Today the storefront at 523 Rose Avenue has a takeout window, a dining room, and a Thai menu with khao soi and crying tiger steak. Before June 2025 it was a Bluestone Lane. In between, it belonged to a Pacific Palisades restaurant that had lost its home to fire, rebuilt here, and then left for Texas.
A little over a mile inland, on the north side of Rose by Penmar Golf Course, a city crew has been working on one stretch of sidewalk since April. By July, it had poured the first 500 feet.
Both ends of the street are changing at once, at very different speeds. The restaurant turnover near the beach gets the attention. The slow concrete work at the east end will probably last longest.
Three tenants in one storefront
Following one address shows how fast the beach end of Rose moves.
- Before June 2025: 523 Rose Ave. was a Bluestone Lane café.
- June 23, 2025: Marlo Vinzoni and chef Gianbattista "Gianba" Vinzoni reopened Cinque Terre West there, about five months after the January 2025 Palisades Fire closed their original restaurant. They brought over the Ligurian menu and their deli operation, Deliziozo Cinque. According to Westside Current, the family credited longtime customers and a community fundraiser with helping them start over.
- July 2026: Community Impact reported that the Vinzonis had moved Cinque Terre West to Austin's Rosedale area and started serving customers there that month. In that report, Marlo Vinzoni called Austin "our new community."
- Later that summer: Sticky Rice announced a takeout-only opening for Monday, Aug. 10, with the dining room to follow once the kitchen settled in.
The space measures 1,200 square feet. During the Cinque Terre year it had a deep ocean-blue exterior and patio seating for about 50. Yo! Venice placed it on "the busy stretch of Rose Avenue near Venice Beach Wines and Chulita," which is a good way to find it.
What Sticky Rice brings to Rose
Sticky Rice comes from the opposite side of town. David Tewasart opened the original as a stall at Grand Central Market in 2013. His partner, Bryan Sharafkhah, had run a pad Thai cart at markets in Chiang Mai and at major festivals. The pair already run locations in Echo Park, Highland Park and on 3rd Street, and Rose Avenue is their first on the Westside.
The menu sticks to Thai street food: pad Thai, pad see-ew, khao soi, crying tiger steak, sticky wings and curries, with vegan, gluten-free and spicy options.
The restaurant's Venice location page now lists the dining room as open, takeout at the window and delivery through DoorDash. Hours are Tuesday through Sunday, 5 to 10 p.m., and it's closed Mondays. That makes it a dinner spot, not a lunch spot.
Down the block, a six-year run ends
Across the street, the beach end lost a long-running restaurant this month. Wabi on Rose, the sushi and cocktail bar at 512 Rose Ave., Suite F, announced on social media on Oct. 14 that it had closed for good. WhatNow Los Angeles reported that the announcement gave no reason.
Westside Current reported that owners Sam Marshall and Tricia Small reopened Wabi at 512 Rose in 2020 after securing a lease there. Next to the history of 523 Rose, six years is a long time. No new tenant for the space has been announced.
Taken together, one address on Rose has had three operators since mid-2025, and the restaurant across the street has just closed after six years. On this block, a restaurant can change in about a season.
The east end runs on a city construction schedule
Head inland past Lincoln, where Rose runs along Penmar Golf Course toward the Santa Monica line, and the change is slower. The City of Los Angeles calls it Revitalize Rose Avenue. It covers the north side of Rose from Frederick Street to Glenavon Avenue and adds walking connections to Frederick Street Park. The office of Councilwoman Traci Park, Council District 11, is funding it, and the Bureau of Street Services, StreetsLA, is designing and building it.
When finished, the city's project page lists:
- 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
- Lighting improvements at those crosswalks
- A bumpout to protect an existing tree
- Driving and bike lanes kept as they are
That last item matters for anyone who drives or bikes Rose every day. The work stays on the sidewalk side, and the car and bike lanes keep their current layout. Westside Current described the project as a new walking connection to Santa Monica along the golf course.
The money was approved months before any concrete went down. On Feb. 17, 2026, the City Council approved $1,050,000 for the Bureau of Street Services, $55,445 for Street Lighting and $14,660 for Engineering, all from the Coastal Transportation Corridor Fund. That comes to $1,120,105.
Where the work stands
The project page shows the work moving in small, finished pieces:
| When | What was finished or scheduled |
|---|---|
| April 6, 2026 | Construction started; ramp and sidewalk upgrades done at Penmar Ave. and Rose Ave. |
| May 2026 | Ramp upgrades done at Courtland St., Sunset Ave. and Glenavon Ave. |
| June 2026 | Driveway upgrades done at Penmar Golf Course |
| July 2026 | First 500 feet of meandering sidewalk poured, starting at Glenavon Ave. |
| Fall/Winter 2026 | Bid and award for a landscape contractor |
| Winter 2026/Spring 2027 | Project completion |
The plan has also grown since the groundbreaking. When Yo! Venice covered the start of work in April, it reported about 10,000 square feet of landscaping. The city's current page lists 18,000. An earlier Westside Current preview expected six ramps and a finish by fall 2026. The city now lists nine ramps and a finish in winter 2026 or spring 2027.
That leaves one question to watch this fall and winter. The planting, the biggest single part of the project at 18,000 square feet, can't start until a landscape contractor is hired, and the city has scheduled that for fall or winter 2026. The sidewalk can be poured while the planting waits, but the meandering path will look half done until the plants go in.
Why the slower project will last longer
The schedules on Rose Avenue point in opposite directions. At the beach end, Cinque Terre West opened in about five months after the fire and was in Austin about a year later. Sticky Rice went from "no opening date" in late July to a working dining room by fall. Whatever opens in Wabi's old space will likely follow the same quick cycle.
The east end runs on public-works time: community outreach in August 2024, a land survey and design through 2025, construction starting April 2026, and a finish date that slipped from fall 2026 to as late as spring 2027. The pace is slow, but the result is concrete, ramps, crosswalks and water-wise plantings meant to stay for decades. For anyone who walks Rose between Glenavon and Frederick, finishing that north-side sidewalk will change daily routines more than any single restaurant swap at the beach end.
Here's where things stand this week. At 523 Rose, the dining room is open Tuesday through Sunday evenings. At 512 Rose, the windows are dark. By the golf course, 500 feet of new sidewalk curves in from Glenavon, and the rest is due once the landscape contractor is hired and the city's winter-to-spring timeline holds.
If you live near Rose and want to understand how changes like these might affect a home on your block, whether that's a quieter walk to Santa Monica or a new dinner spot within a few blocks, Dana Benyehuda is glad to walk the street with you and talk it through. Work With Dana Benyehuda.
