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New vertical garden rises at Raphael restaurant in Studio City

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Looking to make Raphael in Studio City ‘more private and lush,’ the owners of the Ventura Boulevard restaurant recently added a green wall composed of succulents, herbs and other plants.

The wall looks great (I nearly caused an accident when I spotted it) with an abundance of blue and green flora, much of it pulled from the garden of co-owner Terry Raphael.

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‘She is a self-professed hippie and is really motivated to do green things,’ co-owner and manager Alon Raphael said of his mother.

The restaurant used pocket panels designed by San Francisco-based Plants on Walls. The felt-like panels are made from 100% recycled plastic water bottle fiber, which is mounted to a plastic backing. They range from $33 for a mini six-pocket model (8 inches wide, 2 feet tall) to $195 for a full-size 24-pocket model (32 inches wide and 4 feet tall).

‘We took a simple turn on something really obvious and kept it affordable,’ said Plants on Walls co-owner Chris Bribach, a graduate of the Southern California Institute of Architecture.

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Alon Raphael says his restaurant wants to grow heirloom tomatoes in the pockets someday. ‘We look at it as an addition to our kitchen,’ he said.

-- Lisa Boone

Photo credits: Christina House/For The Times

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Love to hate it: Facebook. We’re on it, with pages for California gardening and home design.

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