Redwood Bar & Grill

Since I first heard of this kitschy little place I've wanted to go and the opportunity arose when a friend asked if we wanted to celebrate a birthday there. Downtown LA has gone through an amazing transformation. It's gone from being a place where mass exodus happens at 6pm to an evening destination. The city developers and planners have done a good job of encouraging people, other than skid row dwellers, to live down there so there has to be something for them to do locally. There's great restaurants, theater, museums, sporting events, shopping and clubs. The Redwood is a landmark and a sort of jumping off point for many bands. Its a cheap cover and if you get there early enough there's usually time to hear four bands play. The door man's a bit of a dick but you can forgive his attitude when you see the decent list of beer they carry.

The Redwood Bar & Grill is decorated in a nautical theme like that of the captain's quarters equipped with with all the loot - wenches, rum casks, skulls. The menu is decent and the prices are fair. If you come late there's standing room only but the band is audible from every nook in the bar. The best viewing, however, comes from the main stage area. One of the best things about this place is the diverse group of people it attracts. The bands are all different so you're bound to run into a quirky variety of listeners.

The first band, Two Dollar Bash, was an eclectic group of Scots and a Frenchman living and recording in Germany with a very folksy, bohemian Irish traditional sound. Huh? But it worked. It worked so well we actually purchased a CD from them. The next band was a couple of freaks from Tuscon called, appropriately, Mission Freaks. They had an interesting sound but used so much strobe lighting I thought I was going to have a seizure. The female singer of the next group had some amazing pipes (rack and back, too) and blew the house away. As did her female drummer. But the last was an old time punker band, unimpressive enough for me to forget their name, with a front man being one of the biggest a-holes I've ever seen. We took this Sid-Vicious attitude as an exit queue and left the building before bottles flew.