'Tis the season for greeny grub and greeny drinks and greeny spices and greeny herbs. Chefs turn to leafier foods, the ones that lend a dish that bright, earthy flavor of the season, and bartenders study their shelves for the greenest of potions.
For sure, certain melon liqueurs are green, and Chartreuse, too, but only one fabled libation has its own colorful spokesperson. Er, make that a spokesfairy: The Green Fairy, the longtime, winged, slightly wicked representative for absinthe, seen on labels, in books, and poems aplenty.
But absinthe isn't just the heady, fairy-endorsed stuff of centuries gone by, a long-past sip once enjoyed by the writers and painters of Paris: It is still enjoyed and pondered and ode'ed, as it will be again on Thursday, April 16 in Culver City.
At the Culver Hotel, of course, if you're wondering where. Sipping a mysterious green drink calls for a storied setting, and let us not forget that the Culver Hotel is where all of those actors stayed, back in 1938, when they were making a fantasy movie all about reaching The Emerald City.
Emerald City, absinthe... No wonder the April 16 party is called The Green Hour.
Pernod will be on hand, pouring the spring-hued sips. Look for a cocktail called The Green Beast as well as the absinthe drip (the rather elaborate way absinthe reaches a glass, beautiful to watch and always involving a few steps, but never a straight pour).
Live tunes, magical happenings, giveaways, and a possible Green Fairy sighting could go down, or up -- fairies go up, yes? -- from 6 to 9 p.m. that night.
The Scene
Want to find new things to do in Los Angeles? The Scene's lifestyle stories have you covered. Here's your go-to source on where the fun is across SoCal and for the weekend.
And, nope, you don't need to wear your Emerald City garb to get in. Those MGM costumes for "The Wizard of Oz" were elaborate, and many of us don't have time, nor the energy, to Wizard-up after work.
Wearing something green and fresh and springlike? And maybe a pair of glittery wings? That's the way to get your poet on, for that most poetic of storied spirits.
