Great ambitions take flight at The Great Room
NEW BUSINESS
Great ambitions take flight at The Great Room
The Great Room’s assistant manager M.S. McLemore hangs with Isabella Jacobson in the playroom. Photo
A lot of inventions come to market when someone tries to buy something and then discovers it doesn’t exist. If it doesn’t but it should, someone goes to the drawing board and starts designing it, and a new thing comes into the world. A new business on Artesia near the Galleria had its genesis the same way, when Philip Wen and his wife Soomi started looking for places they could take their children, who were then 3 and 6 years old.
“We were young parents looking for a place to go that was family-friendly,” Philip Wen said. “Normal restaurants are usually constrained in terms of what they will allow the kids to do, and there just weren’t many kid-friendly choices in this neighborhood. Some places do cater to younger children, but our kids were beginning to outgrow those. My son is capable of sitting in a restaurant with adults as long as he has his iPad in hand, but that only works for so long. There was no place with a play area where he would like going that we would enjoy too, so my wife and I decided to work on creating a space where it’s parent-friendly and child-friendly.”
The couple were up to the challenge and also ready for a change in their lives. They owned a pair of Yoshinoya Japanese fast food franchises, and Philip had been tiring of his tech industry job. As he puts it, “I was an IT consultant full-time for almost fifteen years and did that for long enough to know that it’s not how I want to spend the rest of my life.”
They mapped out a concept for a restaurant where adults could be adults and children could be children, then started looking for a place to put it. It took a surprisingly short period of time to zero in on the space that used to be Mysterious Galaxy bookstore and briefly an Irish pub called Cork’er.
“We drove by this space all the time but had never given it a second thought,” Wen said. “A week after my wife and I decided to go ahead with this project, she came home and said, ‘I’ve found the spot.’ We took a look, got in touch with the landlord, and he was receptive to the concept so we started things in motion.”
That business is called The Great Room, and when you first enter you might not think of it as a child-oriented business at all. A barista is ready to make coffee drinks, there is a row of beer taps and wine bottles behind the counter, and the menu offers a surprisingly wide range of food. Behind the main room with its café tables and booths is a lounge area with moderate lighting and local art, a chill, peaceful space. It isn’t until you go down the corridor and get to the two playrooms with their attendants that you see what is happening here. There are spaces where a parent can be a parent and eat or play with their children, but also where kids can be kids and a parent can have business meetings or meet friends and just be an adult. Wen lays out the idea in a way that emphasizes the flexibility of the experience.
“This is a hangout for parents and their kids,” he said. “I don’t see this just as a café even though it’s labeled that way. There’s an area to work and an area to be social for the parents, there’s a space for you to socialize, there‘s a space where you can play with your children if you choose. One playroom is designed for toddlers, from walking to five years old, and the other is designed for five and up. There is trained supervision, but it’s not just for the kids to be there with other kids, because some parents hang out there with their kids for quite a while. When parents or children want refreshments there’s a little bit of everything, coffee, tea, beer, wine, and an extensive menu.”
When asked if a business like this might actually distance parents from their offspring, Wen disagreed emphatically. He pointed out a basic difference in attention spans that he insists is universal.
“All children, regardless of their cultural background, if you give them an option of leaving the table after a meal rather than listen to adults talking, they will,” Wen said. “They have sat still for a while, now they want to play, hang out, have fun. That applies globally. We’re giving everybody the space to do what they want to do.”
The sophisticated design with multiple spaces has allowed The Great Room to do something that might seem unlikely in a place designed with children in mind: host business meetings.
“We have had some corporate events here because we are close to major streets, have ample parking, on-site catering, and a quiet meeting room,” Wen said. “There were no children at those events, they used our space because it suited their needs. We have also held a lot of children’s birthday parties, but we’re not just a place to hold special events for children.”
Part of the inspiration for this business, and the reason for its name, was recognition that many South Bay residents live in small spaces that may be cozy but don’t allow for much entertaining.
“We wanted it to be like a large living room, with plenty of seating,” Wen said. “We’re in the South Bay, and living space and social gathering space is at a premium. This is a place for people who have a small living room and want to meet or entertain.”
The idea has gotten enough favorable reactions that Wen is already considering whether or not it can be replicated elsewhere.
“I do intend to gradually expand… this first one is a proof of concept,” he said. “There are similar concepts in Europe and Asia, because space is even more at a premium there than in the U.S., and family-friendly places are appreciated. The market is open in the U.S., because I know that there aren’t any here. Before we opened I visited a lot of places thinking those could be it. The few that are doing anything like this are very child-oriented, with nothing for adults.”
How well this business catches on will depend on how many frazzled parents, home entrepreneurs, or people needing social time need a break from their kids. Admission to those playrooms is ten dollars per child, which some have balked at while others consider it a bargain. However it goes, this is a visionary idea that promises flexibility to working parents and companionship and fun to their offspring.