SECO: The Art of Building a Neighborhood Wine Bar

A timeline of how the concept evolved, from pitch to pour

There is an expression in writing that I’ve adopted in business, it goes, “The personal is universal.” It connotes that deeply personal experiences, perspectives, and desires tap into universal human emotions. The more specific an individual artist or creative is in their work, the more likely they are to connect with others on a broader level. This phrase, I’ve learned, applies in business too. Some of the most successful ventures are born from the desire to solve a personal want. For me, this began as a way to create a kind of art-forward, community-driven natural wine bar.

As we near our one-year anniversary, I'm taking some time to reflect on the creative process behind Seco, from pitch deck to opening day. I often get asked about my role and involvement — in brief, Seco has been the most high-touch and creatively immersive project I’ve worked on to date. Not only because it involved creating a community space in my hometown of Los Angeles, but because of the collective memories spent at Sunset Junction growing up in LA and the thoughts, ideas and collaborations that went into creating the space. Coincidentally, just a year before Seco’s opening, we released ‘Lust for Los Angeles’ at Maison Kitsuné next door — a full circle moment.

Seco is created in partnership with Santo Group from Mexico City, who handled all aspects of operations, admin and management, while I handled the full creative direction and concept development. I am forever grateful to Jos Gozain, my former neighbor, for taking a significant risk on my full vision and proposal. The response and marriage of our communities is something we could not have fathomed, as Seco continues to evolve through the continued support and energy of our partners, team and guests. Although this is my first restaurant, many of the ideas for the space came from long held and cherished culinary memories and experiences. Much of the invisible work happened behind the scenes—spanning over a decade of design and hospitality consulting, deep research ahead of the launch, with months of market research leading up to the concept and hiring of our chef and sommelier. From there Santo group’s creative director Alonso Silva and I built the brand’s visual library, and oversaw design development with the team and its architect Lena Kohl. Following the opening, I produce all our marketing materials, content and manage our community programming and partnerships.

Some of my doodles and drawings

Here are some of my inspirations behind building Seco.

INSPIRATION

Aux Deux Amis -Aux Deux Amis in Paris was a key influence for Seco, a place with tightly packed tables, Formica-topped counters, tiled walls, and a lively bar, the atmosphere is congenial and buzzing, with guests routinely strike up conversations shoulder-to-shoulder. Its laid-back charm, standing-room buzz, snacky share plates and natural wine spirit informed the way we wanted Seco to feel: effortless, unpretentious, and alive with neighborhood rhythm.

Hugo — Hugo in Mexico City is a wine bar that is stylish yet down to earth. The crowd is a relaxed mix of locals, expats, and creatives, all gathering over great wine and casual chatter, giving it that welcoming neighborhood feel. From Hugo, we drew inspiration on its easeful flow between day and night, casual and elevated—creating a space that invites you to stay a while, Mexico City style.

Bar Basso, Milan — Possibly my favorite bar in the world simply for its distinctive energy and art-filled interiors. Bar Basso is the watering hole of Milan’s art scene and is notorious for drawing large crowds during Salone. Basso’s energy is unmatched — a meeting place so loved by all that it forms the backdrop of many memorable nights. Ironically enough, before the group landed on the name Seco, my proposal’s placeholder name was titled “barbasso”, a detail that resulted in a self-fulfilling prophecy as Seco’s sidewalk spills have become a part of its signature charm.

The crowd outside of Bar Basso, Milan

CULINARY + CONCEPT DIRECTION

The blueprint of our wine program starts in Paris, where I split my time from 2017 to 2020. Paris is home to many of the world's most influential and pioneering natural wine bars. It was dining at Le Verre Volé, Septime, Clamato, and Le Chateaubriand where I was introduced to a new way of thinking about wine. Silver Lake, with its conscious and creative community, seemed ripe for a “next-gen” natural wine bar —a place where people could discover bottles from lesser-known, independent producers. This is where Kae Whalen enters the conversation. Vetted by my most connected culinary friend, André Michele, our first meeting with Kae felt like kismet. After months of interviewing several sommeliers, speaking to Kae was a breath of fresh air as they combined personal philosophy with in-depth expertise with a savvy palette, pairing the perfect wine list to our clientele. One of the things I loved most about out Kae’s approach is best summarized in their essay “On Luxury” —

“It helps to think about wine in the context of art, or better, forms of art that aren’t wine. Just appreciating wine can be intimidating in the same way that interpreting a performance piece can be—allegedly apprehendable only by those who have either spent a lot of time with a lot of art (or wine), who have been afforded the opportunity to study its history and forms, had access to mentorship, are gifted with some innate understanding, or some combination of the above. At the same time, making things is healing,[1] pleasure is a right, and at a base and uncynical level, everyone can and should make wine (or art) for themselves”

Dave’s take on Spanish bocas

When it came to finding a chef for Seco, all roads led to Dave Potes. A handful of mutual friends recommended Dave, and in our first meeting, it became clear that Dave was our guy. Due to the specifications of our kitchen and the group’s desire to highlight a tapas menu blending Mexican and Asian ingredients, it was essential to find someone with expertise in both cuisines while also understanding flavor profiles that complement a natural wine list. I recognized Dave’s work from Stir Crazy and throughout our discussions, discovered even more moments of synchronicity. Dave worked at a string of restaurants that I not only lived next to but also deeply loved and frequented — from Okonomi in Williamsburg to Orsa & Winston in Downtown LA (My go-to cafeteria in my early 20s, as my loft was located just above the restaurant). His extensive Japanese culinary experience also highly complemented the group’s vision, which often fuses on Japanese-Mexican cuisine. Beyond the professional, working with Dave has singularly been one of the best decisions we made in building Seco. To top it off, he’s Filipino — now I just call him Kuya.

DESIGN

Lena Kohl is our architect and interior designer, who designed the curvy wooden bar, wrap-around banquette, and burl cabinet. Her signature pink palette nods to Mexico City's Luis Barragan which gives Seco its distinctive, Roma-Norte atmosphere. While Lena designed the millwork and built-in features, I worked on the material selection (color schemes, marble and textiles) and decor to infuse texture into the space — sourcing all our florals, furniture, lighting, art, and objects. You can find Lena’s design inspiration for Seco here.

For me, I dove into memories and experiences. Travel has always shaped how I see spaces—from Mexico City’s mid-century homes to Milanese pasticcerie, Parisian wine bars, and Copenhagen cafés. Below are a few of the spaces I’ve visited that shaped Seco’s design details and color palettes.

Materials, colors and objects that inspired our color palette

Antique Mirrors

The antique mirror at Septime

My visual language without a doubt is shaped by the years I spent in Paris, soaking in carafes of wine at small, intimate restaurants like Septime, Vivant Deux, and Aux Deux Amis. One design feature I noticed throughout Paris restaurants are the frequent use of mirrors, a detail often woven into the tiniest brasserie which expands a room to the viewer’s eye. Seco is Parisian in size — containing 25 seats total, so it was critical for us to integrate any design hacks that expanded the room while adding a feature that enhanced the crowd-observing atmosphere.

Colorful Backsplash

Kitchen tiles from a 2021 trip to Oaxaca

One thing I found in many Barragan kitchens are colorful tiles as a backsplash, a design component that seems to embody Mexico’s cultural values celebrating color, craft, and creative expression. While the initial plans had featured white tile, we decided to push for more color. Switching to kelp green gave the space more depth and contrast, which we tie back throughout the textiles, decorative objects, and floral arrangements. The kitchen at my favorite bed and breakfast in Oaxaca played an influence on the green-tiled bar.

Enormous thank you to Lena for her patience with our revisions

Yellow Laminate Tables

A year before construction started I took an R&D trip to Europe to research café furniture with our table designer, Michael Felix. By the end of the trip, I started to sense a theme emerging in my photo stream: buttercream yellow. The creamy color is punctuated by softness and comfort. It’s nostalgic of dessert, and evokes texture, flavor, and a touch of warmth. Its cozy effect is immediately appealing, and felt like the perfect neutral to complement our custom tables.

Bar Al Banco

One of my earliest impressions of traveling to Milan was the local ritual of breakfast on the bar. A signature trope of the Italian lifestyle, an espresso and pastry over a bar al banco is distinctively Italian habit, and during Design Week, is the most convenient way to refuel between appointments. Though not currently in use, our mirror bar was intended to be used for a standing sip of coffee and bocadilla bites.

My favorite bar al banco in Milan, Wes Anderson’s Bar Luce

SOURCING

Now we get to the fun part — sourcing. I get a genuine thrill from thrifting at flea markets, and during our final phase of construction I flew to Mexico City to start the “layering” process of design — scouring flea markets, antique shops and estate sales to curate a selection of art, books and ceramics to furnish Seco.

During a brief stint traveling through Oaxaca in 2021, I met Caitlin Ahern of Thread Caravan, who introduced me to the region’s rich craft culture through her textile and ceramic workshops. In one workshop, we visited a village in San Marcos Tlapazola where we harvested clay directly from the mountains before transferring them to the studio to hand-build into earthenwares. It was through these immersive experiences that I fell in love with the artistry and craftsmanship of Oaxacan pottery. So when it came time to source plateware, it felt only natural to bring that same level of intention and tradition to our table. Like all of the art at Seco, every ceramic has been hand-picked and hand-hewn.

Harvesting from the earth, to the finished piece

An assortment of plates from 1050 Grados

COLLABORATIONS

One of the most personal aspects of working on SECO was the opportunity to collaborate with my creative community. Having studied art history, I deeply value the process of commissioning original works. A tenet I hold to be true is that a thoughtful art curation at a restaurant can transform a meal into a cultural experience, and bars, with their robust foot traffic, are a great showcase for art.

• Our Floral Program — Adam Gallagher is one of my oldest friends, and watching his pivot into a floral designer has been one of the most exciting (and ongoing) collaborations we have. Though ephemeral, his arrangements are evocative and joyful, a weekly novelty that infuses feeling into the space.

• Our Panting — I met Ash Roberts through Rachel, a mutual friend I’ve known for so long we identify as sisters — and over the years I’ve watched her career as a painter bloom in bountiful directions. When she kindly loaned a work for our T Magazine shoot, it was clear that her abstract landscapes perfectly suited the space. Earthy, meditative and textural, her work reveals a quiet power that explores painting as a process.

• Our Bread Plates — Elena Petrossian of Ananas Studios is one of my best friends and has been a consistent source of support at every stage of building Seco. I’m proud of not only her vision, but her tenacity to go after what she wants while encouraging those around her along the way. The bread plates she and Vero designed for Seco are raw but elegant, a true functional work of art.

MODERN ELEMENTS

Copenhagen is one of my favorite cities for design, and home to one of the best café cultures in the world. While much of Seco’s design is composed of custom millwork and artisan-made wares, the few contemporary furniture we sourced came from Danish designers. We collaborated with Louis Poulsen, the heritage lighting company on our pendant lights, and curated a beautiful selection of objects from Louise Roe. Among them is a standout glass vase affectionately named Big Bertha where Adam and I place the centerpiece floral arrangement.

CONTENT & COMMUNITY

Last but not least, social — on URL and IRL. Currently, I oversee all of Seco’s content production and community programming, and work with our partners to identify culture-forward events and community partners, (from book launches to wine tastings), and aligning with the right brands on partnerships, like a FRIEZE x LA Fire Relief event with Basic.Space.

If you’ve reached this point, thank you for following along. Seco was built on story, craft, and a lot of heart — an enormous thank you to everyone who brought this vision to life.

Creating culture-forward, community spaces is a process I thoroughly enjoy. If you’re building something in hospitality and need intentional storytelling with a 360 degree approach, I’m always up for a good brief. studio@bon-weekender.com