Diners in and around Santa Monica have found something familiar in the laid-back beach mood at Bondi Harvest, an Australian cafe that opened this spring.
But area residents aren’t the only customers at the eatery.
“We have Australians who trek from all over,” general manager Sabrina Harper said. “We’ve gotten a lot of support from them. We’ve seen tons of them.”
Locally based Aussies as well as tourists from Down Under maintain a strong presence in Santa Monica, and they’re expected to come out in full force for the annual Australia celebration as part of the Twilight Concert Series at Santa Monica Pier. Tonight’s headliner, Rufus du Sol, hails from Sydney.
The arrival of the electronic dance-pop group adds to a deepening tradition of Australian musicians at the popular outdoor music series, previous editions of which have featured Ben Browning from Cut Copy, the DMA’s, Missy Higgins, Ben Lee, Kasey Chambers, Xavier Rudd and Jagwar Ma.
“These are the type of gigs you never forget with the backdrop of the lights of the pier and the Pacific Ocean,” Rufus du Sol vocalist/guitarist Tyrone Lindqvist said. “It’s a pretty easy sell.”
Australians and Kiwis have built a visible community in Santa Monica, according to U.S. Census estimates from the American Community Survey. In 2013 there were 560 local residents who were born in Australia and New Zealand, according to the data, a significant increase on the 232 recorded three years earlier.
But their impact is felt on an even larger scale in the Santa Monica tourism industry, which welcomes thousands of visitors from Down Under each year. Australia and New Zealand sent the largest contingent of international travelers to the coastal city last year, according to Santa Monica Travel and Tourism figures, easily topping England and Germany.
The local tourism bureau last year partnered with an Australian fashion label to highlight Santa Monica as a travel destination. A promotional raffle for a trip to Southern California generated 6,000 entries on the first day of the competition, which indicated “that this was indeed the right target market,” according to an SMTT news release.
Still, it doesn’t take a trip to Sydney or Melbourne to notice Aussies’ attraction to Santa Monica. Last year, popular Australian DJ Will Sparks spent time making music at Konscious Studios on 9th Street near Olympic Boulevard.
The nation has also made a name for itself in the local culinary scene in recent years, as evidenced by Aussie Pie Kitchen on Main Street and Bondi Harvest on Berkeley Street.
The savory pie kitchen, which opened in late 2014, offers reinvented takes on traditional Aussie meat pies.
“My ambition here is that every Australian who comes in here and knows what a pie is, is simply going to say to me, ‘That’s the best pie I’ve ever eaten,’” co-owner Nick Bishop told the Daily Press at the time. “The other 90 percent of people who don’t know what an Aussie pie is, my ambition is for them to just say, ‘I just ate delicious food.’”
The local Bondi Harvest, meanwhile, is an extension of a southeastern Australia outpost launched near Bondi Beach by Mark Alston and Guy Turland. Santa Monica, which executives noted for its relaxed beach aura, was seen as a fitting expansion destination for the restaurant.
The cafe recently opened for weekend business.
“This is just taking that Australian-style cafe and planting it here in Los Angeles,” said Harper, whose husband is from Australia. “It has the Aussie vibes in here. You feel like you’re transported into an Aussie-style cafe in Bondi or anywhere in Sydney.”
