Beachy Venice Hangout Canal Club Closes After 20 Years

Venice’s longstanding Canal Club is closing this weekend, bringing an end to one of that neighborhood’s more prominent local hangouts. The sister restaurant to also-popular James Beach had been in operation for 20 years, though it did have some down time in 2017 due to a kitchen fire.

Ownership posted a long goodbye notice on Facebook several days ago, saying their time running the restaurant “was a Venice blast.” As for the closure, the post adds:

We wanted to bring back live music and dancing to Venice and have it at Canal Club. It was a long costly process that ultimately did not go through. On top of that, increasing labor and other costs (having two kitchens, a raw - sushi bar and hot kitchen was just too expensive) and a heart attack made us realize that it was time to find a new owner/chef to add their voice, vision and talent to the community.

The final day of service could come as soon as this weekend, according to at least one source, though the Facebook post says that ownership will continue to celebrate on Fridays and Saturdays only through the end of the month.

As for what’s next, Jackson Kalb of Jame Enoteca in El Segundo is taking over. That South Bay restaurant focuses mostly on pastas in a bare-bones strip mall space, so now Kalb will be able to expand his footprint with a much larger dining room as well as an alcohol license. Kalb tells Eater that he does not yet have a name for the new restaurant, but Canal Club has confirmed that he’ll be there, with an eye towards opening in January 2020.

Canal Club. 2025 Pacific Ave., Venice, CA.

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