Barney's Beanery at 8447 Santa Monica Boulevard has been open since 1920, when it was a roadhouse on the old highway to Los Angeles. It is emphatically a dive bar — pool tables, hundreds of beer taps, chilli served in the traditional fashion — and has been the Sunset Strip's preferred come-down venue for musicians and crew for fifty years. Jim Morrison drank here; Janis Joplin was here the night she died.
The bar's notorious anti-gay sign — a fixture for decades — was removed by city ordinance in 1984 when West Hollywood incorporated. The bar has since become considerably more welcoming, though the mood is still resolutely un-precious. Good food, cheap beer, open until 2am.