Upper crust
Not No Bar, Rory's Place, Cambria, Martha's Vineyard, $10M+ deals, Super Bowl viewing, Kolo House Shoes, FOUND hiring, MORE
BARS • First Round
Bar pies
Santa Monica’s new Not No Bar has virtually no online presence — save for a postless profile on Instagram, where it bills itself as a “neighborhood pizza disco.” The description tracks: With only a handful of starters and pizzas, Not No Bar is not quite a restaurant, but not just an excellent cocktail bar. And on a recent Thursday night, it was packed to the gills, music blaring from the hi-fi audio system.
Housed in the Main Street space that used to be Isla, Not No is the work of Dudley Market owners Conner Mitchel and Dina O’Connor, who soft-opened it the week of the fires. But that unfortunate timing doesn’t seem to be deterring visitors.
With a handful of slick leather booths and standing tables, the decor is a departure from Isla’s breezy pink hues. But the central pizza oven remains, turning out a menu of five or so delightful pies a night, like the soppressata-topped Bang Bang. Ines Barlerin Glaser of pizza event and catering company Lupa Cotta consulted on the dough, which has all the elements you want in a Neapolitan-style pie: puffiness, chewiness, blistering, and just the right amount of salt. The clam pie (above), slicked with lemon cream and sprinkled with crispy garlic, is one of the best this East Coast native has ever tasted.
The cocktail menu from Kent Thompson, another Isla holdover, is a winner, too. The well-balanced Wall of Sound, a mix of mezcal, Campari, grapefruit, pineapple, guava, strawberry, and orgeat has just a touch of smoke, while the Curry Killer — made with a smack of green curry — has a gentle amount of spice and heat. Both are easily (and maybe too) drinkable.
To be clear, Not No Bar is a little chaotic. On our visit, it wasn’t clear who to check in with for the waitlist, so my friend and I ended up eating pizza standing at the end of the long bar. But it seems like people are looking to let loose after a hard start to the year. And for that, maybe a “neighborhood pizza disco” is exactly what we needed. –Karen Palmer
→ Not No Bar (Santa Monica) • 2424 Main St • Thur-Mon 5p-1a • Walk-ins only.
LA RESTAURANT LINKS: Post-fire, can Inn of the Seventh Ray hang on in Topanga Canyon? • Top NYC ramen restaurant Ippudo coming to Culver City • Closings: Pasadena’s Bar Chelou on 2/16, South LA’s Post & Beam on 2/27, Hollywood rooftop hang Mama Shelter already • Vinca Minor Winery ceases production in Sonoma • Why is my drink so damn weird? • The economics of dry January.
WORK • FOUND Jobs
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Having lived through (and mostly ignored) the rises and falls of Flipboard, Facebook Instant Articles, Google AMP, and TikTok (risen again!), we’re wary of relying on social media for distribution. Strategies shift, algorithms reset, entire ecosystems disappear.
That’s why you’re probably reading this FOUND dispatch in your email inbox. It’s the best, most efficient way for us to make sure we reach you directly, at least for now.
But even as we endeavor to build a lasting media brand insulated from the whims of platforms, we’re still building audience. And so we’re going to beef up our capabilities a bit.
This quarter, we’re looking to bring on a freelance social media manager to handle accounts across the FOUND network. That entails posting regularly on Instagram and Substack Notes, fleshing out strategy on those platforms and others, and helping translate the FOUND voice, wherever it travels.
Ideal candidates will have a few years professional experience managing and executing on social media strategy, preferably for a media brand, and at least a few hours a week to spend on this project. If that’s you, drop us a line at found@itsfoundla.com with some samples of your work.
REAL ESTATE • Market Report
Luxe life
It was a strong year for ultra luxury home purchases in 2024, with 1,744 properties trading hands nationwide at $10M or above. That’s a 12% increase over last year, per Compass’s year-end Ultra Luxury Report. Ten markets accounted for 70% of all sales, with Greater Los Angeles in the second slot, Orange County in fifth, and San Diego in 10th.
The full top 10:
Manhattan NY • 307 sales (20%)
Greater Los Angeles CA • 190 (-18% YoY)
Miami-Dade FL • 152 (29%)
Palm Beach County FL • 132 (21%)
Orange County CA • 107 (32%)
Silicon Valley & Peninsula CA • 72 (1%)
Southwest Florida FL • 72 (76%)
The Hamptons NY • 70 (-3%)
Aspen CO • 58 (-12%)
San Diego CA • 56 (30%)
Elsewhere in the ultra-luxe neighborhood, Silicon Valley & Peninsula (72 sales, 1%) also cracked the top 10, Lake Tahoe surged (23 sales, 92%), Palm Springs (30 sales, -70%) dipped, and Santa Barbara and Montecito (38 sales, 12%) remained players.
Some other emerging markets: Snowmass Village, Colorado notched 21 $10M+ sales, 3x last year’s number. Tampa Bay and Sarasota, Florida doubled, with 26 sales across the market. Finally, Greater Nashville splashed onto the scene, with nine transactions in 2024 versus last year’s single sale.
WORK & PLAY LINKS: To rebuild or not: Altadena small businesses and SoCal multifamily owners take stock • Landlords try to sell fire victims on living Downtown • How The Getty was saved • Waymo pulling onto LA freeways • Beyoncé launching Cowboy Carter tour with 4 nights at SoFi in spring • Dell retiring hybrid work • LinkedIn removes accounts of #OpenToWork AI ‘co-workers.’
WORK • Thursday Routine
Ojai there
MEAVE MCAULIFFE (above right with sister Rory)• chef/co-owner • Rory's Place and Rory’s Other Place
Neighborhood you live in: Ojai
It’s Thursday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
The kitchen is already bustling when I arrive. Pasta is being rolled out. The wood fire is crackling with charred onions for our soubise, the prep cooks are picking tons of fresh herbs, soup flavors are simmering on the stove, and I'm reviewing what needs to be done for our dessert menu.
What’s on the agenda for today?
Thursday is the day I like to make the changes to the menu we've been working on throughout the week at the restaurant. Charred kale with hazelnuts? Lion’s mane mushrooms with green risotto? Dandelion green salad with dates? Today, we’re putting on the new vegetable dishes we added to our wood-fired station. It's also my meetings day. I have weekly manager meetings to discuss shared goals and room for improvement. Very important, not to be missed.
Any restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
My good friend chef Travis Lett recently reopened his restaurant in Venice, RVR, on Abbot Kinney. I couldn’t be more excited to be going. We worked together for six years at Gjelina, and I'm still one of his biggest fans. When the space was called MTN, it was my favorite restaurant in LA.
How about a little leisure or culture?
I loved Doug Aitken's new multimedia artwork, Lightscape, in collaboration with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He's one of my favorite artists, and has a wonderful creative relationship with my mother Jo-Ann, who's been in a few of his pieces. She’s featured in the new film that’s being shown at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. His immersive artworks are rich and transportive.
Any weekend getaways?
My favorite weekend getaway from Ojai is to drive up the coast to Cambria, a little sleepy beach town on Moonstone Beach. We usually stay right on the beach, at White Water Inn. It's always foggy and there's little to do except walk on the beach, read, and enjoy the fire. Our favorite breakfast spot (known for their organic blue corn waffles) is The Hidden Kitchen, just down the road. It really helps me decompress after a busy week at the restaurant. And a great pit stop on the way up is a delicious lunch at Bell's! On the way back, we always stop at Bob's Well Bread for sourdough bread and great pastries. I just got back from there on Tuesday, feeling rested and excited for the week.
What was your last great vacation?
Martha's Vineyard this past summer in late August. I used to live there and I try to go back every year. The island is a special place for me, and there are so many folks there to visit and rekindle our friendship. Clamming has become an addiction that we do every year. It's meditative in its pace and the full sensory immersion as we plunge our hands into the mud at low tide and root around for those sublime littlenecks.
First, we stop at the cafe 7A Foods in West Tisbury for some generous sandwiches like the crowd favorite Liz Lemon — pastrami on rye with potato chips inside. Mo's Lunch also makes incredible sandwiches to take with you on your day’s adventure. Then we stop at Beetlebung Farm in Chilmark for fresh heirloom vegetables to bring home. With the freshly harvested clams in hand, we always have a big dinner party with enormous steaming bowls of vongole pasta, fresh corn, and summer tomato salads. Swimming, surfing, long beach days, tennis, lobster rolls at Larsen's Fish Market in Menemsha, and all the incredible island farms, I love it all.
If we get stuck with a rainy day, which is often the case with the summer storms, we head into Vineyard Haven for some shopping and food. I used to work with the folks who own Behind the Bookstore Coffee Shop, which is one of the best places to get great coffee on the island, they have a little outpost in Vineyard Haven. Lennox & Harvey is a really cute new boutique, and down the street, grab a book at Bunch of Grapes Bookstore for a great beach read. Last summer we really enjoyed the tacos at the newly opened El Barco Taqueria.
GETAWAYS LINKS: Delta planning new LAX-MEL (Melbourne) direct flights • Navigating new restrictions at Delta Sky Clubs • The changing face of hotel ownership in Mendocino • Salt Bae shuttering Las Vegas steakhouse • In Baja, forthcoming Park Hyatt Los Cabos now accepting reservations • Private jet pitfalls, examined • The cutthroat game of snagging a pool chair on vacation.
GOODS & SERVICES • FOUND Shop
Shoes for staying in
I first visited the Cambridge, MA, location of Topdrawer in search of Japanese notebooks and pens to sate my stationery obsession. But instead of leaving with paper goods, I walked out with a pair of color-blocked corduroy house shoes.
With a plush, cloudlike lining, these shoes are designed for the Japanese tradition of removing outdoor shoes before entering the home and replacing them with clean, comfortable indoor footwear. Topdrawer, which also has LA outposts in Larchmont, Venice, and Pasadena, carries a wide range of house shoes, produced by their in-house brand, Kolo, in materials like linen, suede, wool, and corduroy — all with the same modern, minimalistic aesthetic. For frequent travelers, the house shoes fold flat for easy packing, in accordance with Topdrawer’s “Tools for Nomads” ethos. They’ll make you feel at home wherever you are. –Phoebe Fry
→ Shop: Kolo Japanese House Shoes (Topdrawer), $95.
CULTURE & LEISURE • Let It Whip
Foster the People • Hollywood Palladium (Hollywood) • Fri @ 7p • general admission, $105 per
Whiplash in Concert feat. Justin Hurwitz • Saban Theatre (Beverly Hills) • Sat @ 3p • mezzanine, $240 per
Neko Case and Kathleen Hanna presented by Book Soup • First Congregational Church of Los Angeles (Koreatown) • Sun @ 4p • general admission, from $29
ASK FOUND
Today, three FOUND subscriber PROMPTS for which we seek intel:
What new fitness/wellness trend/class are you taking on?
What’s your new winter bar?
Tell us a secret about your favorite ski mountain!
Got answers or more questions? Hit reply or email found@itsfoundla.com.
RESTAURANTS & BARS • The Nines
Super Bowl viewing & provisioning
The Nines are FOUND's distilled lists of LA’s best. Additions or subtractions? Hit reply or found@itsfoundla.com.
La Sorted’s (Chinatown, above), viewing party, indoor and outdoor seating, large-screen TVs, $75 minimum/person, catering also available, reserve