Will the gay guys walking along Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood’s Boystown give up their Nikes, Adidas’s and Vans for Tony Lamas’s, Fryes and Luccheses? Will those baseball caps worn bill-backwards give way to Stetsons? Will a Country / Western bar make it in a gay neighborhood now dominated by clubs that offer only DJs and go go boys, making them relatively indistinguishable from one another?
Those are the questions being asked by observers of life in West Hollywood’s Boystown with the news that Eleven Bar & Nightclub is being replaced by Flaming Saddles, the city’s first Country / Western bar.
Chris Barnes says we should have an answer soon. Barnes owns Flaming Saddles with Jacqui Squatriglia, who he describes as his partner “in business and romance for six years.” In 2011, the couple opened the first Flaming Saddles on Ninth Avenue in New York City on the northern edge of the city’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood. From noon to 4 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, he and Squatriglia will open the doors at 8811 Santa Monica Blvd. at Larrabee to begin recruiting staff for an anticipated opening before Thanksgiving in West Hollywood.
In an email exchange, Barnes told WEHOville that they are looking to hire bartenders, barbacks, security staff and cooks. Applicants don’t need to know who Garth Brooks, Tim McGraw or Kenny Chesney are. “Flaming Saddles looks for bartenders who can dance, and dancers who can bartend — high energy, vibrant personalities who are fluid in customer service,” Barnes said. “Jacqui is s seasoned choreographer who runs a very professional audition and has a keen eye for who’s best.”
“They need not have any familiarity with Country or Country Rock,” Barnes wrote. “If they have no background in Country / Western or have never owned a pair of cowboy boots, they will!
Barnes said they are planning a soft opening of Flaming Saddles before Thanksgiving, with a grand opening the first week of December.
And why West Hollywood? “Jacqui and I … choose West Hollywood because so many of our customers from our Hells Kitchen NYC saloon are from West Hollywood and insisted we come west,” Barnes said. “We fell in love with the 8811 location three years ago on a visit from New York and have pursued it ever since. It’s a big beautiful barn made for a down home Country hoe down.
“We moved into the neighborhood three months ago, and we could not be more excited about being here and becoming a vibrant part of the community,” Barnes added. “Yippy ki yay ya’ll!”
i’ve been to the hells kitchen location and this is an amazing bar!! ditto what chris chavez said above! you will have SO much fun!! it’s definitely 1 of the best bars in nyc
Not my taste. But good luck
The bar where the dry cleaners is now was called On the Boulevard in the eighties. It went through several identities, one being country & western for a while.
There seems to be a misconception in Weho that there is only one type of gay man. Get out and explore people. Maybe that’s why people are leaving or venturing to other parts of the city. Has no one ever been to Oil Can Harry’s in the valley? Quite successful and it’s a more relaxed, friendly environment. I can only hope this new place has the same vibe and it’s not a new venue for Andrew Christian models to wear cowboy costumes.
Correct if I’m wrong but why don’t we have a gay bar that has rock music instead of that tired what ever type music played at all the bars. At the Halloween Festival “Ricky Rock” I believe was the act did two shows with a cheering crowd. Can’t we find a venue where gay rock or any rock is played?
I highly recommend that there should be CW dancing (two steps, line dancing, etc.). There will be more patronage since they are lot of patrons who like
and enjoy CW dancing. There is only one CW bar (Oil Can Harry) and it is in Studio City.
Yes, there was a CW bar on the north side of SMB that is now a cleaners. In the back there was a decent Gay restaurant but I can’t remember the name. I remember seeing line dancing classes being held there. But, can’t remember the name of the place.
I lived in WeHo for a few years right up Larrabee from that corner and I loved Eleven when it opened – what a great space. Ever since I moved there I thought a CW bar would do great in WeHo – there is so much of the same. I tried to get the owners of the Round Up in Dallas, where I live now, interested but apparently that didn’t pan out. But I was just in NYC a couple of weekends ago and spent a couple of totally fun hours there on a Sunday early evening. The bartenders were… Read more »
Ditto Chris Chavez. Lived in Weho for 20 years and totally bored with the bars. Spent an evening in the Hell’s Kitchen location a month ago and had a blast.
It’s not all CW music, more of just a theme. It had more personality then any of the sterile, dull clubs on SMB.
Look at how well Trunks is doing lately….people are bored of glass, mirrors and Ikea furniture.
Hoping they do great.
But I agree, a total remodel would be in order at some point.
YESSS!!! I worked in WEHO from 2005-2012 in every gay bar on Santa Monica blvd. I now live in Hells Kitchen 46/9. This is exactly what WEHO needs. I’m not a country music fan. But it’s the best bar in NYC because it’s about having a good time with no attitude. It’s left at the door. Hells Kitchen has more gay bars than WEHO so this will do well. And btw you will be surprised how many homos are country music loving fans. They just don’t brag about it cause every gay bar plays the typical Beyoncé and Britney stuff.… Read more »
Can’t remember time frame but it was where there is a cleaners now and I think a Sushi Resturant in the back of the parking lot. It’s east of where CHEERS was at on the same side of the street.
Does it expect to be country seven nights a week and still be a success?