Chainsaw's unconventional fundraise.
Plus Staud's billionaire backers, Blue Note's Hollywood debut, and the resurgence of pen and paper.
Happy hump day, everyone. A big thanks to Delia for the shout in Deez Links yesterday. If you’re here on her rec, welcome to the Rag. If you’re not, she’s wickedly smart and insightful, and you should check her out immediately.
On Monday, the Rag hit 1,000 subscribers. I’d secretly hoped to hit that in six months, so getting there in less than six weeks feels very cool. I started the Rag to fill a gap I saw in LA culture reporting, and I’m so glad people are reading it. I hope it keeps growing from here.
If you’d like to personally contribute to the Rag’s growth, share it with your friends below. You can also follow along on Instagram. <3
📅 Mark your calendar…
Tonight, 6/25: La Morra, LA’s favorite pop up pizzeria, takes over Canyon Coffee at 5:30pm. Expect good food, cool people and, crucially, ice cream.
Saturday, 6/28: Good Boy Wine is hosting a big old natural wine party at 5pm in the Arts District. Get your Good Boy & Friends tickets here.
Sunday, 6/29: The Echo Park Repair Fair returns to The Hunt Vintage from 10am-1pm. Bring literally anything broken you have (clothes, electronics, furniture, jewelry, your heart…) and they’ll fix it.
Chainsaw’s unconventional fundraise.
I’m always a bit skeptical when I see a restaurant roll out a GoFundMe. Whether it’s an attempt to raise startup capital or a desperate plea for survival, my first thought is always something along the lines of…isn’t this supposed to be a business? If you can’t foot the startup costs for your business yourself — which, to be clear, most people can’t — well, that’s what investors are for.
Don’t get me wrong — there are instances in which crowdfunding makes sense, and the nonexistent margins in the restaurant industry leave little room for error. But far too often, it seems like We just need $XX,XXX to cover the next month! is really just a nicer way to say We actually never figured out how to make the numbers work.
With that in mind, I was pleasantly surprised to see Chainsaw’s fundraiser launch yesterday ahead of its upcoming opening in Melrose Hill. If you’re unfamiliar, Chainsaw owner Karla Subero Pittol (formerly of the late great Here’s Looking at You) has been hosting extremely chic, IYKYK pop-ups in a Historic Filipinotown garage since 2019. After bootstrapping most of the buildout herself, Karla’s now raising the last-mile funds for her first real brick and mortar through a partnership with Honeycomb Credit. Essentially, she’s asking for a loan from the public — it’s crowdfunding, except donors get paid back.
This is a model of nontraditional restaurant financing I can get behind — it allows consumers to support their favorite businesses without giving away free money, and it’s an opportunity for small business owners to obtain financing without going to a traditional bank. Also…I’m excited to eat at Chainsaw.
If you’re a fan of Karla’s, you can invest here (and earn 11.25% interest) anytime in the next 29 days.
🍽️ And now for some table scraps…
Analog is in, screen time is…not out. Yesterday, Casey Lewis highlighted the recent (re)popularization of annotating books. This morning, the guy next to me at Canyon spent a good fifteen minutes methodically filling in a circle with a Sharpie. Ditching your blue light glasses and putting pen to paper has become a radical act these days — but only if you post about it afterward.
New York’s famed Blue Note Jazz Club is opening in Hollywood. Blue Note debuts its first west coast outpost (within the ArcLight Hollywood campus) on 8/14. Opening acts include Andra Day, Charlie Puth, and Robert Glasper. Now if we could just get the ArcLight to reopen…
A bunch of billionaires invested in Staud. Sarah Staudinger’s aggressively expanding brand announced today that it “received a significant investment from a consortium of multi-billion dollar family offices.” Sarah loves surrounding herself with extraordinarily wealthy people, but also, her company’s legitimately doing well. I’m looking forward to Lauren’s take here.
Kim Kardashian stars in a new Bratz movie. Interestingly, she’ll play the villain!
California lawmakers approved Gavin Newsom’s $750mm tax incentive for film and TV production in the state. Coming across an on-location film set always brings me a strange type of unfettered joy, and I hope that happens more now. More importantly, the expanded credit is expected to support an additional 4,400-5,500 film and TV jobs in California.
City councilmember Eunisses Hernandez and her challenger, Raul Claros, both put public pressure on the Dodgers to address ICE’s presence in LA. Soon after their statements, the Dodgers made a $1mm donation to immigrant families.
This La Crescenta woman makes ceramic lamps and vases to commemorate your departed pets — but they’re cool. I’m going to be honest — this is not something I’d normally be into. But Rami Kim’s creations are unique and, dare I say…cool? I don’t have a dog yet, but I feel like one of her figurines could be a good stopgap.
Here’s a pretty great two-bedroom in Beachwood Canyon for under $1m. The kitchen could use a little zhuzhing, but the beamed ceilings, casement windows, and incredible light make this a great buy in my book. Plus, you’re not too far up, so you can walk to the Beachwood Cafe, Aralda, and the Oaks.
Filling in a circle with a sharpie for 15 mins? Wow. Happy hump day