Edwin Cox, left, and friend Alex Black celebrate as Tottenham Hotspur scores against Manchester United while watching at N17 The Lane in Culver City. Adam Johnson became a soccer fan by accident. During a visit with family in London, Johnson's brother-in-law handed him a Tottenham jacket.
And when he put his hand in one of the pockets, he found two tickets to a Spurs' game. At the time Johnson may have preferred a root canal to a soccer game, but he went along anyway. The experience proved life-changing.
"It was just really exciting," he said. "The fans blew me away. The singing and the atmosphere, it was just so incredible that I was on board right away.
" Advertisement Last spring Johnson, 44, and his wife Clarice, 39, found a way to tap into that soccer fever on this side of the pond, opening a Culver City restaurant they called N17 The Lane, a name every Tottenham supporter will recognize. N17 is the postcode for the North London borough of Haringey, where the club is located, while The Lane refers to White Hart Lane, the iconic stadium that was home to the Spurs for 118 years. Their strategy, you might say, was modeled after the plot of "Field of Dreams" — if you build it, they will come.
And it worked. A month after the tiny restaurant opened on the ground floor of a luxury apartment complex it was filled with soccer fans. Another two dozen blocked the sidewalk outside to peer through the windows to watch the European Championship final on five big-screen TVs.
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