Night time on Earth, the second Los Angeles spot from the minds behind acclaimed Echo Park cocktail bar Thunderbolt, opened in mid-December 2024 simply off the 101 on the Cahuenga Move, between the San Fernando Valley and the Hollywood Hills. The windowless area, lengthy an leisure trade hang-out and residential to many tenants during the last half-decade, is a “basic LA strip-mall dive bar,” says owner-operator Mike Capoferri. The plain exterior belies, maybe, the self-described “space-age cocktail celebration” ambiance of the latest renovations: Retrofuturist ‘80s-ish interiors by Denver/Reykjavik-based Wunder Werkz embrace a speckled Formica-style bar constructed from post-consumer recycled plastic and lounge-y leather-based banquettes solid within the horny gentle of blue and magenta. The design was impressed, Capoferri says, by “the neon-soaked, high-contrast visuals” of movies like Blade Runner and the work of Nicolas Winding Refn.
The drinks at Night time on Earth are referential, too. All are based mostly on basic “celebration drinks,” and duly cite their sources on the menu, however with the identical fashionable approach and flippantly madcap tinkering that make its sibling bar a favourite. (Among the many feats of cocktail science: The service temperature is a cool 16°F thanks to personalised refrigeration, which helps them use much less ice and due to this fact, much less water.) A Pornstar Martini, for instance, turns into the Dangerous Influencer when clarified and carbonated; the Area Crush is a closely tailored Midori Bitter made with, amongst different updates, actual melon as an alternative of Midori.
Maybe unsurprisingly, it hasn’t precisely been a simple time to open in LA. “Simply over 1.5 months into enterprise, issues have been… attention-grabbing,” says Capoferri. Between the continuing affect of final month’s wildfires and the everyday January lull, he explains, the bar is barely now beginning to actually settle right into a rhythm. Give it just a few extra months and a weekend at Night time on Earth would possibly look very totally different. However on one Saturday in early February, vibey tunes emanated from the DJ sales space, prospects dialed in codes for worldwide snacks and disposable cameras from the merchandising machine and Capoferri and his crew documented the lay of the land.
Saturday Night time by the Numbers
Hottest menu drink:
Disco Nap—our Espresso Martini with chamomile-infused blanco tequila, espresso, blueberry, amaro, lemon cordial and vanilla
Hottest name drink:
tequila-soda
Most unhinged name drink:
“mezcal mule, no bubbles” 🤷♂️
Busiest hour of service: 8 to 9 p.m.
Workers shift drink: Montucky Chilly Snacks & Mezcalito
(Suspected) first dates: 4
How have issues been the primary few months? Has something differed out of your expectations?
We opened quietly on objective to get our geese in a row, however the wildfires and a very dry January made the sluggish begin for much longer than anticipated. We’re simply now beginning to actually get the phrase out about what we’re doing, so enterprise is simply now choosing up. —Mike Capoferri, proprietor/operator
A month or two in, are there any kinks in service that also must be labored out?
So many kinks nonetheless. Largely little stuff—the place all the pieces is saved, setting prep pars, cut up up sections on the ground, and so forth. By the three-month mark, we’ll actually have the place operating like a well-oiled machine. —Capoferri
What was the spotlight of this Saturday night time service?
A simple, completely positioned shot glass slide down the bar that landed proper in entrance of the meant visitor centimeters from one other glass. —Wes Meyn, head bartender
What was the lowlight of this Saturday night time service?
Can or not it’s two? A/C went down with a full room and carbonation rig sprung a leak. —Rachel Carr, bartender
How would you describe the general “vibe” of the night time?
A constant stream of inconsistency. —Kayla Garcia, bartender
Favourite overheard line of the night time:
“IF I WAS A MULTI-MULTI-BILLIONAIRE THIS WOULD BE MY MAN CAVE.” —Man on the bar
Favourite drink on the menu proper now:
Swamp Factor: our milk punch model of a Swamp Water with inexperienced Chartreuse, pineapple, clairin, cocchi, sencha, lime, coconut. —Capoferri
