Issa Rae and GVO Hospitality Jazz it Up at Somerville

Yahoo

18-03-2025

Actress, producer and entrepreneur Issa Rae has long uplifted and amplified the South L.A. neighborhoods where she grew up — on TV shows like her groundbreaking HBO hit Insecure and via her involvement in Destination Crenshaw, the art and culture redevelopment project celebrating the area's Black history and its future. Her partnership with GVO Hospitality's Yonnie Hagos and Ajay Relan, of Hilltop Coffee + Kitchen, has been a big part of this, too. Providing a more independent and soulful alternative to Starbucks, Hilltop has become a meeting ground for the Black community and beyond — a place for caffeine lovers, laptop workers and friend dates. After launching the original View Park space in 2018, GVO's popular concept has expanded to four locations across Los Angeles — and Rae got involved in 2019 with the opening of the Inglewood branch. Now the trio are tackling something new — something alluring and nighttime-geared, where locals and visitors alike can get dressed up, enjoy a mindful food and drink menu and have a little relaxed, sophisticated fun.'I was out celebrating my birthday, and it was one of [my] 30s-birthdays,' Rae recalls. 'We were going to dinner, and we didn't feel like going to a club — because, you know, 30s. We just wanted to go to a lounge that played good music, that had Black people, where we could just chill and have a great night.'Her efforts were futile: 'We went to like three different places, and it just wasn't a thing,' she says. 'And it made me so mad that we were just traveling all over L.A. trying to find the spot. So I hit my business manager up the next week like, 'I want to start a lounge in my neighborhood.' I had been working with the Hilltop guys probably for a year. So we tried to find a location and they were like, 'Do we want a restaurant too? Like, what if we could just elevate and have a fine-dining experience?''Rae knew they could pull it off and when she learned Relan and Hagos already had a locale in mind, everything came together. The 5,000-square-foot space on Slauson had the perfect layout to create the atmospheric hot spot she wanted — where the trio aspired to evoke the heyday of Black entertainment and nightlife.
'In addition to growing up here, all of us — Issa, Yonnie and I — currently live in this community,' says Relan. 'We always wanted a space we could go to in our own backyard, [with] quality food, great cocktails and a curated musical experience. We knew we weren't alone. The idea for Somerville was inspired by historic South L.A. venues like the Dunbar Hotel, which was known as a space that pioneered the West Coast Jazz scene and the cultural heyday of South-Central Los Angeles in the middle of the 20th century.' The cozy, mahogany space — named after the Dunbar Hotel's original name, the Hotel Somerville — has just the right ambiance, with velvet booths and a small stage featuring the grand piano that's used for nightly live jazz and R&B sets. Chef Geter Atienza (Broken Spanish, Fig and GVO's Lost cocktail bar) created the comfort-leaning menu of American classics, from which Rae has many favorites.'Oh my God, the duck confit is phenomenal,' she says. 'I love the chicken caviar sliders. The Brussels sprouts are outstanding. I love the mashed potatoes — even though I don't typically eat mashed potatoes when I'm out — the gravy and the way that that dish is constructed, I've never seen them like that.'
As for the vibe? 'When you walk in, you're kind of like, 'Where am I?'' Rae says. 'You hear the jazz band playing and you're just automatically transported to this particular time period. And it promotes a social atmosphere.' Rae's enthusiasm has always been infectious — in her business pursuits as well as her acting/writing/producing projects — and she's growing on all fronts. She famously played the president in last year's Barbie and shares that she's got many projects ahead — including a cameo in Black Mirror and movies with her production company Hoorae Media, like the recent Jan. 2025 buddy film One of Them Days she produced, starring Keke Palmer and SZA.'Issa has always been intentional with her platform,' says Hagos. 'She always put on for the city of L.A. in a way most of Hollywood historically ignored. The reason her fans and this community love her so much is the authenticity she brings and her desire to consistently amplify voices that have historically been overlooked.' He adds: 'It's aspirational across the board.'4437 W. Slauson Ave., Windsor Hills, somervilleslauson.com