Barney’s Beanery, a West Hollywood restaurant based on Route 66, is marking its 9oth anniversary this month. And the Los Angeles Times today has one of the most attention-getting lead paragraphs I’ve read:
It’s a story so revolting and so legendary that it has achieved near mythical status. One night in the 1960s, during a particularly heavy bout of drinking, Jim Morrison stood up and urinated on the long wooden bar at Barney’s Beanery in West Hollywood. Rock god status and titillating snug leather pants or not, Morrison was booted from the famous restaurant and bar.
“Of course, this being Barney’s, they wiped it off and put a plaque there,” jokes Jim Ladd, the KLOS-FM DJ known for spinning raw, classic rock sans formulaic playlists for nearly 40 years. He adds, “Probably every rocker that has ever come through L.A. has gone to Barney’s.”
Other celebrities — including Clark Gable, Rita Hayworth, Jimmy Page, Janis Joplin and Jack Nicholson — have gathered at Barney’s (and presumably been better-behaved).
Barney’s, founded by John “Barney” Anthony, actually started in Berkeley, Calif., but moved to Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood in 1927 — the year after U.S. Highway 66 was officially commissioned.
Anthony was known for giving a meal of beans to destitute travelers during the Great Depression in exchange for license plates. Those plates now decorate the bar.
Barney’s has opened four other such restaurants around the region, and plans another in downtown L.A. But the owner says he’ll stop it there — he doesn’t want the dilute the coolness factor of the original restaurant, which is still going strong.
The whole story is worth reading, which includes the bad (the restaurant excluded homosexuals for decades) and the good (the effort to keep Barney’s atmosphere and food as roadhouse-authentic as possible).
(Hat tip: Kevin Hansel)
Barney’s original location in West Hollywood on the extended Route 66 is by far the best of the lot. Locations in Pasadena (right on Route 66) and Santa Monica (near 66 in Third Street Promenade) are not as enjoyable but have a similar feel. I have not been to the Barney’s on 99 in Burbank and didn’t even realize that they opened a fourth.
I will say that the experience is worth going for, but the food is not the best I have ever had. It’s OK and acceptable, but everyone should know going in that you are there for the experience, not the food! (They have a pretty substantial beer list, too, which makes me happy!)