The women owned gin bar that put Historic Filipinotown on LA's cocktail map, closed since January 2023.
Genever opened in spring 2018 at 3123 Beverly Blvd in Historic Filipinotown, founded by Patricia Perez, Roselma Samala, and Christine Sumiller. Thirsty in LA called the room an Art Deco hidden gem; Time Out kept it on its neighbourhood bar list for years.
The backbar held 24 gins including four genevers, and the cocktails worked Filipino ingredients like calamansi, pandan, panutsa, and bitter melon into gin builds. The Infatuation's review praised well priced cocktails and a low key crowd.
The bar closed in January 2023 over landlord issues, and Yelp and Foursquare both list it as permanently closed. This profile stays live as a record of one of the neighbourhood's defining rooms.
A low lit lounge under a Beaux Arts style tiled ceiling framed by gold painted, paneled walls, per Thirsty in LA's review. The room photographed like a 1920s Manila hotel bar and drank like a neighbourhood living room.
When open, the move was a genever flight or a gin cocktail off the Filipino ingredient list: butterfly pea flower and green tea infusions, calamansi sours, and pandan builds, with most cocktails in the 13 to 15 dollar range, per The Infatuation. The closest current LA equivalents for that backbar depth are listed below.
The Infatuation described a low key local crowd, and the bar doubled as a gathering room for LA's Filipino American hospitality community. Weekend peaks stayed conversational; the room never chased a club crowd.
One of LA's most distinct backbars and a genuine neighbourhood anchor, gone over a lease. Historic Filipinotown still does not have its replacement.