Fashion, performers, bands, burlesque and exotic foods highlighted Em’s Artist Café grand opening celebration during the Fourth of July holiday weekend.
Kicking off the weekend was Toledo, a combination soul singer, poet, dancer and connoisseur of haberdashery. “He’s Sly Stone, Barry White, Tom Waits and Cab Calloway all rolled into one hell of a performer,” said Em’s Artist Café owner Emory Rodgers.
Adding to his funky, acid-jazz words and super-soulful sounds, Toledo spiced things up with killer dance moves that had the audience transfixed. A standing-room-only crowd didn’t know whether to dance or just watch for fear of missing something spectacular. Several female burlesque dancers appeared, strutting in high heels and slinky black dresses, the dancers climbed the walls, slid across tables and hung from the rafters carefully following Toledo’s speaky-easy beat, as horns were blaring and funky bass guitar was blasting.
Audiences on the following night saw fashion designer Merlin Castell, originally from Honduras, showcase some of his newest collection on Em’s runway. The theme of the collection featured Merlin’s black, yellow and gray colored couture gowns, evening party dresses and his signature leggings with the yellow-gold strip running down the front. “My designs are inspired by the fantasy Kingdom of Avedon to feature luxurious couture and evening wear for customers who want to make a statement,” said Merlin. His studio (Merlincastell.com) is in West Hollywood. Joshua James and Catherine Asanov produced the fashion show.
Other entertainment featured Beatlemania with the cast of Rain, Anthony Aquarius, Sean Paul Cruz, Mark Zabala, Hyjinx, Ship of the Rising Sun, Space Gypsies and Rod Zelli. Various artists’ exhibits were on display all weekend.
“We are excited to be open to the community and all of Los Angeles,” Emory said. “We are an eco-friendly café that will provide a much-needed venue for musicians, theatre troops and comedians as well as artists of all types. People can come in knowing everything is bio-degradable and reusable along with enjoying our healthy organic food.”
A former rock music promoter and filmmaker for 30 years in Los Angeles and San Francisco, Emory switched his focus to become a restaurant entrepreneur several years ago. He previously promoted musical groups Social Distortion, Nul and Void, DI and worked with music promoter Bill Graham and the Grateful Dead. He also promoted music videos and worked on low-budget films for Roger Corman.
“I always wanted to create a unique place where performers, musicians and artists could hang out, so I came up with the idea of a café style venue along with exotic foods from around the world, but served at reasonable prices,” Emory added.
Em’s Artist Café menu features vegetarian/vegan-friendly entrees including: an organic wagyu steak sandwich with Kobe beef, onions and peppers; the ahi tuna salad which features generous slices of sushi-grade ahi; exotic burgers made of buffalo, grilled salmon, ahi steak, or a bacon and cheddar venison burger. Other exotic items include alligator andouille, pheasant sausage, duck bacon in cognac or wild boar bacon. All meats are non-factory farmed, organic free-range and grass fed. Em’s Artistic Café also offers a variety of award-winning coffees from City Bean.
For more information, Em’s Artist Café, call (323) 931-4564 or visit emartisticcafe.com.