Better Know A Bartender: Chloe Humes of The Wellesbourne

"A lot of people in this industry say that you can be taught bartending, but you can’t teach how to interact with people."

West L.A. wasn’t really known for its cocktail scene until the The Wellesbourne opened in 2011. A quiet English style pub located across the street from the old Westside Pavilion mall, The Wellesbourne quickly became one of L.A.’s best loved bars, for both its warm decor and deep liquor selection. We met up with Chloe Humes, The Wellesbourne’s bar lead, to discuss dive bars, classy bars, kicking people out of bars, and of course, her favorite cocktail.

Where are you from originally?

I grew up in Los Angeles, Woodland Hills, and pretty much stayed around there until I was 19 then moved out as fast as I could. I moved to Oregon right after high school, was there for about 11 years and just came back about two years ago. It was a tough choice, but I missed my family and I thought I’d move in with my parents and save a little money.

How long have you been bartending?

I got my first bartending job in 2019. It was March 2019, I was just about to hit my first year bartending as soon as the pandemic hit. That was tough because it felt like the first time in my life I was doing something I really enjoyed, so that was a real blow to my confidence. 

How’d you get into bartending?

That’s a slightly roundabout situation. I was working at Columbia Sportswear, I went to school to be an apparel designer and wanted to go into technical design. I got my dream job interview after being there for two years doing sales. They asked me why I wanted this job and I didn’t have an answer and I realized I didn’t want to be doing that with my life. I quit there and got my first big girl job where I was getting over minimum wage, basically. I got fired from that, and I basically had only free time to figure out what to do. 

I had taken small business classes to go into the restaurant business, but I was sorely missing any restaurant experience. That’s surprisingly helpful to know if you’re going to run a restaurant, so, I thought this was my chance to start working in the industry I wanted to be a part of, and four days later, I was bartending. It was the seediest, scariest place I had ever been in in my life, but it was great. I loved that place.

You were there for a year, then things shut down and you came to L.A. When did you start at the Wellesbourne?

I started February of this year. When I was making the decision to move back home, I moved back in with my parents and it was as restaurants were just starting to open back up. So I figured it was smarter to get in on a restaurant before people started mass applying. I worked at a California Pizza Kitchen. That was horrific. Then I got a second job at a bar called Risky Business in North Hollywood. That was the point where I was pretty lucky. They paid for a course called “Bar Smarts” for me that essentially taught the who, what, when, where, why, and how of liquor in general. I already had the practice of working in a dive bar, but that gave me the knowledge to help me work in nicer places. I applied here at The Wellesbourne and I’ve worked my way up to bar lead.

What’s the difference in knowledge level you need at a dive bar versus a nicer place like Risky Business or The Wellesbourne?

At a dive bar, it’s not about the alcohol, it’s about the customer service interactions. It’s about being your own bouncer. You have to work in absolutes and black and whites; either you’re allowed in or you’re not, you’re cut off or you’re not. It’s about learning how to interact with drunk people and get them to do what you want them to do. That gave me a really good foundation for how I was going to operate in an industry that has a lot of turn over. You’re intoxicating people, you’re doing something that can be dangerous for people. I had to learn where that line was and that’s what the dive bar taught me. People will try to take advantage of you, they’ll try to steamroll you.

I had a very limited selection, maybe 12 types of alcohol and four mixers. I had to do a lot of googling like “What’s a Margarita?” or “How do you make a Manhattan?” A lot of people in this industry say that you can be taught bartending, but you can’t teach how to interact with people. Once I had the knowledge of how to deal with people, then I could work on my bartending ability. I also had access to nicer and more elevated spirits, and people who wanted real cocktails and not just vodka sodas. 

It’s the difference between “I know what I want to drink” and “I just want a drink.”

Exactly. Here’s one of the things that I put my hands over my eyes in shame when I remember it: The first time someone ordered a Whiskey Sour from me at the dive bar, I was like “Sorry, I just don’t know what that is,” and they were like “Oh, it’s just whiskey and sour mix,” because at the dive bar that’s exactly what it is. When I started working in a nicer bar and someone asked for a Whiskey Sour, I gave them that and they never came back. They just looked at me horrified. Now, I make a very nice Whiskey Sour with egg whites, dry shake and all. I like the classics and doing riffs on the classics, that’s the fun part.

You moved during the pandemic, but what was your lockdown hobby?

I practiced meditation. This is going to sound so funny, but I bought a book on extrasensory perception to see if I could develop ESP. I could not, fun fact, surprising. 

That would come in handy at a bar.

It would have come in so handy, but unfortunately, it’s not real and that’s fine. I gardened a lot. My dad is really into gardening, so I took up gardening a little bit. I had a few plants I was excited about, but they all died when I went back to work. I got a cat too, so I’ve been playing with her. Also cooking. I’ve always cooked, but now I had time for recipe trying and development of new things. 

What do you think makes The Wellesbourne special?

The place has a very good reputation. When I talk about The Wellesbourne to people who’ve lived in in Southern California for a while, they’d say “Oh yeah, I love that place.” I’ve made it a priority to get a very solid staff in. People who are reliable, friendly and make it feel like you’re coming to your favorite neighborhood bar. While I don’t think it’ll be the same place that it was with the shuffleboard and all that, the new owners are trying to make it in a nicer, upscale establishment, which has a lot of potential.

You’ve worked at dive bars, you’ve worked at nice bars. What is one of the funniest, weirdest, or most interesting things you’ve ever seen on the job?

Oh boy. People often ask me “Isn’t it scary to kick people out? Isn’t that hard for you?” and I tell them it’s one of my favorite parts of the job. I learned very early that my tolerance for who can come into my bar is low. As long as you are walking, talking, and able to pay, you’re good. If someone comes up and says this person is making me uncomfortable, that’s another story. But very seldomly, people find it in them to challenge that very low standard. 

One girl that I had to kick out, unfortunately, was very intoxicated. She was dancing, which is great, but she was not talking. She tried to order another drink and I had to pull her aside and say “I’m sorry, but you’ve had a little too much. I can get you water, food, whatever you like, but I can’t serve you another drink.” She was like “Excuuusssse me?” She was livid. I was 28 at the time, this girl was like 23. She was young, we’ve all been there. She started yelling at me, and I was just like “You can stay in the bar. Your friends are here, you just can’t have another drink.” 

So, this guy she was with came up and ordered two drinks. One for him and one that was the same drink she had tried to order two minutes ago. What a coincidence. I ask “Who’s this one for?” He was taken aback and looked over at her and I said “I’m sorry, I can’t give you that one, but you can have this one.” He was like “Okay, thank you,” paid for his drink and went to the table. I watch her leaning over him to drink it. I went “Absolutely not, every single one of you, get out.” She was like “No, no, no. Please, please, please.” I said “Absolutely not, pay your tabs and leave.” Then she went “I need to go to the bathroom really quick,” and I was like “Fine.” She went to the bathroom and she was in there for 15 minutes. She came out and this girl who was a bartender in the area had been waiting and that’s when she saw what this girl had done to the bathroom. She had TP’ed the entire room. She had undone the entire industrial roll and shoved it down the toilet. I was the only person working that night, so it was going to be up to me to plunge all that. 

I was stunned and didn’t know what to do, so this girl, the neighbor bartender, grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and swung her out. She was like “You’re never allowed in ever again.” She was screaming and the drunk girl was screaming. I was just stunned. So, two weeks later, that girl came back in. She had no recollection that I 86’ed her. I sort of recognized her, but then I saw her ID and I remembered the name. It was a very unique name. She was on a date with a new guy, so I had the beautiful, cathartic moment of saying “I’m sorry, but after what you did last time, you are not allowed to come back in here. You need to leave right now.” Her date was just looking at her horrified, like “What did you do?” She was like “I don’t know,” and then I said “I can explain it or you can leave.” So they just went “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, we’re going,” to which I said “Great, have a good night.” That’s when I learned how to kick people out and wait patiently because retribution will come.

That’s incredible.

Yeah, I felt like, I don’t know, a barbarian or something.

I was going to say mafioso, though she made it out alive.

Yeah, that’s good for her. Proud of her. She was very close to not doing that.

Finally, what is one of your favorite cocktail, what do you like about it, and how do we make it?

My favorite cocktail of all time is a Margarita. It’s the perfect drink, but I feel it has a bad reputation because people abuse tequila, in my opinion, when they don’t know how to drink yet. It’s also the perfect balance of sweet, salty, tangy, and sour. It covers every single base. My favorite Margarita has either a salt or Tajin rim, depends on my mood.

What’s would be a Tajin mood?

That’s for when I’m feeling sassy and need a little extra kick. If I’m making a Margarita at home, usually just salt. I use a rocks glass, I don’t bother with a Margarita glass because I always think it’s awkward to hold. I will use either tequila or mezcal. My favorite mezcal right now is Bozal, and I usually use a reposado tequila, but when it comes to blanco tequila, the Lobos Joven is my go to.

Chloe Hume’s Margarita

2 oz Tequila or Mezcal 

¾ oz Triple Sec

1 oz Lime

Shake with ice and strain over fresh ice in a salt or Tajin rimmed rocks glass. Garnish with a lime.

The Wellesbourne, 10929 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles thewellesbourne.com