For the last two years, I’ve trekked up to Northern California to celebrate World Cocktail Week (aka: San Francisco Cocktail Week, up there). This year, I decided to forgo the schlep and stick around Los Angeles to see what The Edison had up its sleeve – and, man, am I glad I did!
Just walking into The Edison is like entering into an interactive cocktailian carnival parallel universe. The environ itself is the perfect blend of one part historic building (ironically not called the Edison building as some believe), one part theatrical décor, one part circus-worthy entertainment (including a albino boa wrapped around a lithe hip-shaking performer doing acrobatics on the bar). Shake that all up with some classic style drinks – and you’re taking a little sip of the fine life.
One of my favorite things about the Edison was the music! Good gracious! Vaud & the Villains were hand-picked out of a small jazz club in the depths of 'somewhere in Los Angeles' and lured to downtown. A stage show and concert at once, every member of the band – from horns to drums to bodaciously bootie-licious female vocalists blasts red-hot energy into the crowd. Such Fun! The Villains even bring their own burlesque dancers who sizzle up the stage writhing and wiggling their tail feathers for the spectators. (I dying to know where they found those sexy lace-up-the-back black socks!)
The Edison has received many accolades since its opening in 2007 as a luminary on the downtown nightclub scene. However, since Beverage Director Aidan Demarest and hotshot LA bartenders Marcos Tello, Chris Ojeda and Joseph Brooke (among others) arrived on the scene within the last year, there is little doubt that it is a destination for the serious cocktail lover, as well. Last night’s World Cocktail Week extravaganza included the historic Moscow Mule (vodka, ginger beer and lime) served in proper copper cups for only $5.
The Liquid Muse “must tries” on the regular cocktail list include: Absinthe 75 (a twist on the French 75 champagne cocktail); The Edison (whiskey anyone?), and the 19th Century for a few of the outstanding examples of classic-cocktails-meets-modern mixology. For those looking for something more mysterious, flag down the green fairy for a pre-bottled absinthe cocktail from her cart.
The club’s next big shin dig will be the Radio Room in July. Take my advice and put it on your calendar now. Once you visit The Edison, you will only regret the many evenings you didn’t spend there…