How the trash-glam aesthetic is making Bay Area restaurants fun again (via eatersf)
, Imana wanted to do “the opposite of what you’d expect when you go out to a fine dining restaurant,” instead designing her space with a high-energy, bright-green exterior, which gives way to an all-black interior decorated in what Imana calls camp: eccentric ceramic vases, attention-grabbing white bubble graffiti on the dark walls, thrifted clown paintings, dripping candles, you name it. “Camp is really fun and it also mirrors my personal style a lot,” Imana says.
That sense of autonomy is another contributor to the spread of in-your-face design, Cooke notes. Although restaurant owners were always interested in telling their personal stories through restaurant design, Cooke says that has “really intensified” since 2020, especially after dealing with the demands of keeping their businesses open. “Everybody during the pandemic was like, ‘What’s important to me foundationally? What are my values?’” Cooke says.
Monochrome style crops up again inside Thee Stork Club, the music venue and bar opening in Oakland in July, with one section of the space enveloped in a blood-red design and a green room that will be an actual green room. Already, ties have been made to all things camp, thanks to Stork Club co-owner Marc Ribak’s friendship with film director John Waters, who is known for his camp and trash sensibilities.
Stork Club’s blood-red walls stretch from the floor to the ceiling, with red upholstered booths and heavy red velvet curtains onstage; it is partly an homage to Waters and camp, but more an expression of two areas of Ribak’s life. Both he and Carver are fans of 1960s and 1970s horror films and directors like Herschell Gordon Lewis and Kenneth Anger, but, for Ribak, the room is also inspired by a sense of nostalgia.
Beyond the all-red room will be other fun design elements: gaudy gold oil-type lamps “in the Liberace style”; a, who decorated each room in horror film regalia with items like six-inch figurines of Elvira and John Waters; an infinity mirror installation; wood paneling; rock-like walls; a gold disco ball; and a back patio meant to look like “the Beverly Hills Hotel in the 1960s.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Michelin honors 17 Bay Area, NorCal restaurants as ‘new discoveries’List includes Campbell, Oakland, Healdsburg, Sacramento standouts — and 11 in San Francisco
Read more »
Threats against Bay Area LGBTQ+ community have authorities on alertSeveral high-profile incidents and threats against the LGBTQ+ community in the Bay Area and across the country have law enforcement on high alert.
Read more »
Report: Bay Area teen's lung collapses after pellet gun attackThe San Jose Police Department received three reports of pellet gun attacks on Friday, including one from a 15-year-old girl who was in intensive care after being shot.
Read more »
Well-rested sax great Kenny Garrett returns to Bay AreaKenny Garrett will likely showcase his contemplative 2021 album ‘Sounds from the Ancestors,’ with shows in Berkeley and Half Moon Bay.
Read more »
Bay Area has only one winner at James Beard Foundation awardsOnly one chef from the Bay Area took home a James Beard medal last night.
Read more »
Inflation in the Bay Area: Breaking Down Why Everything Costs MoreThe latest inflation numbers are higher this week compared to last week, with everything from food to gas on the rise.
Read more »