'BEAUTIFUL DOWNTOWN' GETS HIP NEW HANGOUT.Byline: Jason Kandel Staff Writer BURBANK - Hoping to shake and stir some hipness into ``beautiful downtown Burbank,'' Craig Trager is tossing a slice of the Hollywood bar scene into a town whose drab features were routinely mocked by Johnny Carson
Today, Trager opens Bar 21, his East Coast-style speakeasy Speakeasy - Simple array-oriented language with numerical integration and differentiation, graphical output, aimed at statistical analysis. ["Speakeasy", S. Cohen, SIGPLAN Notices 9(4), (Apr 1974)]. ["Speakeasy-3 Reference Manual", S. Cohen et al. 1976]. with brick interior and cozy booths, located along a stretch of Magnolia Boulevard. ``It'll be great. You can't get any hipper than Burbank,'' said Gary Owens Gary Owens (born Gary Altman on May 10, 1936) is a disc jockey and voice actor born in Mitchell, South Dakota. His polished baritone speaking voice generally offers deadpan recitations of total nonsense, which he frequently demonstrated as the announcer on , the Radio Hall of Famer whose phrase ``from beautiful downtown Burbank'' was heard through the 1960s and 1970s on the cult TV slapstick slapstick Comedy characterized by broad humour, absurd situations, and vigorous, often violent action. It took its name from a paddlelike device, probably introduced by 16th-century commedia dell'arte troupes, that produced a resounding whack when one comic actor used it to comedy show ``Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' and on Johnny Carson's ``Tonight Show.'' ``I think it's perfect for beautiful downtown Burbank,'' Owens said. A black and red sign that reads ``Bar 21'' hangs above a gray stucco facade. Inside, it takes a moment for eyes to adjust to the dimly lit space, with candles flitting flit intr.v. flit·ted, flit·ting, flits 1. To move about rapidly and nimbly. 2. To move quickly from one condition or location to another. n. 1. A fluttering or darting movement. in corners above black booths. A banquette ban·quette n. 1. A platform lining a trench or parapet wall on which soldiers may stand when firing. 2. also ban·kit Southern Louisiana & East Texas A raised sidewalk: bench lines the front of the room and a jukebox offers selections from the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and the Beatles. ``The minute you walk in here, you're mellowed out,'' said Trager, 46, who co-owns The Well and Daddy's in Hollywood and NoBar in North Hollywood. ``I want people to come in to a cozy, warm environment where my staff is going to treat everybody like they've been coming in there for 15 years. I give everybody their own version of Cheers.'' Trager has converted the former bar Grady's, a well-known watering hole that opened at 6 a.m. daily. Gone is the pool table, the satellite TV and the wood-panel walls, and the barfly bar·fly n. pl. bar·flies Slang One who frequents drinking establishments. slumped over a frosty cold one. ``I see this as a dramatic change,'' said Grady's former owner, Gil Jacobs, who still owns the property. ``During the daytime, you had old-timers there and regulars that used to come in. I'm sorry for the old-timers that used to come in. I feel badly that it's over with. It was a great era. But I think change is good.'' Jason Kandel, (818) 546-3306 jason.kandel(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Craig Trager's East Coast-style watering hole Bar 21 opens today in Burbank. John McCoy/Staff Photographer |
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