Axe and the Struggles of Small Business
There is something joyful, convivial and community-oriented about dining (or breakfasting, brunching or lunching) outdoors in a garden. Particularly if the food served therein is organic, from local farmers, prepared with love and enjoyed with friends. With this in mind, it’s hard to believe that the process of serving food in an outdoor patio would require a political and legal battle that would drag on for months and years. Yet this is the case for Axe (pronounced Ah-shay) a neighborhood eatery on Abbot Kinney in Venice.
Restaurateur Profile: Joanna Moore
Axe is a gathering place for the hip of all tribes, beachgoers and celebrities; a haven for downtown workers and a lunch spot for locals. My first trip there was a lunch meeting with the former editor of this magazine. “This is a place you need to know about,” was her directive. During Axe’s Sunday community-centric family-style Sunday brunch, bikes park outside and people stroll from the neighborhood to feast on warm pancakes and rice bowls. These customers have driven the demand for Axe to serve meals in the outdoor garden area behind the main restaurant. Serving in the garden means that the restaurant is expanding (albeit only a little bit).
Expansion means permits. And it is the permitting process and the often-confusing proves of navigating the Venice Neighborhood Council, Venice Specific Plan, Los Angeles City Council, Coastal Commission and other city bureaucracies that is still dragging on, two years after the process began.
Axe owner Joanna Moore doesn’t belabor much over the time this process has taken (although it has been lengthy). What does make her frustrated is how she is thwarted in her attempts to strengthen the Abbot Kinney ‘hood by serving good, local organic food in a healthy environment for customers begging for the chance to dine in the garden. This is especially frustrating since Moore is a small business owner paying taxes and supporting other local businesses such as the growers and farmers while employing local labor.
Customers are doing more than beg: they’re putting in the time to back their belief in community. An email network alerts the Axe family to scheduled hearings. With a loyal contingent, I attended a Los Angeles City Council meeting on Wednesday morning, February 27. L.A. City Councilmember Bill Rosendahl, who represents the 11th District, of which Venice is a part, congratulated the group after the Council voted in Axe’s favor.
Unfortunately, the February vote did not open the garden just yet; the bureaucratic jousting continues. The hold-up? Requirements in the Venice Specific Plan call for increased parking with expansion. But in this neighborhood, there are no more parking spaces to be had, unless they materialize underground. Moore is asking for exemptions, particularly as the neighborhood is populated by pedestrians and bikers. Fortunately, former L.A. Mayor Reardon, after dining at Axe, understood the community vibe and value of the small business. While he’s championed her cause, she’s still run into roadblocks along the way, leading her to question: “How can one person, or a few people, oppose what many are in support of?”
Axe’s story is a commentary on the logjam of local politics and the challenges of being a small business owner in a system that seems to favor large developers. Fortunately for Venice, Moore’s still on the quest to open up the garden. To prepare, Moore and the Axe community are continuing to mobilize support.
Axe, 1009 Abbot Kinney Boulevard, Venice. (310) 664-9787. http://www/axerestuarant.com
By Felicia M. Tomasko, RN
Felicia Tomasko has spent more of her life practicing Yoga and Ayurveda than not. She first became introduced to the teachings through the writings of the Transcendentalists, through meditation, and using asana to cross-train for her practice of cross-country running. Between beginning her commitment to Yoga and Ayurveda and today, she earned degrees in environmental biology and anthropology and nursing, and certifications in the practice and teaching of yoga, yoga therapy, and Ayurveda while working in fields including cognitive neuroscience and plant biochemistry. Her commitment to writing is at least as long as her commitment to yoga. Working on everything related to the written word from newspapers to magazines to websites to books, Felicia has been writing and editing professionally since college. In order to feel like a teenager again, Felicia has pulled out her running shoes for regular interval sessions throughout Southern California. Since the very first issue of LA YOGA, Felicia has been part of the team and the growth and development of the Bliss Network.