Today we’d like to introduce you to Dimitri Komarov and Bobby Green.
Dimitri and Bobby, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Dimitri: We all first got together in 1998. We were just three young guys in our mid-20s hungry for something fun and challenging to do. Bobby owned Cacao coffee house in West LA, but he had this idea of building a log cabin bar in the middle of urban L.A. and he was seeking investors. At the time, I was mostly focused on running a clothing manufacturing business which we still own today (Komarov Clothing), but my business partner Dima and I couldn’t resist Bobby’s proposal, we loved his vision and passion of vintage culture and wanted to figure out a way to make it happen. Basically, I had to mortgage my house and go out on a limb.In ‘98 we teamed up and founded the 1933 Group, started building the Bigfoot Lodge in Atwater Village and I’m so glad we did. The three of us have been running the company for more than 20 years and now own ten unique places to eat and drink across the city.
Bobby: It’s not easy to find the right people to go into business with, especially in a city like L.A., so when I was introduced to Dimitri and Dima it just felt like they really knew what the intention was for the first bar. We started with an idea to create a fun place to drink in a neighborhood we all liked to hang out in, and we had it in mind that we wanted to create a place that our friends who are artists and creatives would want to hang out regularly. We had no idea how well Bigfoot Lodge would be received and that we’d keep opening more concepts. Then, we really started to just look around the city for up and coming neighborhoods–in fact, we were the first to open a bar in Highland Park called La Cuevita, aka the Little Cave, and that was more than 15 years ago! This was well before the rest of L.A. caught up to Figueroa and started building new, trendy places over the past 2 or 3 years. These days, we’re passionately focused on ways to restore old LA and save iconic works of architecture and turn them back into the places people remember and love. That’s why places like Idle Hour, Highland Park Bowl and the Formosa are so special to us. We are city historians in that way, I guess. We preserve and protect historical scenes of Los Angeles, and the best way to do that is to keep its dining institutions and bars alive.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Dimitri: The hospitality business in general is one of the craziest and most competitive. It’s hard to stand out in a city where design trends and being ‘seen’ are the normal culture, but we think we had a pretty clear lead in the conversation well before people just lived for their Instagram. For a long time, L.A. was not considered a foodie city and many staff were actors who made the bar or restaurant their second job. They didn’t see it as a serious conversation or anything more than just getting tips so it took a while to groom a company culture that would adjust to lead people into the trends of mixology and understand what patrons wanted and how to best service that. We also had to work hard at transitioning bars away from just a perception of clubby nightlife to a more thoughtful cocktail experience as well as attract top bar talent who wanted to make their mark on a beverage program. Of course, economic recessions are not easy to weather for any business so when people don’t have disposable income, we’re likely among the first thing people cut in their spending. But people always need a drink, need a reason to get out of their house even in tough times. But I have to say this pandemic is by far the hardest time we’ve ever faced, for sure.
Bobby: Working with the city to get a concept across the line can be tough at times. Trying to sell them on what we want to do to a space and how we plan to design it. The Formosa Cafe is a good example. Its acquisition was the hardest we’ve ever had to work to get a bar. We all frequented the place during its heyday in the ’90s and felt it was the one project our group needed to preserve for future generations. We spent time poring over plans, historical documents and the structure itself, plus talking with the family of the original owners in order to honor the initial intent. Hollywood embraces Formosa Cafe today because we did not try to change it, just improve it and bring it back to what people remember the place to be and hope will always be.
Please tell us about 1933 Group.
Bobby: We’re the only hospitality group in the city, maybe the country, that is truly motivated by the fact that we want to save a piece of history. We’re building a future bar scene on the city’s storied past. We have helped spare many places from demolition—like Idle Hour, a giant whiskey barrel, one of the last examples of programmatic architecture left in the city—as well as LA’s oldest bowling alley dating back to prohibition, Highland Park Bowl. Up next — we have plans to restore the iconic Tail o’ the Pup, an eighteen foot hot dog stand shaped like a hot dog, dating back to the 1940’s. It used to be on La Cienega across from where the Beverly Center now lives. We purchased the Pup to build it out in West Hollywood next year (fans include Sigourney Weaver who recently shared a memory). The feeling we hope to achieve in our work is to create a moment of escapism for people. A fantastical place where you can show up–like a log cabin in the middle of the city, or an old house from Savannah but in the middle of Hollywood, or a crazy giant wooden whiskey barrel–and leave all your other worries at the door.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.1933group.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/1933group/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/1933group/
Image Credit:
Courtesy 1933 Group, William_Bradfor, T.J. Roque Photographer
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