They transformed a historic bar into a fantasy forest for all of L.A.'s witches

Hear the sanction the Witch’s Cottage and you mightiness conjure a mystical vision. And wrong the caller North Hollywood space, present determination beryllium witches, yes. But that’s conscionable the commencement of it.

In 1 country of the two-story cafe, edifice and bar, constellations beckon. A usher to crystals calls distant successful another. An azure booth is flanked by an abstracted mermaid sculpture, and elsewhere howling wolves are engraved into the barroom tops.

Witch’s Cottage co-founder Celina Lee Surniak, left, with investor/partner Ana Lovelis and co-founder Danielle Ozymandias. The 3 envisioned a welcoming abstraction that views the satellite done a magical lens.

Hidden wonders are everywhere. Circle the cottage’s hand-constructed histrion trunks, and maybe, if you’re lucky, you’ll spy a tiny doorway hiding a small witch. Sit astatine 1 of the tables, and don’t beryllium amazed to perceive the sounds of birds chirping from the man-made trees. Branches outpouring distant from paintings and each nook is simply a motion to thing calved of a fable.

A decade-long imaginativeness of the founders, the Witch’s Cottage has transformed the aged Federal Bar into a colorful, whimsical fairy-tale-like wood of a gathering spot. A spot wherever 1 tin travel for the fantasy, and enactment for the chickenhearted etouffee and the Hex Breaker, a tiki-style, rum-heavy portion for grown-up sorcerers.

“I wanted this to consciousness lived in,” says Danielle Ozymandias, who dreamed up the abstraction with concern spouse Celina Lee Surniak, a chap originative who similar Ozymandias precise overmuch identifies arsenic a witch. “I wanted this to beryllium a ocular feast due to the fact that I deliberation maximalism is conscionable truthful interesting. That whitethorn beryllium the ADHD talking, but I knew I wanted a lot.”

The eating country of the Witch’s Cottage aims for a phantasy forest-inspired look.

While they surely designed the Witch’s Cottage to beryllium family-friendly, Surniak and Ozymandias accidental portion of their originative intent was to bring joyousness to adults.

“Everybody tries to shame you,” Surniak says. “Like, ‘You can’t bargain that coffee. Save your money.’ No, fto them person the java they truly love. Let them get that yearly walk to Disneyland. Let them person a play nighttime astatine the movies, adjacent if they spell alone. The satellite is truthful weird close now. What we tin bash is find joyousness successful tiny things.

A fairy astatine a media preview for North Hollywood’s caller Witch’s Cottage.

“Being capable to springiness adults the accidental to accidental ‘I’m a fairy,’ is the champion feeling ever,” Surniak continues. “And it’s not conscionable astatine Renaissance fairs. Be a fairy here.”

Or beryllium anyone. A motion adjacent 1 of the restaurant’s restrooms makes it wide it doesn’t substance which 1 guests use. It asks that they simply lavation their hands. “You tin locomotion successful arsenic a witch, oregon a dragon, oregon conscionable a FedEx worker,” Ozymandias says. “There’s nary judgment.”

The Witch’s Cottage had its expansive opening this weekend, and the assemblage instantly responded with lines retired the door. That wasn’t wholly astonishing — the task was built by a collective. More than 200 volunteers donated much than 3,000 hours to bring the abstraction to life, and the 2 founders attracted much than 100 investors via an online crowd-funding run that raised much than $167,000.

“We’re regular people,” Surniak says. “We don’t person a batch of money. We don’t person a nest egg. We don’t ain property. If we were going to bash anything, we would request help.”

Surniak says wrong 3 days of creating their campaign, they recovered an angel capitalist who offered them the funds to unafraid the building. Other investors followed, including Ana Lovelis and her hubby Kenny Enea, known successful the country for the elaborate haunted houses they person hosted astatine their home. The 2 joined arsenic originative partners and helped with construction. Lovelis says she recognized successful the Witch’s Cottage a akin outlook connected beingness arsenic hers. She recalled erstwhile years agone dating idiosyncratic who had a skeptical and applicable presumption of the world.

“And past determination was me, being like, ‘That butterfly is simply a motion from my grandma,’” Lovelis says. The Witch’s Cottage, she says, is reflective of viewing the satellite done a magical lens. At a clip of overmuch accent for many, specified a spot whitethorn beryllium needed. As Lovelis says, “What’s the harm?”

The Witch’s Cottage is simply a two-story abstraction that serves arsenic a cafe during the time and a edifice astatine night. Dinner work begins astatine 5 p.m.

Surniak inactive has a time job, moving arsenic a stunt and intimacy coordinator connected theatrical and Hollywood productions. Ozymandias, who antecedently worked successful the section theatre world, is focusing chiefly connected the Witch’s Cottage astatine the moment, helping to devise recipes and guarantee the bakery tin accommodate arsenic galore dietary restrictions arsenic possible.

Beyond caller paper items, there’s much successful the works, including assemblage events similar dependable baths, drama nights and classes connected composting, autochthonal plants and parenting. Or adjacent immoderate workshops that are much lighthearted, specified arsenic a hoped-for nighttime connected however to marque a broom.

Hidden down the upstairs barroom is what’s called the Tempered Flask Tavern, and it’s an elaborate tabletop role-playing crippled room. Here, 1 volition find a smoke-puffing dragon, but besides integer windows that crippled masters tin usage to trigger assorted effects. A agelong array sits astatine its center, flanked by a knight, a integer fireplace and weaponry. Not unfastened yet, the program is for the country to beryllium rented retired by the hour.

The Tempered Flask Tavern is simply a hidden country dedicated to tabletop games wrong the Witch’s Cottage. It volition beryllium disposable soon for guests to rent out.

Though Surniak and Ozymandias accidental they’ve been gathering imaginativeness boards for much than a decennary of what the spot could look like, caller taste shifts gave them the assurance that the timing was right. They constituent to “Stranger Things” and however it spawned a speech astir “Dungeons & Dragons,” oregon the occurrence of Disney+ bid “Agatha All Along.” More locally, they watched the emergence of a game-focused barroom specified arsenic the Roguelike Tavern, which is relocating to Studio City, arsenic good arsenic the quality that experiential creation steadfast Meow Wolf would beryllium gathering an exposition successful the city.

Taken arsenic a whole, they felt bolstered that North Hollywood could enactment a heavy themed cafe, a location for those who person rolled a 20-sided die, erstwhile looked up the meaning of the Tower paper oregon conscionable enjoyed a viewing of “The Lord of the Rings.”

But 1 request not cognize the interior workings of RPGs, tarot oregon Middle-earth to consciousness astatine location successful the Witch’s Cottage. This is simply a space, aft all, for anyone who has ever been touched by a fairy tale, dreamed of the fantastical oregon wanted to judge successful the powerfulness of wishing upon a star.

So walk a small clip successful the Witch’s Cottage, and possibly you’ll commencement to ideate that cocktail is simply a potion, and those deviled eggs did successful information hatch from a dragon. Diners whitethorn statement betwixt the “iron forged fondue melt” (a patty melt) oregon the “meze heartwich” (a achromatic legume purée connected sourdough), but childlike wonderment is the specialty of the house.

“Everybody is somebody’s kid,” Ozymandias says. “And I conscionable privation a harmless abstraction for people’s kids. Even if you’re 50, oregon 80, you’re my kid. I privation you to consciousness loved, and to person a cupful of thing lukewarm oregon magical. I privation you to cognize that immoderate is extracurricular those doors, erstwhile you’re successful here, I got you.”