King Eddie's closing and downtown LA changes

We got an announcement to make here. We got an announcement. We got something crazy going down. Check it out. We got three shots of vodka. That's coming through courtesy of Skid Row Radio. Skid Row? Skid Row Studios. That's right. Skid Row. Skid Row Studios. Skid Row Studios in the house. We're recording live tonight. And we're broadcasting as well from King Eddie's. Go get your shot of vodka. That's too easy. That's too easy. That's too easy. four days trying to kill the pain trying to take away the pain and while I was in there someone stopped me when I was walking to the bathroom and she said hey aren't you from Skid Row Studios and her name is Hazel and she's here with me Hazel what's up hey how's it going yes I did stop you I do remember meeting you that night it was like maybe one of the last three nights before the King Eddie closed yeah it wasn't the last last night I think I we we wanted to broadcast on the weekend and I think the like very last night was either Sunday or a Monday yeah it was Sunday going into Monday morning I was actually there yeah it was a hot mess people were fighting that night it was crazy you're right I mean like at some point I think the bartenders just kind of gave up like charging people and people were just like buying drinks and not really paying for it and then like I was like oh my god like I'm gonna go to the bar and I'm like oh my god like I'm gonna go to the bar and I'm like oh my god like I'm called because they actually closed the bar closer to like five in the morning. They couldn't find any more bottles of Jaeger. So I just kind of started drinking beer, but it was good. It was fun. It was just kind of sad. You know, you're saying goodbye to your friends and the bar family and you don't know when you're going to see them again. Yeah. I mean, I was, I was really concerned when I found out that King Eddie's was closing and, and for me, I had gone through this with, with a few other bars in downtown Los Angeles, um, probably the most famous being Krabby Joe's where really when that bar closed, you know, I, I kind of lost a piece of my soul. Um, I had such great times in that bar. I became good friends with the owners. Um, there's so much history in that bar. I met a girlfriend that I was with for four years after that bar. Yeah. And, and so I, I just had a lot invested emotionally in that bar and, and I kind of saw the same thing happen. Unfortunately for Krabby Joe's, uh, it, it never reopened and, uh, that was it. And now I actually see people doing things with it when I drive by over on, on 7th and Main. Um, so it, it may come back to life, but, but a bar like that and like King Eddie's, it's, it's not a bar that happens overnight. It takes, it takes a lot of, a time to, to make a great bar like that. No, it totally does. And I can totally agree with you. Like I came to King Eddie's. I mean, I've been working in Skid Row for a few years and I would always like drive past King Eddie's and it kind of looked shady from the outside. And I contemplated like whether I really wanted to go there or not. And so one day I found out, um, that Bukowski was known to be a drunk there and he's my favorite author. So I was like, you know what, I'm just going to go. And I went and as soon as I set foot, it was like a Thursday. I just fell in love with everybody. It was in there and the place in general. So I was a regular fixture every Thursday and Friday. And it was really sad because they told us actually that the bar was going to close like during the summer. And it was like July and they were like, yeah, it's going to close in August. And August came and went. They're like, no, it's closing September. And every month it felt like we were pushed. Yeah. Like it kept getting pushed. And then finally December came around and they're like December 17th. That's the last day. And I almost didn't want to believe it at first because I just thought, you know, it just feels like we're part of a bar family. Why would you close it before like the holidays, you know? Um, but no, they closed it and it was all over. It was very emotional. And, and who are some of the people that you, you, uh, remember from the bar? Well, there's my Bob who still drinks there and he still sits at the same bar stool that he used to sit at, um, before it changed ownership. Um, there's Frankie who doesn't really come in there that often anymore. Um, I hear he likes to hang out like at the five star, even go as far as like the frolic room. Um, there's Kenneth and Kathy who kind of hang out like in the down and out and there's pancake who's my favorite. And I, I mean, last Friday was the first time I had seen him all year. And I think he comes in there every once in a great while, but before, um, he was there like every Thursday and Friday, sometimes even Saturdays. So it was funny when we saw pancake this last time. Um, and I think it's like, I don't know, I don't know if it's like, I don't know if it's like, I don't know if it's like, I don't know if it's like, I don't know if it's like, I don't know because we, it was one of those strange, like is his ears burning kind of thing because I told you, if you say his name three times, he will appear. I said pancake like three different times in our conversation. And then there he was. It's like, he knew, he knew. Yeah. He walked right through the door, right? Right. When we were saying his name. Yeah, no, I love pancake. I mean, he called me probably like in April, not really sure how he got my number, but he called me. And he was all happy. And he was like, happy new year. And I'm like, pancake, it's April. But he's so excited, you know, and he adopted me as his niece. And I don't know, he's just amazing. And he's like one of those characters where it's like, it's so very obvious that at any other bar, he probably wouldn't really fit in. But at the King Eddie, it was just like so perfect. Him and a bunch of other characters that are like that. Um, I don't know if you know Blade. Have you seen Blade? No. Well, another character that would not fit in anywhere else. Like he has like these plastic toy guns that he's like spray painted, spray painted black. And he wears like, kind of, you know, like the movie Blade. He kind of looks like that, you know, and he walks in there and that's just how he is, you know? I mean, there's something to be said about that. Yeah, these characters that we see in these types of bars and, and you don't really care about where they came from or where they're going as much as you do, like, watching how they interact with the bar and the friends that they've made within those bars. And, and so when, when King Eddie's was closing, I was really scared for a lot of those people and, and even myself, you know, where, where am I going to go after this? Because I'm, I'm the kind of person that I like the bars that are somewhat empty and dark and, you know, people don't ask too many questions except for, you know, when, when you're asking. And I don't know, it's like something that, that, like, will carry me away. And so, like, there are, there are certain things that are, there are certain things that are, there are certain things that are, there are certain things that are, there are certain things that are, there are certain things that are, there are certain things that are there are certain things that are, there are certain things that are, there are certain things that are, there are certain things that are, there are certain things that are, there are five years and um that's kind of around the same amount of time that you know we've seen like the biggest changes happening in downtown LA and I mean I think the King Eddie changing ownership was kind of like testament to that because I mean there's no other bar really in downtown they're all kind of catering to like this certain crowd this young kind of hipsterish crowd and where these people like they wouldn't really fit in and the the reason why King Eddie was so special and unique part of it was the people that go there um and the fact of the matter is that the drink prices at one time were pretty cheap so people that were living on fixed income that are living like in their SROs and uh subsidized housing that's around downtown LA I mean they could afford to go to these places and still feel like they were part of a community in a sense and now it's kind of like they're getting pushed out you know so it's changing I feel like there is somewhat of a systematic elimination of Skid Row and and you see these things here and there and I I mean at one point um the Skid Row housing authority was able to stop a lot of new bars from opening up in that area because of the number of people who are trying to fight addiction but then it almost feels like if you have a certain amount of money and a certain amount of history in downtown which which that group does um um um um um um um um um um um um um um um! um To imagine like this giant was walking around and just kind of like taking buildings and establishments and businesses for itself. And then to imagine this giant going into Skid Row with like a leaf blower and like turning it on and kind of pushing like all these homeless people into neighboring communities. And so he said, imagine if you physically could not see homeless people in Skid Row because they kind of got pushed into like the neighboring communities. So if we don't see homelessness, you know, what's the purpose of the nonprofits that are down here? And he kind of told me, you know, like nonprofits, like anything else, it's a business. So if there is no demand for these services, like any other business, they'll close. And so if they close, like what does that mean for Skid Row? You know, will it cease to exist? And that doesn't mean that chronic homelessness or any type of homelessness is over. It just means that now it's just not visible. Right. Yeah. But visibility is a huge thing for the new types of people that are moving into this area. If it's not seen, then it's not a problem. And I feel like that, you know, they know that here in this city. And they know in order to attract more and more people who have money into the area, all they have to do is sweep this homeless thing under the rug. And it's going to make those people think that. It doesn't exist. Exactly. And I think we see that, especially like when, you know, on Thursdays when there's the art walk. Just because I don't go to the art walk, but I did out of curiosity go to one art walk one month. And, you know, you see all these crowds of people and they're going from establishment to establishment. And some like are drunk or very visibly drunk on the street and they don't get ticketed and nothing happens to them. And then there happens to be a homeless person on the corner like panhandling. And now all of a sudden that's an issue. And any other day of the week, that same person could still be there panhandling, but it's okay. It's just, you know, they're visible to like huge crowds now. So now it's an issue, you know. Art walk stopped being about art a long time ago. And now it's just about like hipsters from other towns coming in and drinking at the bars. And I mean, I see people smashing bottles and laughing about it. And just an overall disrespect for downtown and the people who have lived here for some time and have made the decision to make downtown their home. I just hate seeing art walk. I stay in on that night. I avoid it at all costs. And I don't see anybody, I mean, buying art at art walk. It's just a hipster fest. And that's really unfortunate because I remember when art walk was about art. And it was, you know. One block over on 4th and Main in the old bank district was the art walk. And there was art and people would let people into their living spaces. But now, yeah, it's just all controlled by galleries and food trucks. Exactly. Oh, my God, the food trucks. There's like a billion food trucks everywhere. Yeah. And they have like all these different kinds of food. Oh, my God, it's terrible. I don't know. I don't appreciate it. I mean, I know people that go to it, you know, kind of religiously. And they like it. They enjoy themselves. And that's great. But it's not really my thing. So what about the social services? I think one of the misconceptions that people have when they come to downtown and they do see someone homeless on the street, panhandling, whatever. I think one of the misconceptions is that that's what Skid Row is. And I don't think people realize that Skid Row has a lot of social services. They're doing a lot to try to help those people. But those people have to make the choice to take advantage of those services. And some people just don't. Some people want to be insane. They want to be high all day. And that's the mode that they're in. But I don't know. I feel like people think that Skid Row is just this place where homeless people gather. And it's just this concentration of drugs and everything, which it is. But the social services are there. And nobody thinks about that. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. My fear is that when Skid Row gets eliminated, those social services are also going to go away. And when those go away, then nobody's getting helped at all. Well, I think, first of all, I think there's a lot of stigma surrounding what Skid Row is and also this idea of homelessness. Because I know there's a lot of people that think, well, people choose to be homeless or it's because they're addicted to drugs and they would rather just spend all their money on drugs and not have a home. or have a job and stuff like that. And that's definitely not true. Being that I've been working here for a number of years, I mean, I've met people that have been homeless for like 10 years or longer. The reason that they became homeless was nothing related to drugs. It was mostly because they had a mental illness that had gone untreated. They weren't even aware that they had this mental illness. I mean, think about people that have degrees from like Harvard that, you know, have had this like luxurious lives. And then all of a sudden, it just took a turn for the worse and they didn't have a support system in place that to really help them, kind of guide them out of this like tough spot. And they just somehow ended up here. I think a lot of homeless people come to Skid Row from other states because they don't have the same amount of social services that we have available here. And in addition, I mean, California has beautiful weather on a regular basis. I mean, there's people, that became homeless in New York that come here because, you know, the season's over there. I mean, there's rain, there's snow. People don't survive on the streets. And so a lot of it, I think, has to do with like self-preservation. Even this whole concept of like homeless people and drug use. I mean, some people didn't use drugs until they got to Skid Row and it was mostly to help them cope with like their mental illness or with their situation. And I think any one of us in that situation might have resorted to this. So I think there's a lot of people that are very much more likely to fall into the same thing. So I think it's definitely like a stigma. In terms of social services, I do see like a change happening in Skid Row. So I think before, we were very comfortable working in silos. Meaning that every organization was really good at working with a certain population and doing certain types of services. And we didn't really communicate with one another. We didn't really collaborate. And now I'm starting to see a shift. I'm noticing that more and more people want to collaborate. finally are realizing that when we work together we can accomplish so much more um so as a community we're growing um and i think that we're serving a lot more people that are harder to serve that we're finding that there's been people that have been homeless in downtown and skid row for over 30 years and you know it's time that we start prioritizing our resources to them so it's changed do you do you think that do you see things um going in favor of the social services or or is it is it harder and harder each year to keep what's available in place it is becoming harder but i do think that the shift now why do you think it's becoming harder i think well part of it is this whole idea of collaboration um other major cities so uh i don't remember where i read this or where i heard this but someone said that la was actually the capital of homelessness for the u.s and so that's kind of like a title that we've had for a very long time and part of it is because we haven't really followed the models that other major cities such as like chicago and new york have had where they collaborate there's funding that's kind of incentivized to helping communities continue collaboration and foster that idea and to really help the hardest to serve people in their community their homeless neighbors and so in la we haven't really had that um i really strongly believe that this year that's changed and that at least at the ground level so like people that provide direct services like outreach workers and case managers they've always believed and they've always known that we had the tools to collaborate that we had the tools to move this community forward but it's always kind of been like the higher ups that haven't really been on board with that and i feel like that's changing and part of that is that we're not always able to do that and i think that's kind of the key to that change has meant that we are collaborating and that now um we're not so um i guess we're not trying to grasp for credit like that's not the priority the priority is just housing our homeless neighbors have have you felt any change come down yet uh from the new new mayor um a little bit i mean you know there's definitely like we're trying to get information as to what we've been doing there's like this new initiative going on in the city and i think that's kind of the key to that um And it's crazy because Skid Row embarked on like this 100 day initiative and it proved to be so much more successful than what anyone thought it was going to be. And so now that that's over and we're talking about how we're going to sustain the system, there's a lot more other communities in LA County that want to know what we've done and kind of want to mimic that same model in their own communities. And kind of just like piecing this together as a county, you know. And that's something that hasn't really happened prior to this. I remember working in New York City. I think it was around 97, 98. I grew up in a real small town in northeast PA. We didn't really have homeless issues. It wasn't something I was exposed to until I went to the big city. And I remember in New York City. It was. It was almost like it was overnight where one one day, you know, there's a definite homeless problem. I remember the first time I saw someone that really like shook me because, you know, it's obvious this person is is at the low end of their life. It was just a woman who had nothing on but a trash bag. She's just laying there asking for change. And that was my first exposure. To someone who's really down and out and what that means and or what that kind of looks like. Coming from a white suburban town, you know, you don't understand those things. It's not something that you grow up with. It's not in your environment. But then I remember just a shift in New York City that just seemed to happen very quickly where homeless people there was people dedicated to helping homeless people. There was people dedicated to helping homeless people. There was people dedicated to helping homeless people. There was people dedicated to helping homeless people. And I remember that there was a lot of people who were trying to help homeless people get into shelters and safer places. And they would literally take them, you know, and help them get to these places because a lot of times they couldn't get there themselves. I'm surprised sometimes that I'll see people like that here in downtown L.A. And not so much in Skid Row but outside of Skid Row where I'll see a guy laying on the street. And I don't know if he's even dead. I don't know if he's even dead or not. Like the guy is just out. And everybody's just walking over him. Everybody just goes by. I see the guys on bicycles just kind of, it's just kind of whatever. And where I feel like they at least did something about that in New York City to help those people that obviously like were really on the outs. And I don't know. L.A. never seemed to approach things in that way. Yeah, I think that's changing this year. So we did like the homeless count in January. And we kind of came up with like this prioritization equation to see to kind of help us navigate from all the homeless people that are like within the downtown and Skid Row area. You know, who we should prioritize towards getting housed first. You know, ideally we want to house everyone. But unfortunately right now, I mean, our resources are so limited and so scarce. So we don't. We definitely have taken a more like purposeful approach towards helping our chronically homeless neighbors by prioritizing those that we feel that due to medical conditions or how long they've been homeless. If we don't house them first, they may be people that will be dying on the sidewalks. So we've taken a more purposeful approach. But I think the bigger issue is that, you know, we can provide all these different services. And get people back on their feet and stuff. But at the end of the day, if we're not helping them navigate towards housing because housing is still so limited and still so scarce in LA County. I mean, how much more can we do? You know, I think that's the bigger issue. Does a civil rights issue come up at all in the sense that what if this person that you want to help that you know is next to death's door? What if they just don't want to do it? I mean, is there a certain point where you have to kind of let this person die on the street? Well, I mean we do run into people that you know, for example We've worked with people that have been homeless for like 20 30 years and you know in the past They've either attempted to get services or someone has offered them services and they've kind of fallen through the cracks and because of that experience They feel very discouraged. I mean, I think that's like a natural reaction and therefore They distrust people in general. I mean that does happen We do see that a lot especially with those people that have been homeless the longest. But I mean we Definitely want to continue working with them. It's not something where we kind of forget about them or sweep it under the rug We want to continue building that rapport and make sure that when they are ready to you know Move forward that we're there to push them and keep going Sometimes what I've seen like with outreach or case management services I mean sometimes that can mean working with someone, you know, three to six months at times that's meant working with someone for a year. And you know what, that's what it takes. Yeah. I just, I just wonder though, if, I don't know, some people out there, they, this is the life that they've chosen and they have this in their mind that they can't do any better and surrender to, to that. And I don't know, I'm just curious about those types of cases where, where people just really have given up all hope. Yeah, no, we see that all the time, but I mean, we work through it, we work through it and we'll work through it for as long as it takes. I think sometimes like not being motivated or being discouraged, like those qualities have kind of been used to villainize our homeless neighbors in a sense. To kind of shrug our shoulders and be like, well, you know, we tried and they didn't really want this bad enough or something like that. But I mean, sometimes you just really have to put yourself in their shoes. I mean, if you've been out in the streets, you know, in self-preservation mode for a decade or longer, I mean, wouldn't you naturally distrust people in general? I mean, if someone was offering you like something really amazing, would you not believe it? I mean, you don't want to get your hopes up. You know, it's such a natural thing. Yeah. Well, hey, we're going to take a little bit of a break. I think when we come back, let's lighten it up a little bit and talk about, you know, our experiences in the bars and maybe funny stories. Let's do that. But we'll be right back. S-K-I-D-R-O-W from the wall to the door. What you want to do? Do you want some hardcore? Do you like it raw? South Olive, downtown L.A. Skid Row Studios, motherfucker. S-K-I-D-R-O-W from the wall to the door. What you want to do? Do you want some hardcore? Do you like it raw? South Olive, downtown L.A. Skid Row Studios, motherfucker. S-K-I-D-R-O-W. Losing your face Paranoia See Anarchy Wires See I am black, my thoughts have brought in my head Someone killed me dead Someone's living dead Walking, dancing, shambling through life With nothing in your sight Dance on the bones Step in and fight Paranoia See Anarchy Wires See Life and death are fighting for my time I can't seem to find the time I want what's mine Time is through the pump Just keep talking Dustbugs and their plate Oh, it feels like walking But the pain is real I'm not afraid I'm not afraid I keep thinking Pathwise as the seconds take away I make my move today Time and life Life and time To have a hope Is something mine It is your bed to bear I'll fight you for Time and life Life and time One day I'll get what's mine Through the persistence of time Through the persistence of time Life and death is worse than no peace Hi, this is Vic Cohen. What are you doing Wednesday nights at 10 o'clock Pacific Time? It's a fair question. Well, whatever you're doing, even if it's making love, I'd like to join you. May I? Hey, it's a fair question. Just go to skidroaststudios.com Wednesday nights at 10 p.m. Pacific Time for Vic Cohen's It's a Fair Question. I promise I'll be gentle. No man of the fight No man of the fight Can ever stop me Alright, so the first half hour we kind of got pretty deep into Skid Row and what's going on in that area and Hazel has a unique perspective on it since she works in that area and deals with these issues and really knows what's going on. The second half hour here, I just want to get into fun bar stories, you know, there's there's been so many really just fun crazy stories that came out of both King Eddie's and for me, Krabby Joe's, so let's start off with that. What do you got? What was funny? Something that happened over there at King Eddie's. Oh my gosh. I don't want to say her name, but there used to be this female bartender that was over there and there was only two, so I guess you can cross them out. You can narrow it down. Yeah, you can narrow it down. But one, I don't think I ever really saw her drink and towards the end, she started drinking and she was very sassy and you know, very girly and just very touchy feely and towards the end, like she was hitting on one of the other bartenders who like was not really interested in her but just being really polite and anyway, she flashed him and in flashing him, she flashed everyone else that was at the bar. She kind of forgot she was in a bar? Yeah, well, not only that but you know, like the bar is kind of like a square, so when you're in the center of it, I mean, you really are in the center of it. Like anyone can see you and so she was in the center of it and she just like flashed him and flashed everyone. I was just like, I was afraid to grow up. I was afraid to get a hold. I saw her boobs. I was just like, oh, I don't want to get like that. That's funny. Yeah. I remember a night in Krabby Joe's. I don't know if it was a full moon or what, but there was all kinds of things happening in that bar and this guy came up to the bar. He had a guitar with maybe like two strings on it and he was using a crushed up Coors Light can as like a slide on the guitar and the funniest thing about this guy, he came up to us and he's just like playing like he's playing in front of a stadium and he's just playing his heart out and meanwhile it sounds like cats crying. You know, it was just like didn't make any noise, any music at all, but he's playing it hard and the funny thing about this guy is that he had no sleeves on and what I mean by that is he had a shirt where he had the cuffs of his hands, but then from there it was like the sleeves were ripped off and it was just we called him Sleevey McGee and he, you know, he could play a tune for you and he would make up lyrics like right on the spot and yeah, that guy was insane, but he was having a great time as far as he was concerned. Oh my God, I love that. I'm so sad. I was one of those people that I never got to see Krabby Joe's, but I hear about it even now and I just wish I could have gone at least once. I mean, I hear that the Krabby Joe sign is in some like art store or something. Yeah, so I bought the sign and I had it restored by the Museum of Neon Art. They put me in touch with someone and for a long time it was kind of going from one place to another and one place kind of took it and put it in their art display and kind of took it apart and made this really strange abstract view of it which I was just uncomfortable with people doing different things with the sign, so the people over at Raw Materials Art Store said, hey, we'll put it here. Nobody will mess with it until something comes along and it's been there ever since and yeah, you can go in there you can check it out. They'll turn it on for you. I had it because even myself, I never had the opportunity to see it with functioning neon when it was still on the bar and I gave this cool Japanese guy that was doing the restoration for me, I gave him a video clip of Barfly, the beginning of Barfly and I just said, just make it look exactly like that again and that's what he did, so if you go over to Raw Materials, you can check it out and tell him to turn it on and it'll flash like it did in the movie Barfly. Oh my god, that's amazing. I need to go over there and see it. I saw a picture of it online. I'm friends with a couple people who were once part of the clientele for the King Eddies before it closed and so someone posted a picture of it online and was like, do you know where this is? and a lot of people responded like, yeah, it's at this art store and that warms my heart. Yeah, I wanted to make sure that, I always wanted to see the neon function and there's all kinds of interesting little stories around that sign you know, for a long time the neon artists were confused as to how the neon was specifically configured to make it look like it did in Barfly and they kept trying to tell me that it was, they used camera tricks and I knew there was no way that Barfly was going to pay for special effects so what was filmed in that movie is what happened because they didn't have the budget they barely got that movie made so there's no way they're paying for special effects and I just never bought that story and it wasn't until I went to one of the brewery open houses where over at the brewery district where the art colony over at the brewery over in Lincoln Heights they had an open house and I walked through there and this guy had these full scale high resolution photos of the Crabby Joe sign with the old neon in place and from these pictures that I just happened to run into this guy didn't know who I was I didn't know who he was I'm just walking through his space and I'm like hey, I need those right now and he sent me the original photos and I shipped this off to the neon artist and they're like oh yeah it makes perfect sense now we couldn't have done it without these pictures so yeah just the randomness of what brought that together was pretty special and when it was restored we kind of did a little unveiling at the raw materials art store if you go on YouTube and search for Crabby Joe's, Crabby with one B you'll find this little video where they do a historical reflection on the address of Crabby Joe's and what it was and many different past lives and you know some man killed his wife because she didn't agree with taking his shoes off or something you know back in 18 something something you know like crazy stuff like that that all happened at that address that's crazy I love that story and you know what that's what I miss about the King Yeti like the neon light signs I mean I hear that part of the reason why they don't have anything neon in the bar is because it would cheapen it but I mean I think that was part of its charm you know I miss that there's there's you can cheapen something but it's cheapness was authentic you know what I mean like yes gaudy neon signs all over the place make it look cheap but those neon signs have collected on those walls for longer than most of the people going there have lived and so yeah I don't know that's a strange one they should have just left it alone personally but you know and the other thing I don't want to veer off into too much negativity but you know there was there was a particular bartender that that used to yell at the regulars the regulars that went back to King Yeti's even after the reopen and there was this one guy that would just bitch about them not tipping them enough and stuff like that and I don't know that kind of made me a little upset those guys have been going there their whole lives why would you want to you know maybe they don't tip much because they're on fixed incomes but they're going to be there on that barstool every single day so yeah I don't know yeah I totally know who you're talking about and I you know what so that same conversation came up with me and I sassed him a little bit because yeah you know you need to put perspective into this like sure it is a new bar and yes it's new ownership and you're trying to get like a different crowd in it and whatever but you have to respect the fact that for years and we're talking about like 30 years and more like this bar belonged to the community and the community is not who you're trying to cater to you know so I think they need to get a little bit of perspective but I mean not to be negative but the new King Yeti is nice you know it's clean the staff you know is pretty nice and some of the regulars can still be found there it's just a little sad it's just a little disheartening because I mean I remember going in there like on a Thursday or Friday and the music would be like blasting from the jukebox and there'd be people like already drunk off their asses and like there'd be so much laughter and so much joy and now it's a little bit harder to find I feel like it just feels so much more lonely in there yeah and I don't remember it being like that at all at all but my Bob still goes there and I plan to celebrate his birthday big so my Bob has been going to this bar for like 30 years and he lives in downtown and he last year we celebrated his birthday and I have to say in my entire life I've never ever ever been stood up by a man and Bob stood me up for his birthday because I brought cupcakes and we were going to celebrate his birthday and he did not show and I was very sad about that but this year he's going to be there so why didn't he show well okay so he was really excited he knew that I was coming that we were going to like you know bring party hats and I was going to light candles and we were going to sing to him and everything he knew this and so he got to the bar early that day it was like a Thursday and by 3 o'clock he was drunk and he was like I'm going to go take a nap and then I'm going to come back by 5.30 because he knew I was going to be there he went to go take a nap and he turned in for the night and it was all over yeah yeah but he knows we're going to be there again and I'm going to be there with my cupcakes and we're going to celebrate I think he's turning like 76 wow yeah and he actually it's really interesting because he actually used to be a bar owner I don't remember the bar that he owned but he owned a bar like many years ago in downtown and what happened was kind of similar to like the King Eddie in the sense that the bar was in some building and the building got bought out by some company and they basically didn't want to have the bottom floor be the bar anymore so he got kind of like bought out in a sense and was forced to close Bob sounds like he'd be a great guest here at the studio he would I mean he sounds kind of like Marlon Brando in the Godfather he has like this like like oh you know like you can barely hear him kind of voice that's okay yeah he's amazing I bet he's got great stories he has many great stories like okay so for example this weekend he went to San Francisco because in the last 15 years he only gets his hair cut in one place and this one place is in like Chinatown San Francisco so every three months he goes over there and he gets his hair cut from the same like Vietnamese woman that has been cutting his hair for like the last 15 years and he went there just randomly like 15 years ago and he went in there and she like hacked up his hair like it was terrible like she just I guess she was like drunk and she just kind of went for it and just messed up his hair and before he could say anything he will tell you like in a heavy accent she was like well don't worry babe it'll grow back and after she said that to him he told me he's like I fell in love so he literally goes there every three months to see her specifically like I don't even think this woman cuts hair anymore I just I think she knows that he's coming and she'll cut his hair you know it's crazy yeah but he does that every three months so this weekend he's in San Francisco getting his hair cut I have one King Eddie story there was a time that my friend and I were drinking at the bar and we were on the west side of the bar I guess you could say facing the door and it was my friend Aaron who was the son of Ike and Jenny who owned Krabby Joe's and a few of our other friends I forget who but Aaron was there for sure some guy was there and he comes running into the bar and he's kind of huffing and puffing like he's been running and he comes into the bar he's got no shoes on he's got no shirt on and his chest is covered in blood and the bartender looks at him and just says I can't serve you and the guy looks at him and he goes why cause I ain't got no shoes on and I just thought that this was fucking hilarious the shoes okay maybe you should have some shoes on but it was probably the blood all over your chest that might have did it that might have pushed it over yeah no I love that there was this one guy too who like had no control over his bladder so the bartenders knew that after like his sixth drink they needed to slow it down with him or not he was gonna like pee on the bar stool like simultaneously like going to sleep but also be peeing you know and the thing is like he had done this so many times and they totally didn't judge him that they just knew you know so after like whatever drink he was drinking after like it got to like number six they knew like you need to slow down you know cause they knew he was gonna pee so but they wouldn't kick him out that's funny because they're cutting him off not because he's drunk but because he's gonna piss himself exactly that's great you know that's awesome or also um I don't know did you ever meet I don't think I remember his real name but we used to call him the night stalker did you ever meet him no so we called him the night stalker because physically he actually sort of looked like Richard Ramirez um but he would actually dumpster dive like so around six o'clock you know all the flower shops that are kind of like outside of downtown would start to close so he'd go dumpster diving and he'd pick out like these bouquet of flowers that they would throw out and so he'd come to the King Eddie and he'd try to sell them or he'd try to trade like flowers for a drink you know and so everyone just knew him and no one would judge he would just come in and get a drink and be on his way you know I would buy bouquets of flowers from him just because they were still fresh they were still pretty they smelled great and it was just cute and so sometimes like I would be leaving the King Eddie you know all drunk with my like three or four bouquets of roses and people would be like there goes like the king's queen like there goes like the prom queen and it was cute I one thing I used to love to do at King Eddie's I don't know if I've done it since or if it's even still there it was ring the bell and if I could afford it and if I if there wasn't too many people in the bar I'd buy a round for the entire bar and they'd ring the bell and the thing that I loved is just everybody's face lighting up like whatever is going on that day we just got a free drink fuck it everything's fine you know and I always loved that cause you'd feel that love coming from everybody in the bar oh yeah there was lots of love in that bar like you know their slogan was like where no one gives a fuck what your name is but people knew your name if not your name they knew your face there was lots of love in that bar yeah and the brass bell yes I do remember the brass bell in fact um is it still there I forget no well those last three days you know how they were selling everything off yeah that was the one and only item that I wanted and oh wow I don't know if you remember I'm pretty sure you were there cause you guys did the podcast but on that Friday um they started to like bid off the neon signs and probably not even like 45 minutes into bidding stuff off like the the owner was just kinda over it and he stopped it and he pretty much was like come back on Sunday and point out what you want and then just put a price on it and just take it well I had my eye on the brass bell the entire time but when I came back on Sunday like so many things were gone and that was one of them yeah yeah he went through and took some of the things that he he specifically wanted cause there was a few things in there that I could tell just kinda disappeared some of the better items yeah there were some items in the basement too like I feel so fortunate because I got the opportunity to go into the basement and take pictures of like the murals and um there was just like these boxes full of like I guess they were wine glasses but just like things that you know had been hanging around for years and years and like these broken chandeliers and these old school looking cash registers so I got to like go in there and take pictures of it I mean I don't know what it looks like now but I think they've cleared most of it off cause I think they're trying to like renovate that space they're trying to make a speakeasy style thing something yeah I mean I just hope that the murals are still intact I think they are but I mean you know we'll see I ended up with an old Witt's beer sign that kind of rotates and Victor actually held that for me and kind of gave that to me um just to be nice I liked Victor a lot he was a good bartender good guy yeah he was he left like what like a month early before the bar closed yeah he told I think he said he's going down to Cabo or something and he's just going on vacation with his family and I don't know he was just he was out of there a couple weeks earlier were you there at his going away I think I was yeah oh he was wasted oh he was I remember now he was completely hammered and he was trying to kiss all kinds of girls and stuff yeah I remember that now yes that's the one and only time that I saw him like super fucked up yeah me too it was amazing it was amazing he really deserved it he was like dancing I mean I think you know had we egged him on you know enough he would have started stripping in that bar like it was great yeah he let loose that night mm-hmm yeah that's you know and the last night like that Sunday going into the Monday the bartenders that were there that night they also got like really drunk and it just got to a point where you just forgot you were even in a bar I just felt like you were part of like a family party you know everyone was just drinking and enjoying themselves and saying their goodbyes to everybody I think I actually recorded like um this video with my phone and it's right at um Monday 2 a.m. so the supposed last call and just it was crazy it was like a little riot in there but it was good you know so I recorded that I look at it from time to time yeah yeah those were the days and now you know what does the future hold you know what is the new downtown gonna be um I you know I have hopes that that there will be some more diversification downtown I want there to be different kinds of people moving downtown you know I'm one of those people that when I wake up in the morning some days I say fuck downtown some days I say I love downtown um some days you know I'm cursing the hipsters and then other days you know that restaurant over there that just opened up is pretty fucking good and you know what can I how can I be pissed at that so I don't know I'm very mixed about downtown and I I've been down here 12 13 years now and I've seen it change quite a bit and I really don't know what the future holds how do you feel about all these pet owners moving into downtown okay I don't want to offend people who love their pets I'm gonna have to say that these little dogs are a fashion accessory and I'm going to go ahead and say that it used to be homeless piss that I'd have to worry about on the streets but now the streets are covered with dog piss and it's everywhere yeah I agree it's crazy you do agree I was going out on a limb there you're like fuck you I love my dog I am not a pet owner I do not live in downtown but it's just crazy to me that you know I have to like walk around looking at the ground making sure I don't trip over any leashes or dogs or like dog shit honestly it's just too many and it's just I don't get it it feels very fashion accessory to me and not you know like legit yeah it doesn't seem legit I don't know people that have to take their dogs with them everywhere I don't know it's not my thing but yeah but downtown has made a fairly big industry off of that and Bark Avenue and those guys you know God bless them for providing jobs but you know they've kind of created this whole little dog economy down here yeah and there's like a park I haven't been to it but I hear there's like a dog park somewhere well they just opened up Spring Street Park oh that's where you can like have your dogs without a leash kind of place right I think so yeah yeah that's very strange to me very strange it is strange when I think about downtown Los Angeles and when did I first come down here probably in 2000 2001 somewhere in that range and you know after 6pm it was a ghost town from Broadway East and well really probably from Olive East you know there wasn't a soul there was a few people up in the financial district and couple things up there like 7th and Fig was up there where people would still go eat and some of the nicer hotels where people would be about but past Olive downtown was dead no I didn't live in downtown but I remember that because back in 2001 ish I was in high school and I do remember like going to a friend's house like going to a party in East LA and I lived in Pico Union so you kind of had to commute through downtown and it was scary because you knew like you were not supposed to be in downtown past like 6 or 7 you know it was a little scary it was very lonely very desolate there wasn't anything open really everything was like all closed up with like the rail the metal doors and all that I so I am I remember coming down here I had just moved from New York City to California again I kind of went back and forth a few times but that's a different story but I was working in New York City and living in New Jersey and then I came to Los Angeles and I ended up like in Pasadena or something um first time I came to downtown Los Angeles having been in New York City I was like what is going on? this isn't a downtown it didn't feel like a downtown and that's been the perception of downtown for a really long time and unfortunately even even though it's changing and there's a lot of good things down here um coming from the renaissance I think people's perception of downtown that live outside of downtown is still like who goes downtown why would you want to go downtown and in a way that's unfortunate because I want the diversity I want to see old couples down here I want to see families I want to see what makes a New York City neighborhood end up downtown instead of just kind of all one kind of people because it seems like it's very like kind of you know 20's something hipster um not really a care or a respect for downtown LA history I want to see some different kinds of people come down here that make it a real neighborhood that sounds lovely I've never been to New York but the way you just painted it that sounds lovely like is that weird for you I mean because you've been here since before all of the this happened and you're seeing it change is that weird for you it's weird when when I lose the places that I really love you know the you know I tend to romanticize these places in a lot of ways because of Bukowski and you know if you read something uh it's beautiful no matter what because you create this image in your mind and and so when I lose places like Krabby Joe's when you know I used to go into Kohl's before it was bought out by the 213 group and said Moses and I remember this guy this old German guy named Marty who they always had Spaten on tap and I'd go in there and uh just hang out in that bar you know before it switched over and then you know said Moses bought it he did an absolutely beautiful restoration to it and the drink prices doubled and it's an expensive place to go now where that's not what it was before so those types of things make me sad you know King Eddie's you know definitely makes me sad you know I'm trying I'm trying the best I can to just kind of go with it and I can still go in there and get drunk and depending on what bartender's in there I can feel like you know it's my bar again but it's tough yeah it is tough but you went to um Campers Quarter recently I haven't gone there uh yeah I went there yesterday uh me and my roommate he's whiter than I am he's like from North Dakota oh god so these two wettos come walking in a bar and it was funny um I told my one friend Eddie Solis who does a show here called Los Angeles Nista Mondays from 9pm to 11 plug um I told him I went to Campers Corner he's like hey man that's where the fucking cartels hang out and I'm like what do you mean man and I just think that that's kind of funny I it could be true I have no idea but I go in there all the women are are in almost like mandatorily dressed in short skirts and you know they don't look like they really want to be in short skirts but they are and you know it's guys in cowboy hats and boots and they're playing Vicente Fernandez on the jukebox and I'm just drinking my drinking my Victoria you know that's totally not how I had imagined it like I thought you're gonna walk in everybody's just gonna stop the jukebox is gonna stop playing and everybody's just gonna stare at you like oh this guy totally doesn't belong here you know it's funny because the first few times I went in there it was definitely like that like I think one guy like bought me a drink just because he said that I had enough balls to even walk in the door and that was enough to buy me a drink but I think they've seen me a few times now that I don't I think they're confused still like why do I even bother going in there but they just don't care anymore so the first time I felt a tranny's tits was at that bar how were they did they feel so simple no they felt like kind of hard like it wasn't a like a stone like how hard um just it was probably a bad surgery are you sure it was her tits that you were touching uh yeah I think so I think so oh my gosh that's amazing I mean did they look better than how they felt I didn't see them it was just over the tube top oh well you should ask to see them sometimes they look better yeah I guess I should've that's crazy that's definitely one bar that you know I was when the candy towards the end when it was closing I was like you know I'm gonna go to that bar and I'm gonna see what that's about because I did not give King Eddie the benefit of the doubt before I went there and then a lot of the patrons were like you do not wanna go there like that's not the place to be they were just so scared of it and I was like well and you know it's funny because towards the end when it was like you know known fact that the King Eddie was closing I was like okay I'm gonna organize this bar we're gonna all meet up at some other bar and it's gonna be the same thing we're just all gonna be together so I was like okay we're gonna meet up at Campers Corner and the looks that I got was just like no nobody goes there like no you do not wanna be there that's not the place to be they were still scared of it so naturally yeah Campers Corner is a it's a beer wine bar um oh so it's not even a full bar no it's not a full bar oh that's terrible um they'll serve you peanuts in a styrofoam cup um that's terrible and they tend to be closed like they don't really stay open past 10pm that kinda makes sense that area is kinda it's a weird spot yeah it's kinda shady right there yeah you know which bar I kind of really liked at one point or another and then I kind of felt really bad for it um have you ever been to like Mel's bar or Mal's bar yeah Mal's over on Hill Street yeah you know I really liked that bar at one point and then it went into these renovations and the last time I was there it was like a Saturday night I got there like at 1030 and I'm sad to say that I was like one of maybe like five people total in that bar really yeah and like you gotta you know it was me and my friend and like the three bartenders you know I was at uh Mal's bar um a while ago we actually did a live remote there um for one of our older shows and yeah it was one of those places where I went in and I'm like this could be a really cool bar but there wasn't a whole lot of people there and I didn't really know what it was about like the the location is a little strange I don't know I don't know what it is but yeah yeah I think I went there once the one and only time that I went there there was like a ton of people it was because um the Sweet and Tender Hooligans that's like a cover band for like The Smiths and Morrissey were doing an acoustic show with like some other band called The Cured obviously you know cover band for The Cured tribute band yeah so they were doing like an acoustic set and so there was like all these rockabilly kids there and it was great it was like a good time but aside from that it's just deserted there's no one there and the space is great I mean it has so much potential they got a little stage and yeah they used to you said it got renovated so maybe I haven't seen its latest incarnation no no no the stage is still there it's a little bit nicer they still have the popcorn machine it's the same thing they tried to do like this outdoor kind of courtyard area but really all that means is that they bought like these bamboo walls you know and they kind of just put them they set them up on the sidewalk so it's not really like an outdoor area it's just a sidewalk you know any other bars that are kind of like that you know a little less known bars do you know about the back door at the Milner Hotel no you were telling me about that where's that so the Milner Hotel do you if you know IHOP which I think what is the name of that bar is that flower that's like eighth and flower yeah somewhere in that area across the street there's the Milner Hotel and there used to be a bar there that was in the back called the back door and it was just a bare bones tiny little bar and you know people who you know happen to be staying in that hotel would go down there and have a drink so you get a real mixed crowd I like the crowd there because it's hotel people so they they're from all over and sometimes they have no idea how they ended up in downtown LA but they're there and I tried to go there a few months ago maybe three four months ago and they said it was closed for renovations so I have no idea what that means or when it's going to be reopened but that's a bar to check out that not a lot of people knew about oh that sounds amazing well I hope it comes back and I hope it's not that much different than what you're describing yeah I got a thing for hotel bars actually and I think what it is is that people that end up at hotel bars are from all over the place you know and sometimes it's interesting you can sit there and have a conversation with these people from I'm from Wisconsin and I'm here on business and I don't know what the hell's going on so my first instinct is to go to the bar and have a drink and you know kind of a a universal language you know I'm in a strange place let me go to the bar that's where I'll figure it out well that's where you figure out a lot of things about life about yourself it starts with that drink it's true it's true well I'm really sad to say my friends and I were you know um kind of sort of regulars at Weilands the one that was like on first oh yeah and they closed recently right yeah you know it was it's so sad because we have been going there um for happy hours I want to say maybe like the last three four years and you know over the last couple years it's changed a little bit the menu changed the prices changed but you know we still continue to go there because it's kind of like where we all you know bonded and became friends and um we didn't even know that it was closing um we knew about a year ago that um I guess the MTA bought that whole space so where Weilands is at Senior Fish and the Spice Table and so those businesses were going to be forced to close at the end of this year so we knew that but I guess um the owner of Weilands found a new space in Long Beach and so he just decided to close early and so it was really sad because we were giving Senior Fish a try the weekend that it was closing and we saw that Weilands was super packed but we were like well I wonder if it's like a private party or we didn't really know what was going on and then come Monday we find out that that was the last weekend so we didn't even get to see you know see it off and it's closed you know what's funny is uh I remember going to Weilands over in the financial district they had two locations yeah they do they have one that's like across the street from the library um but that one I think it's there's less people because it's parking is a little bit harder and there's not like a whole ton of people that know that it even exists right there um I haven't been to that one but the one that we used to go to is the one on 1st and Central and now it's gone and so I guess the owner was saying that you know he found this space in Long Beach in the middle of the city and they're gonna open up there and he's not even sure if they're gonna call it Weilands he might call it something else so yeah so that's gone kind of sad yeah well Hazel this has been a great discussion um bringing back a lot of memories um you definitely know what you're talking about with downtown bars and that's great um thanks for coming in no thank you for having me yeah maybe you know maybe we can do this more often and uh you know it doesn't have to be all all bars all the time but there's lots of things to talk about who are we kidding I'm a lush and you're drunk let's just be honest we are what we are you're right you're right cool well thank you Hazel well thank you