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Revision as of 18:08, 5 July 2010
Barney's Beanery is a restaurant and bar located in West Hollywood, California. It was founded by John "Barney" Anthony in 1920 along U.S. Route 66, now Santa Monica Boulevard, State Route 2, that connects Hollywood and the beach. From the beginning it became a regular stopping point for people from all walks of life, including artists, writers, and other celebrities. Old Hollywood actors like Clara Bow, John Barrymore, Clark Gable, Errol Flynn, Judy Garland, and Lou Costello were regulars in their days. During Prohibition unincorporated West Hollywood was relatively wet. By the 1960s the neighboring Sunset Strip had become an important music center and Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin became regulars. Poet Charles Bukowski lurked around, as did artists Ed Kienholz and Ed Ruscha. Kienholz even created a sculpture piece that he titled "The Beanery" and unveiled in the restaurant parking lot.
Sometime in the 1940s a sign appeared among the clutter of the wall that said "FAGOTS [sic] – STAY OUT". It was so offensive to local homosexuals that Life magazine did an article on opposition to the sign in 1964, which included a photograph of the owner steadfastly holding on to it. The owner died in 1968, and efforts continued to have the sign removed.
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 of the next 14 years, but the practice ended in December 1984, days after the city voted itself into existence. The then-mayor, Valerie Terrigno, 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 for many years and now rests in the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives.
The restaurant is now owned by the Q's Billiard Club, which opened another Barney's Beanery location on the Santa Monica Promenade. Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday nights feature karaoke.
Barney's Beanery currently operates four locations in Los Angeles County. What was once Q's Billiards at 99 East Colorado Blvd. in Old Pasadena is now a Barney's Beanery. There are vestiges of Q's still around since the upstairs of the building still offers pool tables for its clientele. A fourth location opened at 250 North First Street in Burbank, California, in 2008. Barney's has gotten attention lately for one of their busboy's, Ricardo Reyes. He has been featured on late night shows and ESPN for defeating Lamar Odom, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony, and Charles Barkley in Pop-A-Shot, a mini basketball shooting competition.
Notes
- http://www.jtsears.com/gen8.htm
- Teal, pp. 255–57
- Kenney, p. 50
References
- Kenney, Moira (2001). Mapping Gay L.A.: The Intersection of Place and Politics. Temple University Press. ISBN 1566398843.
- Teal, Donn (1971, reissued 1995). The Gay Militants: How Gay Liberation Began in America, 1969–1971. New York, St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0312112793 (1995 edition).
External links
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