After a brain hemorrhage nearly killed him, South Bay chef and musician Albert Kim reckons with recovery
by Ryan McDonald Early on in Albert Kim’s 61-day hospitalization at Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center, a member of his medical team examined Kim’s hands, and asked if he was a “working man.” Had Kim been conscious at the time, he might have smirked at the question. Kim was in a deep coma when he arrived at the Torrance hospital, and unable to respond that the calluses on his fingers were from decades of playing bass guitar. Kim has played in some of the South Bay’s most popular and accomplished bands, and although until recently music had been his primary source of income, he treated music with too much reverence to think of it strictly as work. Work for Kim meant restaurants, an industry he joined soon after graduating from college because it afforded him the flexibility to play music as much as he wanted. Last fall, he helped open Pa-Do, a Manhattan Beach restaurant specializing in dumplings and ramen. As he prepared for the restaurant’s November opening, Kim, a part owner and the head chef, began telling family members and fellow musicians he would soon have much less time. Kim had found something that might be able to compete with music for his attention. Both…
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