Meet Mark Van Gessel of Hinano Cafe in Venice

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mark Van Gessel.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Mark. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Twenty-five years ago, my wife and I made the move from New Your City out West with stops in Mississippi and Phoenix, ultimately settling in Venice, CA. Our motto was don’t stop until we get to “the beach”. The move out West was driven by my civil engineering career, managing the construction of public works projects for MWD and MTA, building such public facilities as water reservoirs and mass transit rail lines in and around Los Angeles.

Hinano Café was the first bar I went into while checking out different neighborhoods to live. The vibe just hit home and I said to myself, “I’m going to own this place one day”. That chance came up one weekend while having a beer and burger. I overheard the place was up for sale so I knew that I had to try and buy it. However, funding was an issue and so 3 of us pooled our resources to purchase the business. Lee Glazer, Andy Schelick and I became friends and partners with a focus on restoring the business to its glory days. Lee worked at Hinano Cafe as a bartender since 1963 and was the foundation of the partnership and her presence can still be felt since her passing in 2010. Andy and I have continued on as partners and friends ever since.

I always looked at myself as someone who is working to make an impact large or small, by building water storage facilities and Light rail project, to buying Hinano Café so it would not change. The best memories I have is when I am at Hinano Café and overhearing people say how they love the place without them knowing who I am. Comments like that is keeps me going.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Smooth would not be the way to describe taking over and managing the place. The business needed a lot of love and nurturing to get it to where it is today and trying to assure it stayed true to its roots. When we purchased the business, it had 4 tap handles 2 pouring Budweiser and 2 pouring red wine. It had a tv with rabbit ears antenna and all the equipment was past its life expectancy. Additionally, it had a reputation for being a very rough place and was not considered a fun place to hang out by women, even when with their guy friends or dates.

But with lots of hand holding and attention to details like expanding the beer offerings and assuring a friendly happy environment we slowly elevated the reputation of the establishment to its current status as the best dive bar in Venice.

We have customers who have been come back in after years and they can still fell the old vibe. It’s a daily chore to keep things current while maintaining the past.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Hinano Cafe – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Hinano Café is over 50 years old, making it one of the oldest establishments that has not had major changes in Venice and al of Los Angeles. It’s an institution in Venice being the second oldest bar in the area and the oldest that has not changed names. The bar’s history is still talked about today. The legend started when the first owner sailed on a 30 foot boat to Tahiti, was an extra in the movie Munity on the Bounty, saved his money and returned home to open Hinano Café. He modeled the place after his experiences in Tahiti.

Our philosophy is to stay close to our roots, honoring our patrons by preserving the Venice local vibe. We serve icy cold beer and good wine, quality food like burgers that continually get voted “best burger” in LA Weekly, Thrillist and other notable publications “best of” lists.

Hinano Café is also famous for some of the historic patrons that called our bar home, we were a local drinking place for the Doors/ Jim Morrison. Our place has had people stop in and play a set such as Billy Idol and Jackson Browne. We are also featured in numerous films and TV shows causing people to imagine themselves in their favorite scene from films like The China Syndrome and Dexter, to S.W.A.T and CSI Los Angeles.

We are proud to provide an atmosphere that welcomes customers of all ages and backgrounds, and keeps them returning time after time, for the fun, music, pool and last but not least, reasonable prices of the fare. This is really what sets us apart from the rest of the businesses.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
Hinano Café has become a labor of love for Andy & I and we plan to keep the place going. Venice has changed much over the 25 years I have lived here, some for the good some for the bad, but it continues to have the eccentric vibe that first drew me here. Places like Hinano Café are what create that atmosphere rather than a chain/franchise. One can go to Abbott Kinney for that now. I work with the other local businesses to improve Venice while not letting to become a cookie-cutter neighborhood. I and other business owners were instrumental in getting the area its own designation “Washington Square” by Los Angeles City. I plan to work on keeping this area one of Los Angeles best spots to live and visit with Hinano Café being a keystone of that plan.

Contact Info:

• Address: 15 Washington Blvd
  Venice, CA 90292
• Website: www.hinanocafevenice.com
• Phone: 310-822-3902
• Email: info@hinanocafvenice.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/hinanovenice
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/hinanocafevenice
• Twitter: twitter.com/HinanoVenice
• Yelp: www.yelp.com/biz/hinano-caf%C3%A9-venice-2

Image Credit:
Carolina Paredes

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