02/27/2004
Designers sweet on all-in-one concept
Pasadena finds success combining housing, entertainment and retail ventures in single locale.
Muhammed El-Hasan, Daily Breeze
(read complete review)

Excerpt...

The east wall at Bodega Wine Bar opens like a roll-up garage door, revealing a cozy patio and a view some say could serve as a template for future South Bay development.

Former Manhattan Beach residents Greg Seares and Jason McEntee opened the wine bar in December 2002 in Pasadena. Their business looks out on restaurants, a dry cleaners, a supermarket, specialty boutiques and a five-story apartment building that Seares and McEntee call home.

The apartments and businesses, including the dimly lit wine bar, make up Paseo Colorado, a Mediterranean-style open-air mall in downtown Pasadena.

"I have a one-minute commute," Seares said of the walk from his apartment door to the wine bar. "I'll either eat at Paseo or within two blocks. If I want to watch a movie, I have a movie theater here. I belong to a gym here. I don't get into my car very often."