A Respite for the Weary in Garden of Herbal Delights
It’s 5:30 on a Friday afternoon, and the Elixir Bar at the Tea Garden Herbal Emporium is buzzing with health-conscious locals, stressed-out entertainment executives and professional athletes, swapping health histories, herbal formulas and occasionally phone numbers.
Production designer Beth Rubino plops down on a bar stool and tells the bartender. “I’m fried from two hours on the freeway. Please give me something to calm me down.”
Nathalie Alexander, an actress who bicycled over for a post-workout pick-me-up, orders a Ginseng Roughy Fizz. It gives her such a quick lift that she gushes: “Now I’m ready to go out dancing.”
At 10 p.m., people are still hanging out. Finally, store owner Ron Teeguarden politely asks them if he could please close down. He wants to go home.
Non-Alcoholic Watering Hole
When it comes to hip hangouts these days, those seeking a non-alcoholic, low-cal watering hole are heading to the Elixir Bar in Venice. Restaurants are too pricey, cafes too intoxicating; and juice bars are downright passe. At the varnished aspen bar, surrounded by antique wooden herb chests, people munch Taoist Journey Trail Mix and sip Chinese herbal cocktails made by mixing ginseng, licorice root and other exotic herbs with cold sparkling water.
“It tastes like sweet tea or soda pop,” says habitue Terry Reyburn. But they are so soothing, she says, “an hour at the Elixir Bar is like a day at the beach.”
Teeguarden, a Chinese herbalist who studied with a Taoist master, came up with the idea for the Elixir Bar while visiting Tokyo 10 years ago. “There were street corner stands all over the city where you can buy Chinese herbal extracts in glass vials,” Teeguarden explains. “People sip them while walking down the street or riding on subways as a health supplement.”
Although Western medicine downplays the impact of Chinese herbs, they have been used in China to enhance health and promote longevity for at least 3,000 years. “While these herbal formulas don’t cure disease,” says Teeguarden, who cautions he isn’t a doctor and he doesn’t prescribe medicine, “they do help promote what the Taoists call ‘radiant health.’ ”
At costs ranging from $4 to $6, ginseng energy tonics are the most popular, especially when people come straight from the freeway. But relaxation elixirs and energy tonics are frequently requested by such devoted customers as Laker player Jeff Lamp, playwright John Steppling, record producer Richard Perry and Academy Award-winning film producer Bob Chartoff (“Rocky”).
Teeguarden created a super tonic program for the Rolling Stones. And Lisa Bonet stopped by regularly during her pregnancy.
“Everybody from Polish princes to personal trainers comes here,” said film production coordinator Birgitte Thygesen.
‘Interesting People’
“I invariably meet interesting people when I come to the Tea Garden,” says Santa Monica lawyer Joel Edelman. “Chinese herbs seem to attract creative, adventurous people who are interested in health without being fanatics.”
“Over the years,” says the lawyer, who comes by almost every day for take-home elixirs, “I’ve found that taking these oral liquids is more effective in preventing colds and other illnesses than the acupuncture and chiropractic treatments I used to get. I’m 50 years old, and I feel like I’m still in my 30s.”
Nutritionist and personal trainer Philip Mendez, who pops in four times a week, also sends his clients in for energy-building drinks. “These elixirs have helped me build more endurance, heal injuries and combat fatigue,” says the Malibu trainer, who uses them as a health supplement, just like vitamins.
Since they opened in February 1988, Cynthia Teeguarden noticed that a high percentage of customers are either in Alcoholics Anonymous or trying to cut out cigarettes, coffee or marijuana.
“I used to smoke while I worked,” says Thygesen, “but after taking Chinese herbs and elixirs for a few months, I don’t crave the stimulation of cigarettes.” She doesn’t feel like drinking alcohol any more either. “Besides this is the nicest bar you could ever go to.”
But the Elixir Bar also serves restorative drinks to those in the throes of a hangover or reeling from too much rich food. “We make a special cocktail for hangovers with angelica, trichosanthis (which is used in the new AIDS drug, Compound Q), chrysanthemum, magnolia and a splash of deer antler to get the mind going again,” says Teeguarden.
As exotic car dealer Peter Morris says, “In a few years, these elixirs may be popular across the country because they give you a definite buzz while actually being good for you.”