Tom Bergin's

Last updated


Tom Bergin's Tavern in Los Angeles, California, looking north on Fairfax Avenue. Tom Bergins Tavern.gif
Tom Bergin's Tavern in Los Angeles, California, looking north on Fairfax Avenue.

Tom Bergin's Tavern is one of the oldest restaurant/bars in continuous operation in Los Angeles, California. Originally opened at 6110 Wilshire Boulevard in 1936 by lawyer Tom Bergin as The Old Horseshoe Tavern [1] it has been at its current location at 840 South Fairfax Avenue, just south of Wilshire, since 1949. In previous years it has also been known as The Old Horseshoe Tavern and Kennel Club as well as Tom Bergin's Horseshoe Tavern and Thoroughbred Club. [2] The restaurant and bar is considered by Angelenos as an institution.

Wilshire Boulevard thoroughfare in Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, and Los Angeles, United States

Wilshire Boulevard is one of the principal east-west arterial roads in the Los Angeles area of Southern California, extending 15.83 miles (25.48 km) from Ocean Avenue in the city of Santa Monica east to Grand Avenue in the Financial District of downtown Los Angeles. It is also one of the major city streets though the city of Beverly Hills. Wilshire Boulevard runs roughly parallel with Santa Monica Boulevard from Santa Monica to the Miracle Mile district, after which it runs a block south of Sixth Street to its terminus.

Fairfax Avenue major thoroughfare in Los Angeles, California

Fairfax Avenue is a street in the north central area of the city of Los Angeles, California. It runs from La Cienega Boulevard with Culver City at its southern end to Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood on its northern end. From La Cienega Boulevard to Sunset Boulevard, it separates the Westside from the central part of the city along with Venice Boulevard, La Cienega Boulevard, Hauser Boulevard, San Vicente Boulevard, South Cochran Avenue, Wilshire Boulevard, 6th Street, Cochran Avenue, 4th Street, La Brea Avenue, Fountain Avenue and Sunset Boulevard.

The demographics of Los Angeles are determined by population surveys such as the American Community Survey and the United States Census. According to U.S. Census Bureau projections, Los Angeles' population was 3,884,307 in 2013.

Contents

History

The tavern is known for its annual St. Patrick's Day celebration, which was co-hosted by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti in 2017.

Eric Garcetti 42nd Mayor of Los Angeles

Eric Michael Garcetti is an American politician serving as the 42nd and current Mayor of Los Angeles since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he was first elected in the 2013 election and won reelection in 2017. A former member of the Los Angeles City Council, Garcetti served as council president from 2006 to 2012. He is the city's first elected Jewish mayor, its youngest mayor in history, and its second consecutive Mexican American mayor.

The tavern is also known for its tradition of placing cardboard shamrocks on the walls and ceilings to memorialize the names of its favored customers. Among the famous names with shamrocks are Tommy Lasorda, Kiefer Sutherland, Ronald Reagan and Cary Grant.

Shamrock clover symbol

A shamrock is a young sprig, used as a symbol of Ireland. Saint Patrick, Ireland's patron saint, is said to have used it as a metaphor for the Christian Holy Trinity. The name shamrock comes from Irish seamróg[ˈʃamˠɾˠoːɡ], which is the diminutive of the Irish word for plant and means simply "little plant" or "young plant".

Tommy Lasorda American baseball player and coach

Thomas Charles Lasorda is a former Major League Baseball pitcher, coach, and manager, who is best known for his two decades at the helm of the Los Angeles Dodgers. In 2018, he marked his 69th season in one capacity or another with the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers organization, the longest tenure anyone has had with the team, edging Dodger broadcaster Vin Scully by three seasons. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame as a manager in 1997. Since the death of Red Schoendienst in June 2018, he has been the oldest living Hall of Famer.

Kiefer Sutherland English-Canadian actor, director, producer, voice actor

Kiefer William Frederick Dempsey George Rufus Sutherland is a Canadian actor, producer, director, and singer-songwriter. He is known for his role as Jack Bauer in the Fox drama series 24, for which he won an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two Satellite Awards. He is the son of actor Donald Sutherland and the father of actress Sarah Sutherland.

Tom Bergin's is also famous for its Irish coffee drink. Although the Buena Vista Cafe in San Francisco is generally credited with introducing the drink in the United States in 1952, [3] Tom Bergin's claims to have been the originator have been disputed[ citation needed ] A large, shamrock-shaped sign in front of Tom Bergin's reading "House of Irish Coffee" (not visible in the photo at right) has been in place since the early 1950s.

Irish coffee cocktail of hot coffee, Irish whiskey and sugar

Irish coffee is a cocktail consisting of hot coffee, Irish whiskey, and sugar, stirred, and topped with cream. The coffee is drunk through the cream. Originally straight cream was used; today whipped cream is most common.

Buena Vista Cafe credited with introducing Irish coffee to the United States

The Buena Vista is a café in San Francisco, California, credited with introducing Irish coffee to the United States in 1952. It opened in 1916 when the first floor of a boardinghouse was converted into a saloon. The current owners also operate the Trident in Sausalito.

San Francisco Consolidated city-county in California, United States

San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the cultural, commercial, and financial center of Northern California. San Francisco is the 13th-most populous city in the United States, and the fourth-most populous in California, with 884,363 residents as of 2017. It covers an area of about 46.89 square miles (121.4 km2), mostly at the north end of the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area, making it the second-most densely populated large US city, and the fifth-most densely populated U.S. county, behind only four of the five New York City boroughs. San Francisco is also part of the fifth-most populous primary statistical area in the United States, the San Jose–San Francisco–Oakland, CA Combined Statistical Area.


Tom Bergin's Tom Bergin's, Faifax, Los Angeles, CA.JPG
Tom Bergin's

Related Research Articles

Bar establishment serving alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises

A bar is a retail business establishment that serves alcoholic beverages, such as beer, wine, liquor, cocktails, and other beverages such as mineral water and soft drinks and often sell snack foods such as potato chips or peanuts, for consumption on premises. Some types of bars, such as pubs, may also serve food from a restaurant menu. The term "bar" also refers to the countertop and area where drinks are served. The term "bar" is also derived from the metal or wooden bar that is often located at feet along the length of the "bar".

Brown Derby

The Brown Derby was the name of a chain of restaurants in Los Angeles, California. The first and most famous of these was shaped like a man's derby hat, an iconic image that became synonymous with the Golden Age of Hollywood. It was opened by Wilson Mizner. The chain was started by Robert H. Cobb and Herbert K. Somborn in the 1920s. The original Brown Derby restaurants had closed or had been converted to other uses by the 1980s, though a Disney-backed Brown Derby national franchising program revived the brand in the 21st century. It is often incorrectly thought that the Brown Derby was a single restaurant, and the Wilshire Boulevard and Hollywood branches are frequently confused.

Tiki Ti

The Tiki Ti is a Polynesian-themed tiki bar on Sunset Boulevard, in the Los Feliz district of Los Angeles. It is considered by many to be the very epitome of the Tiki tavern style.

The Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group Inc. is a San Francisco, California, based hotel and restaurant brand owned by the Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG). Founded in 1981 by William (Bill) Kimpton and led by Chief Executive Officer Mike DeFrino, the group was the largest chain of boutique hotels in the United States in 2011. It currently operates 66 hotels with a total of 12,721 bedrooms; all but the Kimpton Seafire Resort + Spa in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, the Kimpton Saint George Hotel in Toronto and the Kimpton De Witt in Amsterdam are in the United States. New hotels have been announced for Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Paris, Grenada, Bali, Shanghai, Sanya, and Taipei.

Little Ethiopia, Los Angeles Place in California, United States of America

For the area of Washington D.C. known as Little Ehtiopia see Shaw, Washington, D.C.#Little Ethiopia

Fern bar was an American slang term for an upscale or preppy bar or tavern catering to singles, usually decorated with ferns or other greenery, as well as such decor as fake Tiffany lamps. The phrase came into common use in the late 1970s or early 1980s.

Stiles O. Clements California architect

Stiles Oliver Clements was an architect practicing in Los Angeles and Southern California.

Beverly Boulevard thoroughfare in Los Angeles, United States

Beverly Boulevard is one of the main east-west thoroughfares in Los Angeles, in the U.S. state of California. It begins off Santa Monica Boulevard in Beverly Hills and ends on the Lucas Avenue overpass near downtown Los Angeles to become 1st Street. A separate Beverly Boulevard begins off 3rd Street and Pomona Boulevard in East Los Angeles, runs through Montebello and Pico Rivera, and becomes Turnbull Canyon Road in Whittier near Rose Hills Memorial Park.

Wilshire Center, Los Angeles Neighborhood of Los Angeles in California, United States of America

Wilshire Center is a neighborhood in Central Los Angeles, California.

Musso & Frank Grill

Musso & Frank Grill is a restaurant located at 6667-9 Hollywood Boulevard in the Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. The restaurant opened in 1919 and is named for original owners Joseph Musso and Frank Toulet. The restaurant has been called "the genesis of Hollywood."

Cahuenga Boulevard thoroughfare in Los Angeles, United States

Cahuenga Boulevard is a major boulevard of northern Los Angeles, California, US. The name is derived from Cahuenga, the Spanish name for the Tongva village of Kawengna, meaning "place of the mountain". It connects Sunset Boulevard in the heart of old Hollywood to the Hollywood Hills and North Hollywood in the San Fernando Valley.

Conga Room

The Conga Room is a Los Angeles nightlife and private events location. Founded in 1998, the Conga Room's first location was on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, CA. The Conga Room is now located in Downtown Los Angeles' L.A. Live across from the Staples Center and continues to be the premier destination for pan-Latino night-life entertainment and beyond.

Original Pantry Cafe

The Original Pantry Cafe is a coffee shop and restaurant in Los Angeles, California. Located at the corner of 9th and Figueroa in Downtown L.A.'s South Park district, The Pantry claims to never have closed or been without a customer since it opened including when it changed locations in 1950 to make room for a freeway off-ramp; it served lunch in the original location and served dinner at the new location the same day. This claim is also attributed to the fact that Dewey Logan never refused a customer even if he or she was short on money. It was, however, closed briefly at the order of health inspectors on November 26, 1997, and reopened the next day. The restaurant is currently owned by former Los Angeles mayor Richard Riordan and has served many celebrities and politicians.

Holiday Bowl (building)

The Holiday Bowl was a bowling alley on Crenshaw Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1958 by five Japanese-Americans and was a significant part of the rebuilding process of the Nikkei community after internment during World War II. The owners of the Holiday Bowl sold shares throughout the community in order to finance its construction."

The Peninsula Beverly Hills luxury hotel in Beverly Hills, California

The Peninsula Beverly Hills is a luxury, five-star hotel at the intersection of Wilshire and Santa Monica Boulevard. The hotel is part of The Peninsula Hotels, who are owned by Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels. The Peninsula Beverly Hills was the second Peninsula branded hotel to open in the United States, with The Peninsula New York opening three years beforehand in 1988. In 2015 the hotel won the AAA Five Diamond Award for the 22nd year in a row while the Belvedere restaurant won it for the 20th consecutive year. At the moment the Belvedere is the only restaurant in Los Angeles that has been awarded the prize. When the hotel first opened in 1991 it was the first luxury hotel to open in Beverly Hills in 20 years.

Bahooka

Bahooka was a Tiki bar and restaurant in Rosemead, California. The Bahooka was well known for its many fish tanks, one of which held a famous and frequently photographed pacu fish named Rufus. The bar was also known for serving over 60 different kinds of Tiki drinks, including their Jolly Roger Bowl and flaming drinks such as the Flaming Honey Bowl and their epyonymous Bahooka Bowl. The Bahooka served Polynesian fare such as teriyaki chicken breast and their signature "Exotic Ribs".

Hugel-JTBC LA Open

The Hugel-Air Premia LA Open is a women's professional golf tournament in Los Angeles, California on the LPGA Tour. A new event in 2018, it is played at Wilshire Country Club. The next event is scheduled for April 25–28, 2019.

References

  1. ↑ Private Stock Scotch Label showing former name, Tom Bergin Archives
  2. ↑ 1936 Menu showing former name; 1965 magazine article showing former name; Tom Bergin Archives
  3. ↑ Carl Nolte (2008-11-09). "The man who brought Irish coffee to America". San Francisco Chronicle.

Coordinates: 34°03′36″N118°21′45″W / 34.06003°N 118.36263°W / 34.06003; -118.36263

Geographic coordinate system Coordinate system

A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are often chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position and two or three of the numbers represent a horizontal position; alternatively, a geographic position may be expressed in a combined three-dimensional Cartesian vector. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation. To specify a location on a plane requires a map projection.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.