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Bar 107 Refuses To Stop The Party (Until The Law Says So)
Not so fast! (Photo via Facebook)
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Bar 107 has decided they won't go quietly into the night. In the middle of their grand closing party, they announced they'll be slinging drinks until the landlord takes them to court.Bar 107 was never happy about having to close. When rumors first circulated that the downtown dive would be closing just shy of a decade of service, we stopped by to do a little investigative drinking and see if the stories were true. Co-owner Vee Delagdillo told us the bar was being ousted by their landlord, Victor Vasquez. Vasquez, whose father owns the building Bar 107 inhabits, had plans to open his own bar, Delgadillo said. Bar 107 announced it would be closed come June 1.
For the past month, Bar 107 has been opening at 6 a.m. and partying hard. However, Delgadillo and co-owner Brian Traynam decided in the eleventh hour they wouldn't be closing after all. Near midnight on Sunday, during what could have been the bar's final hurrah, DJ Morgan Hibby Night read the revelers a defiant statement from the owners, LA Weekly reports. That statement was later posted on Facebook in full:
The owners of Bar 107 wish to thank you for showing up for the final hour of the greatest sh*thole on Earth. It's been an honor to feed your addiction and bad decisions over the past ten years. Those years have brought a lot of change to the streets of downtown Los Angeles and the Los Angeles bar scene. Like many cities before it, expensive lofts and condos have replaced affordable apartments. With it came blazers instead of T-shirts and mixologists instead of bartenders. Bars with personality and reasonable drink prices have been replaced by sterile, safe sh*tholes with ridiculous prices and even more ridiculous ice cubes. Many longtime residents have been pushed out by greedy landlords or their new douchebag neighbors. The owner of this building decided to follow suit. Open yet another shitty, expensive bar for the new yuppies that have moved into downtown L.A. We are not going to let that happen. The decision was made earlier today that we are not leaving 107 4th Street. We will remain open and continue to pay rent. If the landlord doesn't want to give us a new lease, he can take us to court. Under California law, it is illegal for him to enter this property while we are occupying it. It is illegal for him to change the locks. We'll remain open until the state marshall shows up and tells us to get the f*ck out. Let your friends know Bar 107 lives on. We're still open for business. So, see you tomorrow and every f*cking day after that. #occupybar107
You can also watch a video of the statement being read. Warning: Some profanity is used, of course.
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