Moby, the American singer-songwriter, musician and DJ who is well known for his electronic music has a restaurant space in Los Angeles. A few months ago, LA Weekly reported that Moby has taken up the space at 2870 Rowena Avenue in Silver Lake Los Angeles, California. It already had a name with tables and chairs but never opened to the public. Moby sat down with the Hollywood Reporter and talks about how difficult it was for him to open the business.
His new vegan restaurant, Little Pine, set in the trendy Silver Lake neighborhood of L.A. had difficulty in opening this past few months. Moby claims that the city of L.A. makes sure that they don't make it easy for businesses to open in the area. HR quoted him saying "I think they should have fired all of LA's bureaucracy and hired like Elon Musk or something to come in and re-write the city charter."
The reason Moby wanted to open up a vegan restaurant in the first place is because, not only has he been a vegan for 28 years, he mainly wants to advance the life choice - one of his goals in life. He doesn't want to criticize people in their different beliefs but he wants to be able to provide a space for a compelling representation of becoming vegan as an alternative to eating animals. He goes on to question the consistency in people's lifestyle for example, one that continues to donate to animal rights charities but still drive through an In-N-Out Burger joint while you're smoking a cigarette with kids in the back seat of your Prius.
Why name it Little Pine? When Moby moved to L.A. a few years ago, he describes that there are two parts of Los Angeles, the Palm area and the Pine area. He identifies more with the Pine section. And the word Little - he had a band called Little Death and when in doubt, he suggests putting the word Little before the noun.
You can expect Moby to be there at the restaurant everyday. He claims that there's no point in opening a restaurant if he's not going to be there everyday. He wants to do it not for the financial return but for the emotional satisfaction. He designed the space, the menu, the forks and the bathroom tiles - wanting an observed level of excellence.
Since he doesn't have a partner, this restaurant will be his social life. The kitchen is run by Chef Anne Thornton, former chef of Waverly Inn and Hotel Griffou. You can watch out for the opening on their Facebook page.
This isn't Moby's first business venture, he opened up a small tea shop with then girlfriend Kelly Tisdale called Teany.