|
|
Oct. 5, 2012
A spot to socialize and celebrate
The award-winning Electric Owl on Main Street enlivens Vancouver’s nightlife scene.
CYNTHIA RAMSAY
When Adam Levine, co-owner with Alex Russell of the Electric Owl, says, “We want the Owl to be a classic staple of the Vancouver nightlife scene, we want it to be known internationally by artists as the place to play when you are in Vancouver and the place to go when you live or visit here,” there’s little doubt that it will happen.
Levine, who was born in Manhattan and grew up Teaneck, N.J., came to Vancouver in 2002. Since then, he has co-founded Canadian Bioenergy Corp., which garnered him a place on Business in Vancouver’s Top 40 Under 40 list in 2010, and opened the Electric Owl with Russell, which in its first year was nominated for best new venue and live music venue at the Vancouver Nightlife Awards and won a best on Main Street by the Georgia Straight.
“The concept for Electric Owl was to build a place that didn’t exist in Vancouver – an entertainment hub that had delicious food, live bands, DJs, burlesque, comedy, centred on showcasing top emerging talent, whether local or touring artists. The layout was to maximize sight lines and create a really special room,” explained Levine to the Independent in an e-mail interview.
“We wanted the vibe to be classy but down to earth and comfy: uptown meets downtown, New York meets Gastown meets Main Street. The menu came from the concept of izakaya, which is a fun setting of tasty pub food centred around drinking, and we played around loosely with the Japanese focus since some dishes obviously are not Japanese. Ultimately, it was to be an Asian menu-inspired rock ’n’ roll supper and dance club.
“The cold beer and wine store was designed to feel like a separate store yet still being part of the main bar,” he added, noting that the restaurant will soon be offering food to go, as well.
But Levine didn’t come here initially to make his mark in the food-and-service industry. He came here to study at the University of British Columbia’s Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability in the department of resource management, where he earned a master’s of science. He began his university journey out of province, however, first enrolled in business, then switching to English literature and sociology, in which he got his BA, then taking modern European history and philosophy.
Levine shared some of his family history with the Independent, which sheds some light on his diverse interests.
“My father was an advertising executive on Madison Avenue (one of the ‘Jewish’ firms they talk about on Mad Men) and my mother raised my younger brother, Jason, and I till junior high, before going back to work as an editor and project manager.... My paternal grandfather was a classic salesman and my maternal grandfather (Sackler) was a physician and psychiatrist. My great-grandparents were from Russia and Romania at the time but borders have changed, so now Ukraine too, and most but not all immigrated to New York at the turn of the century. My paternal grandmother was put on a boat by herself at age six to get out of Belarus and was raised in an orphanage in Chicago.
“I spent my youth playing sports and visiting my grandparents on the weekends (one set right across from Lincoln Centre in Manhattan, the other set just outside Princeton),” he continued. “My mom also made sure we took advantage of being so close to the city, so I saw a lot of plays and musicals and museums, as well as went to lots of restaurants in the city growing up.”
A serious athlete through high school, playing varsity and all-star, traveling with baseball and soccer teams, Levine said he started playing piano at age eight, the guitar at 16. He has been part of various bands since his teenage years, with his most recent being DBL Dragon in Vancouver.
“While playing bands and going to university in Colorado,” he said, “I supported myself in the hospitality industry (cooking, waiting tables and bartending). I eventually started throwing parties four nights a week at various establishments, starting with the back room of a large Vietnamese/Thai restaurant, dubbing it the Bangkok Lounge. My parties were popular, and I really enjoyed that time and since then held the idea that I would own a venue someday.”
During this time, the late 1990s, Levine joined a small web software startup, developing Cloud computing applications. He went with the company when it moved to New York City.
“In the months preceding 9/11, I was developing a business plan and looking at properties to open a venue in the Meatpacking District, however, that was shelved after 9/11,” he shared. “After 9/11, I took some introspective time to see how I could make more of a positive contribution to society and found climate change as an important cause to get involved in. Climate change led me to energy issues, and energy issues led me to biofuels. After honing in on a cause and development path, I moved from New York to Vancouver in 2002 to study sustainability, since Vancouver seemed a burgeoning hotbed for sustainability, with a number of leading academics in the field.
“I’ve always been interested in technology and cutting-edge technologies; hence, my involvement in the early days of Cloud software and then renewable energy,” he added. “After graduating from UBC in 2005 with my grad degree, I co-founded Canadian Bioenergy Corp., which became perhaps the largest biodiesel company in Western Canada. We successfully helped transition Canada’s first and largest industrial and government fleets, including transit authorities in two of Canada’s largest cities, dozens of municipalities, airports, federal container port operators, commercial carriers, cement companies and industrial marine end users to a renewable fuel, creating tens of thousands of tons of emission reductions. Our work changed the status quo and paved the way for a new industry in Canada, eventually leading to the construction of the largest biodiesel plant being constructed in Canada (now owned by ADM).”
Throughout this period, Levine was keeping his eye out for the ideal spot for an entertainment-related venture.
“Eventually, my friends were tired of listening to me talk about it, and I decided it was time to finally make it happen, so I jumped in and found a space,” he said. “I turned to Alex Russell, my close friend and right-hand man, to help me pull it off and, together, we did. I couldn’t have done it without him.”
Levine and Russell, who Levine described as “also a landsman,” are Owl’s majority owners and they have a small group of silent investors. The business partners met during grad school at UBC and have been friends and colleagues ever since, also having worked at Canadian Bioenergy together, said Levine.
For Levine, who defines himself as an atheist, “being Jewish represents being part of a community that is caring, intelligent, just, humorous, resilient, talented and powerful beyond its small numbers. My mother and father were not spiritually religious, but very much cultural Ashkenazi Jews, and made me well aware of my heritage through holidays and anecdotes. I know a lot more Yiddish words than I would have thought, probably close to 100 if I were also to include the vulgar ones, maybe five or so without, ha. My grandparents would speak Yiddish when I was a kid and my parents use the usual terms when appropriate.... My mother made the Holocaust a topic of conversation quite frequently and so I guess it also made me sensitive to nuances of antisemitic sentiment, and is likely why I follow happenings in Israel and the Middle East pretty closely.”
Electric Owl (electricowl.ca) opened at 928 Main St. on May 26, 2011. “It was just over a year from the time we found the space in April 2010, till we had financed, constructed and opened it,” Levine told the Independent. “We hired the designers, architect, general contractors, electrical, mechanical and structural engineers, restaurant equipment specialists, sound equipment installers and were, and remain, intimately involved in every aspect.
“We continue to make improvements to the room, enhancing the sound system, adding benches and long tables, coffee tables in the lounge, wood blinds in the back to separate a seating area from the dance floor so guests can dine any night of the week without needing to purchase tickets to a show – that is a big deal for us. We’ve also added new menu items and have a very talented new chef. We’ve built a new website, added a patio in the back on Station Street.... I’m sure there’s more. We continue to evolve and improve our operations. I imagine, by the end of our second year, we will have most things dialed in.”
That doesn’t mean that Levine and Russell will be putting up their feet any time soon.
“I can see Alex and I opening three to five more spots in the next few years,” said Levine. “After we take this second year getting all the systems functioning as efficiently as possible, we should be ready for the next venture. The next spots will be easier from the design and construction standpoint but, even more so, the operations. I can’t say whether we will do more Electric Owls, but it’s a good possibility; either way, we intend to build more cool spots for people to socialize and celebrate.”
^TOP
|
|
