Dear Godmode: Ashley B. Wells
The restaurant owner and cookbook author says thank you with flowers and navigates work's centrifugal force.
godmode is a label, management company, and community for individualists who value authenticity, collaboration, and freedom.
A few times a month, in Dear Godmode, we’ll ask a uniquely gifted person to examine their starting points, ways of spending time, and wishes for happiness.
Today we salute Ashley Bernee Wells, the co-owner and materfamilias of Los Feliz institution All Time. Ashley’s writing can be enjoyed in New York Magazine, All Time’s newsletter, and the upcoming The Cookbook of All Time, arriving in spring 2024.
From the restaurant, she embraces platonic romance, dreams of tomorrow’s coffee, and heads to the barn.
godmode: Where do you spend the most of your time in your neighborhood, outside of your home? What do you do there?
ASHLEY B. WELLS: I’m at All Time most days, most of my day. Working, of course, but also the restaurant is a sort of fulcrum for socializing, community, and inspiration. It’s a nice place to be. Also I love a free lunch. I eat 90% of my meals there in any given week. If I’m not at the restaurant and I’m not at home, I’m probably at the barn, riding my favorite stink man named Bear. He’s a horse.
godmode: Where do you spend the most of your time online? What do you do there?
ASHLEY B. WELLS: In the bad place, laughing at memes.
godmode: What activity “wastes” most of your time? Why do you do it so often?
ASHLEY B. WELLS: Correcting autocorrect. I’m trying to type “Hey chef, are we out of peaches?” and I get “Hey Cheap, hour of placenta?” Voice texting is worse. I’ll give up. Duck it, let the trips fall air they weigh.
godmode: What do you do to prepare yourself for a difficult moment, or reward yourself for making it through one?
ASHLEY B. WELLS: I like to be informed, so getting information feels good. It gives me the illusion of being in control. I might consult one person, but talking with too many people confuses me. Ultimately, I just face it, straight on. Once the moment has passed and I’m on the other side of the hard thing, that itself is the gold. There’s no better reward than seeing something tough in the rear view, and feeling the weight of fear, anticipation, and stress dissipate.
godmode: What’s the best thing you ate recently?
ASHLEY B. WELLS: Tyler’s vanilla pudding.
godmode: What’s the best thing you’ve ever bought secondhand?
ASHLEY B. WELLS: My ‘97 Land Cruiser. She’s a good old gal but she drinks like a fish.
godmode: What’s the best way to treat yourself, for less than $20?
ASHLEY B. WELLS: Drinking good coffee. When I’m going to bed I’m getting excited for coffee already. I spend at least half an hour enjoying and savoring this part of the day. I have a special mug. I like it hot, fresh, and black. I drink my coffee like it’s a morning prayer.
godmode: What’s the best way to treat yourself, with more than $1000?
ASHLEY B. WELLS: Book a luxury hotel room.
godmode: What do you like about your best friend? What makes your relationship with them feel good?
ASHLEY B. WELLS: His paws smell like corn chips and his ears are very soft. We share snacks, we protect each other, the love is pure.
godmode: What’s the hardest part of your job?
ASHLEY B. WELLS: Taking time off mentally. My work intersects my personal life at several axes—my business partner is my husband, the people who work with us are like family, so many of our guests are friends. Taking space away from work is tricky because everything touches everything else. I love it here, but also the centrifugal force is massive. I’ve gotten better at navigating this challenge. Tyler and I have independent creative pursuits and each do things for pleasure outside of our shared life. We have made a conscious shift in order to honor the aspects of ourselves that distinguish us as individuals as much as respect the overlap. Both are integral to our success, and our joy—as creatives, as humans, and as married people.
godmode: What does it take to become a genius at something?
ASHLEY B. WELLS: Can you become a genius in something? Laps around the track and hard work and stamina can make you great, possibly. Some luck and good timing, maybe you can find moments of genius. But to become one? No, I don’t know that recipe, or if there even is one.
godmode: What’s a lesson you’ve learned recently?
ASHLEY B. WELLS: My car doors will still lock even with the keys in the ignition.
godmode: Whose work is so great that it makes you jealous?
ASHLEY B. WELLS: David Sedaris.
godmode: What are you looking forward to?
ASHLEY B. WELLS: Our cookbook comes out early next year. It’s full of recipes, and there are also stories and essays and incredible images. It’s become this beautiful culmination of over twenty collective years in hospitality, together and independently. It’s also been a much more drawn out creative endeavor than most of the work I do, so much time spent inside a vortex of editing and tweaking, that I’m really looking forward to seeing the physical book as a whole, complete and out in the world after so much iterative process. Also the art is just beyond. Christopher’s photography is just unreal. I’m excited to share it, and to write more books.
godmode: What’s “in” this year?
ASHLEY B. WELLS: Platonic romance: Flowers as a thank you, saying I love you to your friends.
godmode: What’s “out” this year?
ASHLEY B. WELLS: Vaping.
godmode: What trend do you wish would come back around?
ASHLEY B. WELLS: Conversation. If I’m chatting with someone, I’m invested. I inevitably ask a question and get “google it / I’ll send you the link / look it up.” I don’t wanna look it up. I want to hear about it.
godmode: What trend have you been shocked to see come back around?
ASHLEY B. WELLS: Thongs above the waistband and JNCO jeans.
Thank you Ashley!