Top 10 Bars/Clubs Lost To the Ages in L.A. By Guest Blogger Meagan Wiles

The Core Belief

Today’s guest blog is from my pal Meagan Wiles. She weighs in on her Top 10 LA bars/clubs that have been lost to the ages. Enjoy!

My Top Ten
OC area… yes, we really exist outside of LA… even have several television shows that prove just how big and diverse we are (haha!) If it’s something good, LA claims we are a part of them. Ex. Disneyland is in Anaheim, which is a part of Orange County, not LA… sorry, Randy Newman! Otherwise it’s referred to as going outside the Orange Curtain! Yea, whatever!

AH FONG’S – Ah, the good they come and they go and this one is gone. Building torn down and a KFC in its place. Ugh! Like we need more chicken. With its cave-like interior, red velvet furniture and “Uncle Bob”, this place served up the best Lapu-Lapu’s and Scorpions in giant clam shells with several straws to share…. as if.
PATSY’S – tucked away in a quiet little strip mall. The only thing Irish about the place were the miniature plastic green mugs the bartender slammed down in front of you when someone bought you one. Seemed every time I went to the place, at least one person (male or female) had a black eye… hmmm.
THE FIREFLY – where I was taught, by a thoughtful bartender, how to be able to consume more Kamikaze’s without the hang… leave out the lime! Last time I was there, the novelty condom machine had been torn from the wall in the Ladies Room, spilling the goods like an abandoned piñata! We had fun that night… French ticklers, “for all my friends!”
ROSE’S PIRATE CAVERN – complete with a wench in a tattered skirt on the sign out front. Yo ho ho and a never-ending supply of Beer Nuts and darts. This place burned to the ground, in typical pirate fashion… Dead men tell no tales.
CERO’S – (recently remodeled/re-opened as, “The Other Pace) with its long curving bar and sparkling ceiling, this was the best strip mall bar ever! A place you’d walk in and wonder, ‘just where in the hell do these people go during the day!’ With clothing and hairstyles, a throw back to a time I’m not sure ever existed. Locals, I assumed, but never once saw anyone or anything like them anywhere… EVER!! And yet, several recent visits to the new place have yet to produce a single one. Hmmm, I’m left to believe they were indeed ghostly inhabitants to a forgotten era.
THE PINK CADILLAC – featured a Classic pink 50’s Cadillac, sheared in half, affixed atop the front of the building. An old Chinese restaurant converted… where everything 蘑菇雞片蘑菇鸡片(Moo Goo Gai Pan) was swept out the back door and replaced with black paint. Mike Ness from Social Distortion frequented the joint, with 2 bar areas featuring everything from Punk to Industrial music/bands… best feature, within walking distance of my bed.
THE DOLL HUT (Original) – once a rest-stop for railroad conductors and engineers. Located in a small industrial area in Anaheim… the place no bigger than a postage stamp, somehow managed to house a pool table and some of the best Rockabilly music ever. Bands like, Big Sandy, Russell Scott and His Red Hots and the Ziggens kept the place rockin’. The walls were covered with stickers and autographed pics of the Who’s Who in the entertainment industry… everyone wanted to be a part of the ‘Hut’. Bathroom walls were painted black and the toilet frequently tipped over… causing a bit of a spill. But you could bring your pooch and leave him to sit on the sofa or at your feet while you sipped away at the bar enjoying the cool music. When Linda sold the place, she took all the charm with her. Place sat empty for a long time. Heard the new owners planted flowers out front…. Blasphemy.
THE ROSE AND CROWN – Original and II, when they relocated down the street to a bigger place… never should have expanded! ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ applies here. The place was always packed and had the freshest Guinness on tap! Every Sunday, all the Rugby players showed up and the night never ended without a fight! Once crawled out of the place on my hands and knees (with my sister) after turning down a drink from a very drunk Brit! Another, very drunk, patron insisted he leave me alone, when that didn’t happen, the place erupted into a sea of flying fists… the best Snake Bite and Witch’s Tit ever!
FOX & FIRKIN – British food, dart games and a bartender accused of slipping a little something ‘extra’ into the female patron’s drinks to get them to flash their goods… best Newcastle on tap. One night, after too much of the brown stuff, we managed to get out with darts in hand after closing… after no one answered our banging on the door, we took turns ‘chucking’ the darts at the sign, high above the entrance, into the concrete wall until they were all returned!
THE HARP INN (Original) – Gerry and Pat (husband and wife) sold the place and headed off to Spain, I’m told. New owners, new bar. The old Harp had it all… huge Irish clientele and the best Irish bartenders, complete with their Celtic charm…. “Whadda-ya-want sweetheart, haven’t got all feckin’ day!”… “Its 2 o’clock get the feck out!” Come March, you prayed you were lucky enough to be given a green ticket (guaranteed entrance to St. Paddy’s). Otherwise, you stood outside in a line that started forming in the middle of the night and waited hours for someone to get drunk enough to fall out the front door… yes, I always got the ticket!! This line was in effect every Friday and Saturday when the Fenians played… all the Irish favorites (and some Bob Marley, too!). Pat would step out front… and with her keen eye, scour the line looking for the prettiest girls to allow in to keep all the Rugby players happy and drinking! And then there was Joe, the dirtiest Welsh fisherman there was. Always there, always drunk, always nasty as can be. Haven’t seen him in years… wonder if he’s still around or if he’s causing a ruckus upstairs!