Barney’s Beanery Has Palisadian Owner

Pacific Palisades resident David Houston, current co-owner of two Barney’s Beanerys and four Q’s billiard club/ restaurants, set out in life to become an actor, not a restaurateur. After graduating from Cal State Northridge with a B.A. in theater, he made a living as a mobile disk jockey. “It was a humiliating career for a few years,” he said, “but I saved enough money to open a restaurant.” He partnered with Avi Fattal in 1989 to open their first Q’s on Wilshire in West L.A., which also had a bar and billiards area. Neither man had prior restaurant experience. “We didn’t know what we were doing,” Houston said, “yet Q’s was an instant success. The third night, we had a line to get in.” The neighborhood was less than pleased by the new restaurant because of traffic and noise issues, and the two owners had to quickly learn everything possible about permits and licenses. “It was a vertical learning curve,” Houston said. He and Fattal tackled the issues and Q’s remains a popular location, along with additional Q’s in Pasadena, Santa Barbara and Whittier. Then in 1999 Barney’s Beanery came up for sale in West Hollywood. Anyone who has ordered chili fries from Barney’s Beanery knows that you go there not only for great American comfort food, but the atmosphere. The history of the restaurant that was established in 1927 by John “Barney” Anthony seems to seep into your bones. Anthony established his first Beanery in Berkeley in 1920 as an establishment for men only, but the weather got to him and he relocated his restaurant to old Route 66 on Santa Monica Boulevard near La Cienega. The area was sparsely populated, and the Beanery was not much more than a shack surrounded by a poinsettia field. “A little wooden shanty, with a whole row of cheap floor lamps illuminating the counter, and a dinky little bar down at one end,” was Rob Wagner’s 1942 description. The establishment became a Hollywood hangout, starting with regulars like Clara Bow, John Barrymore and Jean Harlow and continuing well into the ’70s, when it was frequented by rock groups like The Doors and Led Zeppelin. Morrison loved to tease Janis Joplin until one night the teasing ended when Joplin belted him. Joplin had her last meal in Barney’s at her favorite booth (number 34) before overdosing and dying later that night in a hotel. Her initial is carved in the table. It was common knowledge that Anthony treated all of his customers the same. According to Herald-Examiner columnist Mike Jackson, speaking about Anthony, “You do not get that great big smile when you are up. And you don’t get the brushoff when you are down.” After Anthony died in 1968, Edwin Held acquired the restaurant and tried to keep it as close to the original as possible. The movie stars still came. When Drew Carey protested the 1999 ban on smoking in restaurants and bars, he chose Barney’s as the place to invite the press to watch him light up. Reportedly, Quentin Tarantino holed up in one of the booths to write “Pulp Fiction.” In a sprawling city where buildings are torn down on a regular basis’with occasional help from earthquakes’Barney’s is as close to a non-religious landmark as exists. When Houston heard the Beanery was for sale, he begged his partner to make a bid. Fattal responded, “You’re out of your mind; this is the biggest dump in the world.” Houston agreed that the business wasn’t as profitable as it could be, but felt they could turn it around. “This is history. You don’t understand,” Houston told Fattal. “This is a really cool original roadhouse.” Every day he would go into his partner’s office and try to persuade him to buy Barney’s. Fattal finally agreed to bid on the restaurant so that Houston would stop bugging him. Alas, someone else bid higher, but when the deal fell out of escrow, Fattal told Houston he was ready to bid whatever it took to acquire the restaurant. “I’m sick of hearing about Barney’s,” he told Houston. Initially, Houston thought about remodeling the restaurant, cutting the menu, and adding new booths. The regulars begged, “Please don’t change it.” Houston and Fattal listened and settled on making a few management changes, adding new music on the jukebox, and making just a few physical changes. The place leaped to life. “I love going in there,” Houston told the Palisadian-Post. “Barney’s is like this great old pair of blue jeans that you love.” Houston and Fattal opened a second Beanery on the Third Street Promenade in August 2004. They dealt with Santa Monica City codes for almost two years before customers were allowed in the establishment. Houston admitted “Nothing in the original Beanery is to code.” The owners enjoyed instant success on the Promenade and have been even more surprised at the number of families who stop in. They have 40 draft beers, 150 kinds of bottled beer, a full bar, over 700 items on the menu and working televisions on every wall, which to this reporter’s viewpoint makes it the perfect place for a family. In fact, the owners have added a coloring mat for their youngest customers that includes historical customers: Jim Morrison, James Dean, Jimi Hendrix, Marilyn Monroe and Janis Joplin. Someone pointed out that all of those people were dead, so now the mat is jokingly termed the “Faces of Death.” The owners are trying to give the Promenade restaurant its own distinctive look which Houston affectionately calls “junk and chaos,” much like the original Beanery, where license plates from the 1920s hang above the bar. The story goes that they were left by people who had driven out to California on Route 66 to start a new life. Houston’s dream is to one day own 20 or more Beanerys, each with its own distinctive look, but still adhering to Anthony’s original dream of hearty American food in a warm atmosphere. Currently he and Fattal are adding a double decker bus to the interior of their Q’s in Pasadena, prior to converting the place into a Beanery. “Now Avi thinks Barney’s is the greatest place in the world,” Houston said. Houston was a bachelor in Glendale when he met his wife Dawn, who had friends in the Palisades. After they were married on September 9, in 2001, they started looking for a place. They hunted from Malibu to Palos Verdes and ultimately decided that Pacific Palisades was the perfect place for their family. They moved here in 2003. Barney’s Beanery in Santa Monica (1351 Third Street) is open from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m., Monday through Friday, and 9 a.m. to 2 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. Contact: www.barneysbeanery.com