Greenopia Holiday Showcase: Smaller than expected

Somehow I thought the Greenopia Holiday Showcase would be much bigger. I'm  not sure why because I'd been to the smart house, where the event was held, for Green Drinks. The space isn't tiny, but it's not that big.

Still, I thought there'd be more than a half-dozen stores. I did, however, enjoy checking out the showcased businesses. There was the Venice-based eco-skate shop Arbor, eco-soap shop Soaptopia, hemp fashion store Natural High Lifestyles, and the traveling enviro-oriented mobile spa, Green Bliss EcoSpa.

Most interesting biz: The Venice-based Urbanic Paper Boutique. We're talking paper products -- from journals to cards -- made of 100% post-consumer materials. All from a local store too! I'll stop by the next time I'm in Venice.

But on Saturday, Hannah and I walked through the showcase under half an hour, then walked over to The Other Room for drinks. They actually have an organic red wine, offered by the glass and the bottle!

Unfortunately, the bar's too dark to read the wine menu on the wall -- so dark that even the cocktail waitress couldn't tell us much about the wine we ordered aside from the fact that it was organic. Odd. No, the tables didn't have any wine menus -- a bit unusual for a wine bar. Any other winos have this problem at The Other Room?

Photos by Siel