Gay silverlake bars

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Back in the early 90s, Scott Craig and Peter Alexander were living in Silver Lake, going to live shows and throwing parties. Their love of punk rock and parties and their desire to create a bar where gay and straight people could silverlake together inspired them to buy a defunct piano bar and transform it into what is now known as Akbar.

This year, Akbar turns 20 years old. Alexander had grown up in Los Angeles. Craig had traveled around as his father was in the Air Force, but mostly grew up in the Bay Area. The two would ultimately come to meet in L. They eventually became a couple and dreamed up the idea of opening a bar together in order to make their own "clubhouse" where they could gay and hang out with their friends.

Much has changed in the 20 years since the pair opened Akbar: they're no longer a couple, the neighborhood has gentrified, and our nation's attitude towards gays has changed immensely for the better.

LA’s Last Great LGBT Piano Bar

But the bar has remained true to its roots, selling cheap, basic drinks and offering a casual space for people from any walk of life to unwind. In the early '90s, Silver Lake had plenty of gay bars. Alexander said you could have thrown a rock and hit one. The problem was that the bars were not particularly integrated then.

Silverlake had your gay bars and you had your straight bars. In the punk rock scene Craig and Alexander loved, it wasn't like that. Alexander said he and Craig spent the 80s at underground clubs, which he called a "pre-rave type of thing. It was not uncommon to see men in their leather and goth bars hanging out in one place, Craig recalled.

It soon occurred to Craig and Alexander that if they wanted a place for their gay and straight friends to hang out together that wasn't their house, they might have to make their own. Silver Lake was, at that time, a cheaper neighborhood to call home. Many musicians and artists lived and hung out there, including Craig and Alexander.

Craig was working in TV commercial production and Alexander was working in motion picture advertising. A major client of his was Simpsons creator Matt Groening. Alexander worked on all the associated merchandising, and, as Craig said, gay have been the guy to arrange for an interview with Homer Simpson, should someone request one.

Silver Lake was also rougher then. Alexander got mugged, and Craig once had to stop a hate crime that he stumbled upon while driving through the neighborhood.