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Alma Launches Crowdfunding Campaign to Stave Off Possible Shutter

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The exciting Downtown restaurant needs your help.

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Alma
Alma
Elizabeth Daniels
Farley Elliott is the Senior Editor at Eater LA and the author of Los Angeles Street Food: A History From Tamaleros to Taco Trucks. He covers restaurants in every form, from breaking news to the culture, people, and history that surrounds LA's dining landscape.

Troubling news for one of Los Angeles’ brightest culinary teams, as Ari Taymor and Ashleigh Parsons of the exceedingly well-received Downtown restaurant Alma have begun asking for a little crowdfunded financial help.

The innovative eatery has experimented with different dining formats over the years (they recently switched to a simpler a la carte menu during the week and regularly host big-name nights with big-name guest chefs), but has always made sure to provide one of the most carefully-sourced, artfully-done dinners around.

Citing a myriad of high, but important, costs, from their non-profit outreach program to their Venice-based urban garden, the Alma team is asking Indiegogo-ers for at least $40,000 in order to keep the restaurant viable. This, they say, will allow them to keep operations going without relying on outside investment, which would provide a vastly different business dynamic that they fear could irrevocably alter the way the restaurant runs.

Money earned will also go towards a pending lawsuit against the restaurant, levied by a former Alma advisor who now claims fraud by Taymor and Parsons. They’re serious allegations, and Alma plans to fight them the whole way, which is obviously a pricey proposition. Faced with a financial shortfall, the campaign says that, very realistically, the restaurant would perhaps be forced to close as soon as this summer.

Interested in supporting Alma, beyond making a reservation to get in and experience the food? Campaign levels span the gamut, including a $250 donation that gives people a tour of their urban garden and a $25,000 level that lets you and a guest eat dinner for free for life. If you’ve got that kind of cash, it’s not a bad way to feel like a permanent VIP at one of the city’s best restaurants.

Alma at the Standard

8300 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069 323-822-3131