CROSSROAD CUISINE - My quest to find great local food when I'm on the road visiting my stores.
After a recent trip to LA to visit my Kids Supercenter store at the Citadel outlets, I went to Barney's Beanery.
I love finding cool places to eat when I travel. Normally, that is all about finding great regional food. This is a little different. The food is fine, but you could find comparable food in many places. This is all about the history. This place has had more cool/famous people eating here over the decades than any place I know.
Barney's Beanery opened its doors in 1920. What began as a destination for westbound travelers on the now infamous RTE 66 (weary travelers could trade in their license plate for a free pint of beer) evolved into an epicenter for arts and culture by the mid sixties.
Among those who made Barney's their home were Janis Joplin, who had her last drink at Barney's before her untimely death, Jimi Hendrix, and Jim Morrison, who was eventually thrown out one night for urinating on the bar, and in more recent years, Quentin Tarantino, who wrote much of Pulp Fiction at his favorite booth by the bar. HOW COOL IS THAT!
Barney's Beanery
8447 Santa Monica Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90069
(323) 654 - 2287
HISTORY:
Here's, more of the famous history of this location:
In the 20's Clara Bow, swashbuckling John Barrymore (Drew Barrymore's grandfather), and the original blonde bombshell from the '30s, Jean Harlow, frequented Barneys.
In the 40's, the likes of Clark Gable, Errol Flynn, Bette Davis, and Hoot Gibson, were counted as familiar customers.
In the 50's Lou Costello, Donald O'Connor, George Gobel, and beatnik Charles Bukowski were fans
The 60's were amazing with customers like Dennis Hopper, Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, and Jim Morrison of the Doors and Janis Joplin of Big Brother & the Holding Company, respectively, became the celebrities most associated with consistent patronage of Barney's Beanery. Janis had a favorite booth; #34. Morrison had a penchant for teasing Joplin, and one incident commonly recalled is a cat fight between the two, with the bawdy Joplin successfully belting the playfully demonic Morrison. DON'T YOU WISH YOU WERE THERE THAT NIGHT...
In the 70's down the street at the Troubadour, British Blues Boom rockers Led Zeppelin sat in with British Folk group Fairport Convention. When the jam session was over, the entire entourage made it over to Barney's Beanery for another wild night.
In the 80's a lot of the Brat Pack hung here. Emilio Esteves had his birthday in the back room one night, and Demi Moore paid for the party. They were all there, Rob Lowe, Keefer Sutherland, Charlie Sheen, John Cusack, Andy McCarthy, all those guys used to like to come in and play pinball and video games. Musicians continued to drop in like, Janes Addiction, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and many others.
In more recent times Winona Ryder and Johnny Deppy used to frequently come here on dates when they were together and what is cooler than hanging where
Quentin Tarantino worked on Pulp Fiction.
Barney's is know for their chili. It was very good, but doesn't compare to the Texas Chili Parlor in Austin.
Note the laminated images on the tables. These are not the original tables. People used to carve their names into the tables. For example Janis Joplin carved her name into a table. Eventually they had to change the tables. So they kept the old table tops and attached them to the ceiling. Janis's table top is still there.
I also had the foot long chili cheese dog with guacamole. The dog and fries were good, but I have to admit I was disappointed to get a tiny cup of obviously jarred guac on the side. This is California, I expected real guacamole.
But as I said originally, the food is good, but that's not why you come here. You come to have a drink at the bar that Jim Morrison urinated on. I assume they cleaned it since then.
For other great places to eat when you're on the road, check out these prior posts:
Rudy's Country Store and Bar-B-Q
Al's #1 Italian Beef
The 5-8 Club, Home of the Juicy Lucy
If you liked this post then you have to get these books:
500 Things to Eat Before Its Too Late
Mark Libell
All of the sandwiches come with rippled french fries inside a box that helps retain its heat. Every Superdawg comes with a signature pickled green tomatillo (some think is a green tomato, but are wrong), one of Superdawg's distinctions from the classic Chicago-style hot dog, along with its spicier-than-usual wiener.
The dog was great and the fries were awesome.
