LOS ANGELES -- Bobby Green and his business partners -- clothing manufacturers Dmitry Liberman and Dimitri Komarov -- have a knack for opening bars in under-the-radar neighborhoods on the brink of gentrification.
The trio's company, 1933 Group, operates nine themed bars and restaurants in the Los Angeles area.
Green is the creative designer behind the nightspots. His love of Americana propelled him to restore the group's latest venture, Idle Hour in North Hollywood, to its former glory, yet another example of a template that has set the group's taverns apart in the city's teeming bar scene.
More entrepreneurs are jumping into the $26 billion nightlife industry, inspired by reality TV shows such as Bar Rescue and the huge popularity of craft cocktails and local brews. As a result, standing out from the crowd has become a key focus in the last few years, said J.C. Diaz, executive director of the trade group Nightlife Association.
"We are beginning to notice within the industry that people want an experience," Diaz said. "It's not just the drinks and the food, but the atmosphere. That's what people are really paying for."
Millennials are driving a nightlife renaissance; many rely on bars as their principal spot to hang out with friends and meet new people, he said.
"They grew up with Starbucks with free Wi-Fi and drinks," Diaz said. "Now with bars, they can get drinks and food and see the game."
The Idle Hour advertises its distinct vibe starting with its barrel-shaped building, erected in the 1940s at the dawn of Southern California's car culture. Businesses eager to appeal to potential customers driving by put up structures shaped like animals, hats, food -- anything but buildings.
In the 1970s, Idle Hour was converted into a flamenco bar called La Cana that included a dance stage inside.
The owner closed it in the 1980s. A cultural-monument designation saved the barrel from demolition.
The partners' love of vintage Los Angeles was well known, so a friend alerted them that the building was coming on the market.
"There was a bidding war," Liberman said. "And we got it."
Using old black-and-white photos as a guide, Idle Hour was restored to what the building looked like in the 1940s. The clock that hangs just above the doorway came from "the clock guy in Burbank," who supplied the exact model that originally hung on the building, Green said, referencing a neighboring city.
The back patio holds another example of LA's rich architectural past: a replica of the Bulldog Cafe, which sold tamales and ice cream until the early 1960s. The Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles had been displaying the cigar-chomping canine, but when the museum underwent an extensive car-centric remodel, officials called Green to see if he wanted it.
"Our contractors chopped the thing into eight pieces," Liberman said. "That's what we do -- we restore vintage LA. It's kind of our aesthetic."
But 1933 Group has stumbled before.
A themed-to-the-gills spot called Stinkers, which paid homage to trucker dive bars, closed within a year of opening in the Silver Lake neighborhood. The bar featured supercheap beers and stuffed skunks that blew steam from their rears. It reopened as the more restrained Thirsty Crow.
Green said they misjudged how swiftly the neighborhood was changing. Locals were lining up to buy $8 lattes at new cafes and expensive imported cheeses at gourmet stores.
"It went from 'We're art kids that roam the streets' to 'I just bought a $2 million house in the hills' crowd," he said.
With so many spots popping up to cater to the craft-beer crowd, 1933 Group's bars also had to switch from a nonchalantly cool attitude to one that prized customer service and quality cocktails. Green said the trio made a conscious effort around 2007 to "kill people with kindness."
"Training had to be improved, ingredients had to be fresh, everything was more expensive to make," he said. "We had to change our company."
Their latest rehab venture is called Highland Park Bowl.
The venue was a bowling alley from the late 1930s until the 1980s, when it morphed into a punk club and party spot named Mr. T's. The partners have ripped the stage out, revealing eight vintage lanes. The Spanish Revival building will be restored.
Someday, 1933 Group may try hotels or distilling alcohol -- but always with that vintage touch.
"That's always been the goal: Let's create something that doesn't exist that takes customers out of their daily life," Green said. "People will seek that out in the same way people go to Disneyland for a day of escapism."
SundayMonday Business on 10/05/2015