Ask most people in the L.A. nightlife business about Brent Bolthouse and they'll cite him as an inspiration. Not only do his venues, including S Bar and Hyde, become blockbuster successes where even celebrities get turned away at the door, but his guest spots on "The Hills" have made him a household name among 20-somethings nationwide. Or ask Craig Trager, owner of the Woods, the Well, NoBar and the Fifth, which opened in Valley Village earlier this month. He might tell you Bolthouse is an inspiration, all right—an inspiration for what not to do when it comes to customer service.
In the '90s, Trager was the managing partner at Bolthouse's restaurant Babylon. According to Trager, it was the hottest spot in town for a year, but Babylon stumbled on one crucial point. "I learned everything on how not to treat people," he says of the experience. The biggest lesson: "You don't hold booths for models and producers for three hours. You have to take care of average Joe because that’s who's paying your rent."
When Babylon closed less than two years after it opened, Trager changed course. Though he says he still has the utmost respect for Bolthouse, he started opening casual bars—which he dubs "upscale dives"—where regulars, regardless of Hollywood clout, are the VIPs. Instead of opening Lucky Seven, which he later renamed Daddy's, in a trendy neighborhood, he found a location in then-divey Hollywood. "In 1995, everyone said Hollywood's never going to come around. Nobody would invest. I had to go through my dad, and friends of his, and friends of family. People said I couldn't do it.” He pulled it off, and then some: A few years later he opened the Well about a block away, and it's been a moneymaker for eight years. In a town where people tire of bars after eight months, that's quite a feat. (Trager says Daddy's would still be open too, had the city not shut him down via eminent domain to make room for a W Hotel.)
None of this is to say he hung a "keep out" sign for celebrities. Drew Barrymore and Colin Farrell are among those seen at his bars. What you won't see are paparazzi out front or Trager calling the tabloids to sell a story. "My bars are probably some of the few places where [celebrities] can go on a date, make out like a normal person and feel normal for the time that they’re in there," he teases, unwilling to name more names.
When Trager opened the Woods last year, we dubbed him "king of the classic hipster bar." If anyone could make a bar located in a Hollywood strip mall work, it's Trager. The secrets to his success are simple: He finds neighborhoods with apartment buildings overflowing with young people, and then he builds a bar that becomes their living room away from home. He makes sure the drinks are strong and inexpensive, that there’s plenty of seating, that there’s dim lighting, and, most importantly, that his bartenders remember every regular’s name and drink. "I don't hire bartenders who have club mentality," he says. "I hire the people that best know how to treat people. Period."
There’s no exception with his latest bar, the Fifth, so named because it’s the fifth bar he's operated with Paul O’Neil, who started out as his bar back at Lucky Seven. Fifth is located in the spot that used to house Studio Suite, but you can forget the ugly old decor. Trager rebuilt and designed the bar's interior by hand in 33 days; It’s now a cozy den awash with reds (the bar), oranges (the lounge) and golds (the game room). Throwing a party? The lounge seats about 30. Want to watch TV? Check out the two flat-screen displays. Itching to get your game on? Consider the vintage Pac-Man machines and a pool table.
Though Trager gets nervous every time he opens a new venue, he knows he’s done something right if Paris Hilton doesn't know about it yet. "If celebrities are coming in the beginning, that means you're flavor of the month, and I don't want to be that spot," he says. "I’m about word of mouth and slow build."
Next on tap for the bar master? "I have a desire to open a very beautiful, high-end Spanish brothel-esque type of bar [and] I will open Daddy's again when I find the right place."
Click here for a virtual tour of the Fifth»
Read our 2007 Q&A with Craig Trager about the Woods»
Alexandra Le Tellier is Bars & Clubs editor for Metromix Los Angeles.
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