A New Black-Owned Supper Club Feels Plucked Out of LA’s 1940s South Central Jazz Scene

After opening Downtown’s Lost Rooftop Cocktail + Taco Bar in late September and four Hilltop Coffee + Kitchen locations throughout the Southland since 2019, Yonnie Hagos and Ajay Relan will debut their first Los Angeles restaurant in the same View Park-Windsor Hills retail complex as their original cafe. Named Somerville , the full-service restaurant will offer American food with cocktails, a hearty wine list, and live music beginning November 22, 2024. As South LA natives who live in the surrounding area, Hagos and Relan have been looking at View Park for some time.

Relan and Hagos found their future restaurant in a vacant 5,000-square-foot space almost a decade ago but focused all efforts on being independent coffee operators in corporate coffee-heavy South LA. “We passed on this Slauson space in 2015,” says Relan. “We’re from here but didn’t know if we would ever open anything here.



” The partners studied Los Angeles history, specifically Historic South-Central’s vibrant scene from 1921 to 1956 centered around the Dunbar Hotel (originally named Hotel Somerville , hence the name of their new restaurant) and Central Avenue’s bustling jazz venues . The area developed due to traveling Black musicians who were prohibited from entering LA’s white-owned bars and clubs. “We became obsessed with these spaces and ideas,” Relan says.

“Hilltop was a step in that direction for us. We wanted to create a 2020s version of that era, but not [necessarily do] a jazz club. We wanted to look forward while celebrating the progress in between.

” To accomplish that, the GVO Hospitality duo tapped Bootsy Bellows designer John Sofio from Built, Inc. , who placed mahogany throughout the Art Deco-style room. The space also features white oak flooring, custom banquettes, and a grand piano on the modestly sized stage.

They also brought on chef Geter Atienza (previously at Bouchon Bakery in New York and Broken Spanish), who also designed the menu at Lost Rooftop. Atienza’s Parker house rolls, charcuterie, crudo, and oysters work as the starters. Entrees include braised lamb shank, a Black Angus burger, and wagyu strip loin with classic steak sauce options.

They’ve shied away from standard soul food, but some dishes hint at the cuisine, like the macaroni and cheese or the fried chicken and caviar sliders. Dessert options include a dark chocolate torte, sorrel and pear granita, and a no-bake cheesecake with black olive marmalade. Steen Bojsen-Møller (LOST, Seymour’s at Mr.

Lyon’s) developed Somerville’s beverage menu, which features a mostly West Coast wine list with the occasional French or Italian winemaker. All cocktails are named after jazz greats or notable Black culture icons like the rum-infused Trouble Man (from the 1972 Blaxploitation film ) or the vodka-based John Coltrane cocktail called A Love Supreme, which also mixes in Midori, Cointreau, and lemon. Though South LA is stacked with casual options, full-service dining is mostly centered around places like Harold & Belle’s in Jefferson Park, the District by GS and Post & Beam in Leimert Park, and Jon & Vinny’s on Slauson , which opened in 2021 around the corner from Somerville.

As dwellers in one of South LA’s oldest Black neighborhoods, View Park residents have long yearned for less casual options that keep them from driving to adjacent areas for a full-service meal. Somerville might be the answer. Starting November 22, Somerville will operate from Wednesday to Sunday, 6 p.

m. to 11 p.m.

, at 4437 W. Slauson Avenue, View Park, CA, 90043. Full spread.

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