The multi-talented music mogul Moby, aka Richard Melvill Hall, has opened a new vegan restaurant called Little Pine in Los Angeles. After mastering the art of fusing post-punk rock with electronic dance music production, winning a number of Grammy's, selling over 20 million albums worldwide, and being lauded as one of the most important dance music figures of the 1990s by countless sources, the acclaimed DJ and passionate animal rights activist is now channeling some of his creative energy towards the goal of bringing the people of LA a Mediterranean-inspired vegan menu. The restaurant opened in an art deco building on Rowena Avenue in Silver Lake this week and as of now is open daily 7:30 AM to midnight.
LA Weekly already glimpsed the new restaurant's interior and describes it as "a futuristic Alpine lodge." Decorated by interior designer Tatum Kendrick of Studio Hus, it boasts down-to-earth features somewhere in-between diner and cafe, a juxtaposition that describes the cozy ambiance as well.
The walls are decorated with black-and-white nature photographs taken by Moby himself. You can call to reserve your table in advance to sit down for a vegan meal cooked by, as CBS reports, meat-loving chef Kristyne Starling. Or, you can just walk in to grab a cup of coffee to go while perusing the curiosities like coffee table books, candles and tea for sale. In an interview the producer-turned-restauranteer explained that he designed Little Pine to be an "effortless refuge" for its patrons.
As for the restaurant's name, Hall told CBS "I like pine trees and I'm not very big." When the former mainstay of NYC's Lower East Side first moved to LA a friend of his back in New York who had yet to visit the West Coast city "thought LA was all palm trees and plastic surgery disasters." Obviously, that's not the case; as Moby asserts "there's this whole other side to LA which is like pine trees and state parks and so I guess the name also sort of references that."
There is no word as of yet regarding the new restaurant's soundtrack, but the only thing that could make Little Pine sound even more tantalizing would be the promise of marathon-watching Moby's music videos over brunch. Relive the awesomeness that is the video for 1999's "South Side" featuring Gwen Stefani, below.
