The beat goes on: Seeing the light: the story behind Beatnik West Town’s interior design
To fully understand the commitment of Maison Bonhomme, the design and concept studio of Bonhomme Group, to finding the perfect pieces for the venues they create, one merely has to reference the chandeliers at Beatnik West Town.
When he was designing soon-to-open Beatnik back in 2015, Bonhomme Group Founder and Creative Director Daniel Alonso knew exactly the type of crystal chandeliers and industrial ceiling lamps he was looking for to complement the space’s eclectic vibe. Previously, Dani had purchased 20 cast-iron “teardrop” 1970’s Chicago streetlights that were refurbished into a dramatic installation of ceiling lamps hung upside-down above the main bar. Yet, the hunt for his idyllic crystal chandeliers remained elusive
So, when long-time friend and Chicago restaurateur Dion Antic, now a Los Angeles resident, sent a photo of 15 massive crystal chandeliers inside the soon-to-be-demolished historic Yamasaki-designed Century Plaza Hotel, Dani didn’t hesitate to reach out to the reluctant developer, once getting over the shock of his good fortune. “I wrote a letter letting him know how important sustainability and the re-use of historical elements was to my design philosophy and that these one-of-kind pieces would go to a good home for a long time,” he says.
When the chandeliers arrived via three semis, the West Town neighborhood took notice. And when the breathtaking chandeliers were finally hung in the Beatnik’s main dining room, after a week-long cleaning by hand of the more than 10,000 crystals, the rest of the city took notice too of the restaurant that draws inspiration from the globetrotting Beat Generation of the 1950s and ’60s and is named after the bohemian hipsters who followed in their path.
“Some of my favorite design and build out stories of Beatnik come from watching the reaction of our neighbors, passersby and members of the team,” says Dani, referencing the delivery of the chandeliers and the day when hundreds of plants and trees arrived. “I don’t know if the team decided I had finally lost my mind when they saw me talking to the plants during my regular landscape duties or when they arrived one day and there was a mountain of 500 custom pillows towering in the center of the dining room.”
Beatnik’s vast collection of exceptional antiques were carefully curated over two years and coupled with custom-designed pieces expand on the definition of what a Chicago restaurant should and could look like. Some of Beatnik’s most dazzling design features include a 100-year-old carved teak Balinese façade, a 1920s Art Deco Parisian bar, a monumental pine cabinet from a spa in Salsomaggiore, Italy, and those aforementioned chandeliers and ceiling lamps.
“Personally, I am driven by aspiration, nostalgia and a sense of adventure. I seek to enrich my life by learning from the past, especially through travel, reading, film and, of course, through the relationships and conversations I am blessed with,” says Dani. “Most of my ideas are formed through the accumulation of my voyages through life. When I create, the sum of these experiences and inputs both inform and inspire me. Genuinely, the most exciting aspect of this project was the ambitious journey of the concept itself.”
