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Museum celebrates restaurant

On March 15, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHM) hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony to inaugurate Neighborhood Grill by Post & Beam, a new causal concept restaurant operated by Chef John Cleveland and Roni Cleveland, co-owners of

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Event lauds collaboration in Exposition Park

On March 15, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHM) hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony to inaugurate Neighborhood Grill by Post & Beam, a new causal concept restaurant operated by Chef John Cleveland and Roni Cleveland, co-owners of the award-winning Post & Beam restaurant in the Baldwin Hills-Crenshaw district.

Elected officials including LA County Supervisor Holly Mitchell; NHM leadership; and the team behind the restaurant gave brief remarks, cut the ceremonial ribbon and welcomed people into the reimagined restaurant space during a special event, which also featured live music from the Fernando Pullum Community Arts Center Jazz Band and opportunities to sample menu items.

The restaurant is one element of a bold reorganization of the museum’s community-based food service program that is being managed by the newly formed South LA Cafe (SLAC) Hospitality, an extension of the museum’s long-standing community partner, South LA Cafe founded by Joe and Celia Ward-Wallace.

A rising star in the culinary world, John Cleveland is head chef and co-owner of the fine-dining restaurant, Post & Beam. Cleveland and his wife Roni continue Post & Beam’s legacy as one of South LA’s most revered, award-winning, Black-owned restaurants.

Cleveland draws his influences from southern soul food, Carolina BBQ, coastal seafood as well as Neapolitan cuisine, culminating into what he’s coined as “California comfort food.”

SLAC Hospitality co-Founders Joe & Celia Ward-Wallace bring over 30 years of experience in business development, community organizing, social enterprise, and restaurant, and hospitality industries.

The company has a specialization in community engagement through resonant branding, marketing, social impact strategies and a deep commitment to hiring locally, paying a living wage, and creating pathways for income and professional advancement.

For more information on the South LA Cafe ecosystem, visit southlacafe.com or follow @southlacafe.

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