would be like to call a shopping mall your home.” I have never once wanted to live in a mall, but from a purely sociological perspective, this is fascinating to me.
No link, just an observation — if the people I’ve run into over the past few days are any indicator, the pandemic-era bleached-blond hair trend is returning with a vengeance. The first half of 2025 was all about the buzz; the holidays will be the time to bleach.
Justin Bieber got shut out of all the top Grammy categories. Kind of surprising, especially given how omnipresent Swag was a few months back.
East side creative director and certified Person With Taste just dropped her annual holiday shop. Time to get started on all the shopping you’ll otherwise procrastinate on. She’s got some really good stuff, believe me.
The Farmer’s Almanac is shutting down its print publication after more than 200 years. The Old Farmer’s Almanac, which is a completely different publication (and longtime Farmer’s Almanac competitor) dating to 1792, remains in print.
Friend of the Rag — and very cool east side real estate agent — Sam Arneson just listed her own investment units in Silver Lake for rent. Both units recently emerged from a top-to-bottom renovation and feature two bedrooms, Zia tiles, great light, and a charming back patio. They’re located steps from Sunset (but far enough away to be quiet) and crucially, they both have air conditioning.
If you only need one bedroom (plus a loft for guests), you should definitely buy this house off Silver Lake Boulevard. At first glance, $1.35mm seems steep for just one legal bedroom. But when you factor in the level of finishes, the charm, the incredible outdoor space, and its location in what’s arguably the best pocket of Silver Lake, it starts to pencil out. The house currently belongs to the actor Charlie Carver, who had it featured in the NYT a few years back. Prospective buyers will be devastated to know he paid….just $783k for it.
And if you’ve always wanted to rent one of the storybook Snow White cottages in Los Feliz, now’s your chance. This one, asking $3,395, is technically a studio, but it feels bigger thanks to the lofted sleeping area. The eight-cottage property it’s a part of is thought to have inspired parts of the 1937 film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs; Walt Disney had his animation studio around the corner, and at least one of his animators occupied a cottage. The property also appeared onscreen as the Sierra Bonita apartments in David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive.
Have a great weekend everyone, see you Monday <3
Roll call - Clockwise Coalition: 26%ers, let’s stroll out
Elliott Smith also lived in the Snow White cottages for awhile.