Did Bukowski drink at the King Eddy Saloon?

[mjp]

I think we've been over this (Bukowski drank at every bar in Los Angeles "all the time" if you believe the stories), but here's an email from an inquiring mind.

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Hello,

My name is Kylie Reynolds and I am a reporter for Southern California Public Radio KPCC's Blog Downtown. I am working on an article that is looking at a debate surrounding whether Mr. Bukowski frequented a Los Angeles bar near Skid Row named the King Eddy Saloon. I would appreciate the opportunity to speak with anybody who might have information about Mr. Bukowski's visits to the King Eddy. I am trying to get a story out by Wednesday, so any help you have would greatly be appreciated.

Thank you,
Kylie

Reporter / KPCC
kreynolds@media.ucla.edu
(614) [ask me for the number if you want to call]

 

[Purple Stickpin]

Well, if there's a debate currently on-going, then at least one person has some level of evidence to support Buk having drank at said establishment. The name rings no bells with me for what that's worth. If he ever wrote about it, he might have called it the Queen Betty for all we know.

 

[Ponder]

I am trying to get a story out by Wednesday, so any help you have would greatly be appreciated.

Plenty of time left, 2 days to go, no deadline pressure, no worries.
All good x~O

 

[mjp]

Well, if there's a debate currently on-going, then at least one person has some level of evidence to support Buk having drank at said establishment.

Who knows. Everyone has a story of him being a regular at their favorite dive.

Judging by what he wrote though, his bar drinking days took place mostly before his serious writing days, so I find it a bit suspect that anyone would remember him. He'd be just another factory worker. While I'm sure he had "a drink" at many Los Angeles bars, by the time anyone would have recognized him he frequented very few.

Plenty of time left, 2 days to go, no deadline pressure, no worries.

Usually when I get an email like this from someone writing something they throw that in; "Oh, and can you send me the information that will take you days to gather immediately? My deadline is four hours from now." I usually delete them, but two days seems like an eternity, so I hand it off to youse. Do with it what you will.

 

[mjp]

Now that I look at where the King Eddy Saloon is, I'm doubtful of any stories of him being a regular there at any time, let alone when he was recognizable as an author. But their web site has a picture of Bukowski and John Fante!

Okay, yeah, why not. Hemingway and Faulkner probably drank there too. And Kerouac, Walt Whitman, Hunter Thompson, Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger too. Sure.

 

[Purple Stickpin]

Hunter S. Thompson certainly dropped a dose or four on top of a dozen whip-its and an 8-ball in the furthest stall from the men's room door at ole King Eddy's. Of that we can be fairly confident.

As for the bar thing, I agree - we have many stories of bar days, and most of them seem to be in Philly, NO, on the work trains and buses, etc. LA was his home turf, and there were apartments and shack-jobs to drink with. The bars in LA seem like a minor event given all that's been written. I would like to know what bar Buk is leaving on the cover of Life & Death in the Charity Ward, however.

Great story, told with tact and no small dose of humor considering the subject matter. The book is a UK release for those who don't know, but the stories are all in EEEAGTOOM and/or the reissues from City Lights.

 

[Bruno Dante]

Now that I look at where the King Eddy Saloon is, I'm doubtful of any stories of him being a regular there at any time, let alone when he was recognizable as an author. But their web site has a picture of Bukowski and John Fante!

Okay, yeah, why not. Hemingway and Faulkner probably drank there too. And Kerouac, Walt Whitman, Hunter Thompson, Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger too. Sure.

:DD Sounds a bit like that shit Edward Hopper rip-off The Boulevard of Broken Dreams. You know - the one which looks like Nighthawks except Jimmy Dean, Marilyn Monroe and Humphrey Bogart are in there being served coffee by Elvis.

 

[roni]

[...] I would like to know what bar Buk is leaving on the cover of Life & Death in the Charity Ward

the picture was taken by Richard Robinson, that's all I know.

 

[Stavrogin]

...so I find it a bit suspect that anyone would remember him. He'd be just another factory worker.

I suspect from this comment you've spent little pub/bar time. There are many you quickly forget and a few you'll remember forever pub-wise. I doubt Buk would be the former.