WSLA: Holcomb - Wine & Spirits Magazine

WSLA: Holcomb


This homey wine bar is dominated by a long bar lined with cozy booths. (Photo courtesy of the restaurant)

Holcomb is named for a mountain valley in the Angeles National Forest near Big Bear, a pristine place which proprietor Michael Blackman wanted to keep top of mind for the vibe of his wine bar on York Boulevard in Highland Park. An alumnus of Bar Covell, Blackman partnered with CalArts friend Dustin Lancaster (Bar CovellL&O Oyster BarAugustine) and Ross Stephenson to open this homey place dominated by a long bar and lined with cozy teal booths, a back patio if you’ve brought your pup, and—in a first (I think) for LA wine bars—a free “take-a-book-leave-a-book” library.

The menu is modest and filling, cheese and charcuterie plates and its signature Highland Park Pulled Pork sandwich with tomatillos and pickled white onion. Blackman’s wine selection is small, focused, and natty-inclined: He’s got Folk Machine and Workbook wines on tap, and blends for the curious, like Vins aux Liens’s Alsatian pétillant Wait Wait Wait, or Monte Rio’s coferment of sauvignon blanc and petit verdot. 

Holcomb is part of our Top 30 LA List of 2023. Read the whole story here.


5535 York Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90042

(323)739-0072

Patrick J. Comiskey covers US wines for Wine & Spirits magazine, focusing on the Pacific Northwest, California’s Central Coast and New York’s Finger Lakes.


This story appears in the print issue of Spring 2023.
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