Barney's Beanery is a chain of
gastropub
A gastropub or gastro pub is a pub that serves gourmet comfort food. The term was coined in the 1990s, though similar brewpubs existed during the 1980s.
Etymology
The term ''gastropub'' (derived from gastronomy) was coined in 1991, when David E ...
s in the
Greater Los Angeles Area
Greater Los Angeles is the second-largest metropolitan region in the United States with a population of 18.5 million in 2021, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino Coun ...
. John "Barney" Anthony founded it in 1920 in
Berkeley, California
Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...
, and in 1927 he moved it to
U.S. Route 66
U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66) was one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The h ...
, now
Santa Monica Boulevard
Santa Monica Boulevard is a major west–east thoroughfare in Los Angeles County. It runs from Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica near the Pacific Ocean to Sunset Boulevard at Sunset Junction in Los Angeles. It passes through Beverly Hills and West ...
, (
State Route 2) in
West Hollywood
West Hollywood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Incorporated in 1984, it is home to the Sunset Strip. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census, its population was 35,757. It is considered one of the most ...
.
[Gelt, Jessica. (21 October 2010).]
Barney's Beanery Rocks on at 90
. ''Los Angeles Times''. Accessed 05 December 2011. As of 2011, Barney's Beanery had locations in
Burbank,
Pasadena
Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district.
Its ...
(taking the ground floor of Q's Billiards at 99 East Colorado Boulevard),
Santa Monica
Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to ...
,
Westwood,
Redondo Beach at the
Redondo Beach Pier and the original in West Hollywood.
Association with celebrities
Barney's location, combined with the fact that the owner extended credit and occasionally gave away food, made the bar popular with people with diverse backgrounds, including artists, writers, and other celebrities. Older Hollywood actors such as
Clara Bow
Clara Gordon Bow (; July 29, 1905 – September 27, 1965) was an American actress who rose to stardom during the silent film era of the 1920s and successfully made the transition to "talkies" in 1929. Her appearance as a plucky shopgirl in the ...
,
Clark Gable
William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901November 16, 1960) was an American film actor, often referred to as "The King of Hollywood". He had roles in more than 60 motion pictures in multiple genres during a career that lasted 37 years, three decades ...
,
Errol Flynn
Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn (20 June 1909 – 14 October 1959) was an Australian-American actor who achieved worldwide fame during the Golden Age of Hollywood. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles, frequent partnerships with Olivia ...
,
Judy Garland
Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. While critically acclaimed for many different roles throughout her career, she is widely known for playing the part of Dorothy Gale in '' The ...
and
Rita Hayworth
Rita Hayworth (born Margarita Carmen Cansino; October 17, 1918May 14, 1987) was an American actress, dancer and producer. She achieved fame during the 1940s as one of the era's top stars, appearing in 61 films over 37 years. The press coined th ...
were all regulars in their day.
[Collins (2011), 237] By the 1960s, the neighboring
Sunset Strip
The Sunset Strip is the stretch of Sunset Boulevard that passes through the city of West Hollywood, California. It extends from West Hollywood's eastern border with the city of Los Angeles near Marmont Lane to its western border with Beverly H ...
had become an important music center, and
Jim Morrison
James Douglas Morrison (December 8, 1943 – July 3, 1971) was an American singer, poet and songwriter who was the lead vocalist of the Rock music, rock band the Doors. Due to his wild personality, poetic lyrics, distinctive voice, unpredicta ...
(who was reportedly thrown out of Barney's for urinating on the bar)
[Lawson and Rufus (2000), p. 64] and
Janis Joplin
Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970) was an American singer and musician. One of the most successful and widely known Rock music, rock stars of her era, she was noted for her powerful mezzo-soprano vocals and "electric" stage ...
became regulars (Barney's was the final place Joplin visited before her death in October 1970). Poet
Charles Bukowski
Henry Charles Bukowski ( ; born Heinrich Karl Bukowski, ; August 16, 1920 – March 9, 1994) was a German-American poet, novelist, and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural, and economic ambience of his adopted ...
hung around,
as did artists
Ed Kienholz
Edward Ralph Kienholz (October 23, 1927 – June 10, 1994) was an American Installation art, installation artist and assemblage (art), assemblage sculpture, sculptor whose work was highly critical of aspects of modern life. From 1972 onwards, he ...
and others associated with the
Ferus Gallery
The Ferus Gallery was a contemporary art gallery which operated from 1957 to 1966. In 1957, the gallery was located at 736-A North La Cienega Boulevard, Los Angeles, California. In 1958, it was relocated across the street to 723 North La Cienega ...
, which was located nearby on La Cienega Boulevard.
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, Black comedy, dark humor, Nonlinear narrative, non-lin ...
also allegedly wrote most of the screenplay for his film ''
Pulp Fiction
''Pulp Fiction'' is a 1994 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, who conceived it with Roger Avary.See, e.g., King (2002), pp. 185–7; ; Starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth, Ving Rhame ...
'' sitting in his favorite booth at the original Barney's Beanery in West Hollywood.
Jon Taffer
Jonathan Peter Taffer (born November 7, 1954) is an American entrepreneur and television personality. He is best known for hosting the reality series ''Bar Rescue'' on Paramount Network and '' Face the Truth'' on CBS with Vivica A. Fox. He is als ...
got his start in the nightclub and bar industry here as a bartender while performing as a drummer in a live band.
History of discrimination towards homosexuals
In the 1930s,
[White (2009), 192-193] 1940s,
or around 1953
[Clendinen and Nagourney (1999), 33] John Anthony put up a sign among the old license plates and other
ephemera
Ephemera are transitory creations which are not meant to be retained or preserved. Its etymological origins extends to Ancient Greece, with the common definition of the word being: "the minor transient documents of everyday life". Ambiguous in ...
along the wall behind the bar that read "
FAGOTS – STAY OUT". Though Anthony was known to be antagonistic towards gays,
[Priore, Domenic.]
History of Barney's Beanery
". Accessed 06 December 2011. going as far as posing (in front of his sign) for a picture in a 1964 ''
Life
Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...
'' article on "Homosexuality in America" over a caption where he exclaims "I don't like 'em...", the sign was ostensibly put up as a response to pressure from the police who had a tendency towards discriminatory practices against homosexuals and consequently establishments that catered to the group.
After Anthony died in 1968, efforts to remove the sign continued. A coalition of gay activist groups organized a
zap of the restaurant on February 7, 1970, to push for its removal; the sign came down that day. The sign was put up and taken down several times over the next 14 years, and the restaurant's matchbooks also bore the line, but that practice ended in December 1984, days after the city of West Hollywood voted itself into existence. Then-mayor
Valerie Terrigno
Valerie Susan Terrigno (born 1954) was elected to the first city council of West Hollywood, California when it was incorporated in 1984. She was selected by the council to be the mayor, making her the first openly lesbian mayor of an incorporated ...
, the entire city council and gay rights activists marched into Barney’s and relieved the wall of the offending sign. It was held by
Morris Kight
Morris Kight (November 19, 1919January 19, 2003) was an American gay rights pioneer and peace activist. He is considered one of the original founders of the gay and lesbian civil rights movement in the United States.
Biography
Early life
Kight ...
for many years and now rests in the
ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives
ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives at the University of Southern California Libraries is the oldest existing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) organization in the United States and one of the largest repositories of LGBT materials ...
.
In the news
Barney's received attention in early 2011 when one of their busboys, Ricardo Reyes, defeated
LeBron James
LeBron Raymone James Sr. (; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he is widely considered one of the greatest pl ...
,
Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bean Bryant ( ; August 23, 1978 – January 26, 2020) was an American professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he spent his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Widely r ...
,
Carmelo Anthony
Carmelo Kyam Anthony (born May 29, 1984) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has been named an NBA All-Star ten times and an All-NBA Team me ...
,
Charles Barkley
Charles Wade Barkley (born February 20, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player who is a television analyst on TNT. Nicknamed "Sir Charles", "Chuck", and "the Round Mound of Rebound", Barkley played 16 seasons in the Natio ...
,
Lamar Odom
Lamar Joseph Odom (born November 6, 1979) is an American former professional basketball player. As a member of the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA), he won championships in 2009 and 2010 and was named the NBA Six ...
,
Glen Davis and
Blake Griffin
Blake Austin Griffin (born March 16, 1989) is an American professional basketball player for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Oklahoma Sooners, when he was named the consensu ...
in Pop-A-Shot, a mini basketball shooting competition, on ''
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'' is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. The nightly hour-long show debuted on January 26, 2003, at Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywood, Los ...
''
In pop culture
Parts of
Oliver Stone
William Oliver Stone (born September 15, 1946) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Stone won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay as writer of '' Midnight Express'' (1978), and wrote the gangster film remake '' Sc ...
's film ''
The Doors
The Doors were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most controversial and influential ro ...
'' were filmed at Barney's Beanery.
In the TV film series ''
Columbo
''Columbo'' () is an American crime drama television series starring Peter Falk as Lieutenant Columbo, a homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department. After two pilot episodes in 1968 and 1971, the show originally aired on NBC f ...
'', Columbo often ordered chili at Barney's Beanery. However, the series was not filmed in the actual location.
In 1965
Edward Kienholz
Edward Ralph Kienholz (October 23, 1927 – June 10, 1994) was an American Installation art, installation artist and assemblage (art), assemblage sculpture, sculptor whose work was highly critical of aspects of modern life. From 1972 onwards, he ...
created “
The Beanery,” a life-size sculpture tableaux of the interior, inhabited by poorly dressed store mannequins whose “faces” are clocks set at 10:10. An audiotape of barroom chatter, and the odor of beer, accompanied the display. A newspaper in a vending machine is headlined "Children Kill Children in Vietnam.” The work was first unveiled in the restaurant parking lot, and is now in the
Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam
The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (; Municipal Museum Amsterdam), colloquially known as the Stedelijk, is a museum for modern art, contemporary art, and design located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. .
On the cover of the
Big Brother and the Holding Company
Big Brother and the Holding Company is an American rock band that formed in San Francisco in 1965 as part of the same psychedelic music scene that produced the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and Jefferson Airplane. After som ...
album ''
Cheap Thrills'', vibes on the song "Turtle Blues" are credited to Barney's Beanery. Also, there is an illustration of the diner by
R. Crumb
Robert Dennis Crumb (; born August 30, 1943) is an American cartoonist and musician who often signs his work R. Crumb. His work displays a nostalgia for American folk culture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and satire of contem ...
, who did the artwork for the album.
Country rock band
New Riders of the Purple Sage
New Riders of the Purple Sage is an American country rock band. The group emerged from the psychedelic rock scene in San Francisco in 1969 and its original lineup included several members of the Grateful Dead. The band is sometimes referred ...
talk of hanging out at Barney's Beanery in their song Lonesome L.A. Cowboy.
In the 2015 ''
You're the Worst
''You're the Worst'' is an American comedy-drama television series created by Stephen Falk. Originally broadcast by FX, the series moved to its sister channel FXX beginning with the second season. The series follows Jimmy ( Chris Geere), a sel ...
'' episode "There Is Not Currently a Problem," Lindsay Jillian says, "I once sucked
Malcolm-Jamal Warner
Malcolm-Jamal Warner (born August 18, 1970) is an American actor. He rose to prominence for his role as Theodore Huxtable on the NBC sitcom ''The Cosby Show'', which earned him a nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series a ...
's dick at Barney's Beanery."
References
References
* Clendinen, Dudley and Nagourney, Adam (1999). ''Out for Good: The Struggle to Build a Gay Rights Movement in America''. New York: Simon & Schuster.
* Collins, Judy (2011).
Sweet Judy Blue Eyes: My Life in Music'. New York: Random House.
* Kenney, Moira (2001). ''Mapping Gay L.A.: The Intersection of Place and Politics''. Temple University Press. .
* Lawson, Kristan and Rufus, Anneli. (2000).
California Babylon'. New York: St. Martin's.
* Pincus, Robert L. (1994).
On a Scale that Competes with the World: The Art of Edward and Nancy Reddin Kienholz'. California: UC Press.
* Teal, Donn (1971, reissued 1995). ''The Gay Militants: How Gay Liberation Began in America, 1969–1971''. New York, St. Martin's Press. (1995 edition).
* White, C. Todd (2009). ''Pre-Gay LA: A Social History of the Movement for Homosexual Rights''. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
External links
*
{{coord, 34.090852, -118.374630, type:landmark_globe:earth_region:US-CA, display=title
Restaurants in Los Angeles
Landmarks in Los Angeles
LGBT history in California
Restaurants in West Hollywood, California
Restaurants established in 1920
1920 establishments in California