OUR TEAM
Ty Thorpe
Director of Operations
Ty Thorpe started his career as a touring musician, an experience that led to his interest in the production side of the music industry. He obtained his BA in Electronic Communication Arts with a minor in Business Marketing from SFSU. For a decade, Ty contributed to the growth of Light Rail Studios in San Francisco, helping it evolve into one of the city's largest recording and broadcast facilities. Within Light Rail, Ty specialized in audio engineering, studio management, interior design, and producing bands, podcasts, and live in-studio performances. Concurrently, Ty was also working as a bartender and booking agent for various venues and bars in San Francisco.
Capitalizing on his studio access and connections within the live music and entertainment industry, he founded a small record label in San Francisco called Honey House Records. Honey House became a hub for producing bands, concerts, radio shows, industry events, tours, and more. Over time, the focus shifted from producing albums and merchandise to organizing live events, which planted the seed for transforming Honey House Records from a boutique record label into a brick-and-mortar cocktail bar.
By combining his expertise in music production, interior design, and entrepreneurial vision, Ty Thorpe continues to push boundaries in the music, entertainment, and hospitality realms.
Ella Zoller
Beverage Director
Ella Zoller is a bar director and multidisciplinary artist living in East LA with 11+ years in the music and hospitality scene. After simultaneously bartending for critically acclaimed bars and restaurants in Brooklyn while performing around New York City in dream pop band PROM, she honed her skills for hosting events combining the music and cocktail worlds. Slinging drinks evolved from a means of paying the bills as an emerging actor and musician to a form of creative expression when she moved to California in 2017. In 2020 she took over as Bar Director at Good Housekeeping in Highland Park, where she channeled her creative energy into designing the cocktail & spirits menus and curating the DJ program.
She began consulting for other bars in 2022, and around that same time joined forces with Ty and Valentino. Taking Honey House Records, a collective that was already in motion up in the Bay Area, and grounding it in LA with the same values, they began with the goal of hosting events around the city collaborating with local muscians and spirits brands to celebrate the neighborhood art and beverage communities.
Known for her imaginative crowd-pleasing cocktails, she has created bar programs across Los Angeles for Good Housekeeping, Checker Hall, and Superfine Playa, and made a mean martini as part of the bar team at Here’s Looking at You and Bar Flores.
Valentino DeMartini
Creative Director
Valentino DeMartini has been in the music industry for over 10 years as a radio host, performer, producer, promoter, booker, songwriter and recording engineer. In his time in the Bay Area, he hosted a weekly radio show on KXSF 102.5FM called “Honey House Hours” alongside Ty. This created great connections with many up-and-coming artists and musicians.
During this time he helped run Light Rail Studios where he and Ty recorded, produced, and distributed albums, while managing the studio. This is where the idea of Honey House began in 2018, as a record label and artist collective. Over the years his love for craft cocktails in unique spaces grew, combining the idea of an artist collective with a neighborhood bar.
Since moving to Los Angeles, Valentino has worked at trendy bars such as Spirit House, Goldfish and Donna’s in East L.A. Currently Valentino has a new radio show on DubLab, a popular indie radio station based in L.A. He’s also actively playing live shows and DJing at various clubs and venues. This has made him an active member of the community, increasingly growing connections within the artist network.