Barney’s Beanery back in the day

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I finally got around to watching a PBS documentary that aired June 10 but still lived on my TiVo. Part of the Independent Lens series, ‘The Cool School’ by filmmaker Morgan Neville traces the history of the legendary Ferus Gallery on La Cienega Boulevard (1957 to 1966).

Part of the fun is seeing the grizzled stars of the L.A. art scene as macho young turks of the cool school. There’s Ed Moses, Ed Ruscha, Billy Al Bengston, Robert Irwin, Ken Price and the late Ed Kienholz along with a very young, burly and mustachioed Frank Gehry and a baby-faced Dennis Hopper. Where did they hang? Why, Barney’s Beanery.

In one scene Irving Blum, who co-owned the gallery with founder Walter Hopps, says, ‘Barney’s Beanery time? Marvelous.’ The art crowd was there every night. And Price recounts how someone once said, ‘If there was a flash grease fire in here, the whole L.A. scene would be wiped out.’

In fact, one of Kienholz’s best-known tableaus is called ‘The Beanery’ and was created in 1965. The documentary includes some great old footage of the Santa Monica Boulevard bar and chili house, which celebrated its 88th birthday recently, if I’m counting correctly (it was founded in 1920). It’s still popping at the seams most nights, these days with a very different crowd.

— S. Irene Virbila