On Rose Avenue, the Change Built to Last Is the Sidewalk Along Penmar

The storefront at 523 Rose Avenue has a deep ocean-blue exterior and patio seating for about 50. In a little over a year it has had three tenants: Bluestone Lane, then Cinque Terre West, and now Sticky Rice, which is serving pad see-ew and khao soi there. A few doors west, at 512 Rose, Wabi on Rose has served its last dinner.

At the other end of Rose, where the street runs along Penmar Golf Course, city crews have spent the year on slower work: ramps, a driveway, and the first 500 feet of a curving sidewalk. On Rose Avenue the restaurants turn over in months. The Penmar sidewalk was planned in 2024 and is being built to last for decades.

Three Tenants in One Storefront at 523 Rose

According to Yo! Venice, the 523 Rose space went through these tenants:

1. Bluestone Lane held the space first.
2. Cinque Terre West came next. Marlo Vinzoni and chef Gianbattista "Gianba" Vinzoni reopened their Palisades restaurant there on June 23, 2025, after the Palisades Fire damaged the original. They painted the 1,200-square-foot space a coastal Italian blue and set up patio seating for about 50.
3. Sticky Rice was announced in July 2026 as the replacement.

Sticky Rice is a Thai street food concept from David Tewasart and Bryan Sharafkhah. Tewasart opened the original at Grand Central Market in 2013, and Sharafkhah brought experience running a pad Thai cart at Chiang Mai markets and big festivals. The menu covers pad Thai, pad see-ew, khao soi, crying tiger steak, sticky wings and curries, with vegan, gluten-free and spicy options. Before Venice, the group had locations in Echo Park, Highland Park and on 3rd Street.

The Sticky Rice Venice page now says "Now open on Rose Ave." The posted hours are dinner Tuesday through Sunday, 5 to 10 p.m., closed Mondays. The restaurant also offers pickup and delivery.

When the opening was announced, Yo! Venice placed it on "the busy stretch of Rose Avenue near Venice Beach Wines and Chulita." Venice Beach Wines is at 529 Rose, right next door. Its site lists evening hours every day, running until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays and until 9 p.m. on Sundays.

512 Rose Ends a Run That Began on Abbot Kinney

Wabi on Rose had a longer history than its six years on Rose suggest. The Westside Current reported that owners Sam Marshall and Tricia Small reopened at 512 Rose after a 2018 fire destroyed their Abbot Kinney location, and that their closing announcement gave no reason. According to The LA Globe, the reopening under the new name came in April 2020.

Yo! Venice reported the closure on Oct. 15. It noted that the restaurant first ran as Wabi Sabi on Abbot Kinney for nearly two decades before an electrical fire destroyed it in 2018. The LA Globe reported the permanent closure the next day.

Add up the Abbot Kinney years and the Rose years, and one sushi restaurant fed part of Venice for most of a quarter century at two addresses. No new tenant has been named for 512 Rose. For now, the 500 block's dinner options are Sticky Rice, Venice Beach Wines and Chulita, without the sushi counter that used to sit among them.

What the City Is Pouring Along Penmar

East of the restaurant block, Rose Avenue runs along the edge of Penmar Golf Course. That is where the city's Revitalize Rose Avenue project is underway. The StreetsLA project page, updated in September 2026, puts the work on the north side of Rose between Frederick Street and Glenavon Avenue. The Office of Councilwoman Traci Park, Council District 11, is funding it, and StreetsLA is designing and building it. The plan includes:

• 14,000 square feet of aggregate sidewalk
• 18,000 square feet of new water-wise landscaping
• Nine new ADA access ramps
• Crosswalks at Courtland Street and Penmar Avenue, with added lighting at the crossings
• A tree-protection bumpout
• No change to the existing driving and bicycle lanes

When the project broke ground in April, local coverage gave the landscaping as roughly 10,000 square feet. The city's September page lists 18,000.

Here is the city's own timeline, including the dates still ahead:

The last two rows are the city's forecast. If the landscape contract is awarded this season, planting is the step that turns poured concrete into the finished walkway in the renderings. The project page has a public comment form for questions about the schedule.

A Path That Foot Traffic Had Already Made

Some of this sidewalk follows routes people were already walking. The Westside Current reported that residents had started a community garden along this edge of Rose. Project plans run the new pedestrian path through that garden space and add irrigation and permanent landscaping.

The same report describes a formal pedestrian connection into Frederick Street Park. It calls that a link "that has effectively existed through foot traffic but has never been built to City standards." The paper described the larger project as reshaping the corridor into "a formal pedestrian connection toward Santa Monica."

The meandering sidewalk is the visible part. The longer-term value is the curb ramps at Penmar, Courtland, Sunset and Glenavon, and the lit crosswalks at Courtland and Penmar. Those pieces make the Frederick Street Park edge a city-built route that strollers and wheelchairs can use. Restaurants on the 500 block come and go. Concrete ramps and a landscaped, irrigated parkway stay put once they are built.

The Golf Course Lawn on Friday Nights

The east end of Rose also has an evening draw. The Penmar, at 1233 Rose Avenue, runs Friday Sunset Sessions on the golf course lawn. Its site describes live local music, craft cocktails and wood-fired pizza at golden hour, with low-back chairs and blankets welcome. Doors open at 4 p.m. and bands play from 5:30 to 9 p.m. The venue calls the evenings family- and dog-friendly.

The ticket page lists a session with The SHFT and Steve Rondo on Friday, Oct. 23. The next one, on Friday, Oct. 30, is titled "Sunset Sessions- HALOWEEN!!!" and runs 5:30 to 9 p.m. No later Friday dates are on sale yet, so a reader on Thursday the 29th has one more session on the calendar.

On those Fridays the two ends of Rose connect. Dinner on the 500 block and an evening on the Penmar lawn sit on the same street. Once the Glenavon-to-Frederick stretch is finished, it will be the part of Rose built for walking past the golf course.

Halloween Weekend Around Rose

For anyone reading this on Thursday, Oct. 29, here is what the next few days hold near Rose:

• Thursday, Oct. 29, and Saturday, Oct. 31: Sticky Rice at 523 Rose serves dinner from 5 to 10 p.m. It is closed only on Mondays.
• Friday, Oct. 30: The Penmar's Halloween Sunset Session on the golf course lawn, 5:30 to 9 p.m., with tickets through The Penmar's ticket page.
• Saturday, Oct. 31: The Venice Canals Association lists Canalloween at Linnie Canal Park from 5 to 6 p.m. The listing doesn't give a year, so check the page before you go.

If you walk the golf course side of Rose between Glenavon and Frederick on any of those days, you'll be on the 500 feet of new sidewalk poured in July, with the landscape contract still to come.

If you own a home near the Penmar end of Rose and want to understand how this kind of street work can shape buyer interest in your block, Lisa Potier is glad to talk it through, with no pressure. Start with a free home valuation that accounts for what's being built on your stretch of Rose, and get a straight read on your options.