The owner of the Library Alehouse on Main Street stumbled into the bar and restaurant business almost by accident.
While studying economics at UCLA, David Lackman was told to develop an entrepreneurial business plan. So Lackman, now 33, did what any college student would do — he drafted plans for a brew pub.
His work, inspired by the pubs of Berkeley, gained attention from friends and family. And before long, Lackman decided against graduate studies in urban planning and for life as a restaurateur.
Last year, the eight-year-old Library Alehouse grossed more than $1.5 million and earned accolades for being environmentally friendly. Lackman is proud of the restaurant’s sustainably harvested wood, organic foods, paper to-go products and commitment to composting food scraps.
Today, Lackman, son of a UCLA engineering professor, lives in a house in Sunset Park and spends his off-time gardening, hiking and reading non-fiction. Here, the Daily Press caught up with the proud owner of a Prius and asked how he wound up on Main Street.
You’re well known locally as a committed environmentalist. What’s your philosophy on life?
“Philosophy on life, hmmm — drink only good beer...
“Basically, my philosophy on life is to try to understand how my actions and what I do is going to effect things around me — and the environment around me. So my philosophy on life is to make things as good as possible for the people around me and also to make things as easy as possible on the environment... to step as lightly on the earth as possible.”
How did you land in Santa Monica? “We had set-up criteria for a location. We wanted a neighborhood-friendly, pedestrian location... and I knew I wanted to do it on the westside.
“Plus, my friends and I spend a lot of time in Santa Monica. Back then, Westwood wasn’t much of anything, and we used to take the bus to the Third Street Promenade.”
You’ve said you got into this business through a school project, but if you weren’t running the Library, what would you be doing?
“I would probably have gone to graduate school for a degree in urban plan-ning, so I’d be somewhere in the urban planning world.
“I really believe that through thoughtful planning you can really create a better life for people... The built environment, whether people realize consciously or subconsciously, has a profound effect on people’s dispositions.”
So what do you think of Santa Monica’s built environment?
“I think that the city has a lot to its benefit, from the fact that it’s super old — the character that Santa Monica has is a function of that it was developed in the early 20th Century.
“The thing that’s really good is there are a lot of pedestrian streets... but that’s not really a function of urban planning over the last 20 to 30 years — Montana has always been a pedestrian street, Main Street has always been a pedestrian street — so I don’t really want to give the powers that be too much credit.
“The other thing is it’s a really dense city. It gives you this sense of activity. There’s a neighborhood feel, where you see the same people over and over again... It has a different feel than the rest of LA. It feels like more of a real city...
“Also, the ocean acts as kind of a buffer to the West. So even though people complain about traffic in this city, it’s nothing like being on Wilshire and La Brea.”
You mentioned not wanting to give the powers that be too much credit. What would you like to see done differently in Santa Monica?
“I don’t have answers. But it seems like the problem we have is projects are considered in isolation... and I don’t think we have a clearly articulated plan that would balance the needs, the wants and the desires of residents with the fact that we’re a tourist destination and will always be a tourist destination.
How might that be accomplished? “I don’t think the city’s updated their general plan since 1984. So I would advocate... town hall discussion meetings with different groups, different factions, and find out what it is that people really want to be...
“It seems like we’re really good at saying ‘no’ to a particular project... but I think we need to work more closely on how we want to craft the city... the infrastructure.
“And the other thing is that I wish they relied more on locals... to be hired for drafting plans for the civic center, for drafting plans for downtown... We’ve relied a lot on ROMA, and they’re from San Francisco.”
What about the other side — what are yourfavorite things about Santa Monica?
“I would say access to the ocean, access to Santa Monica Mountains. So in terms of being in LA, its as good as it gets anywhere in LA. And then, No. 2, I would say Big Blue Bus. I use it all the time... It’s definitely something that differentiates us from the rest of LA. And then this kind of dove tails — I would say the City of Santa Monica’s commitment to aggressive environmental policies, the embracing of sustainable qualities...
“But in terms of me, personally, you could take away everything and the fact that it’s close to the ocean would be — hands down — the No. 1 reason.”
And your favorite restaurant, other than the Library Ale House?
“They’re all on Abbot Kinney... “Axe (pronounced ‘ashay’)... they use really fresh ingredients from the Farmers’ Market, they have free-range chicken. It’s just really well-prepared food that’s not overly complex.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 26, 2004. Read the original PDF.