King Eddy Saloon

I like walking into establishments open minded and blindfolded so to speak. I give stars based on the energy and essence of a place. Maybe the inebriation that took place from a 16 $ tab had something to do with it, but still.
Small place with probably one of the most mixed groups I’ve seen at any dive in LA. Had that gay bar feel then it didn’t. Then hipster feel, but it’s not. Great prices, staff is fun loving and excellent.
Personally I loved the 70s music they had that night, which set an uninhibited vibe. Great place to start or end your night. No drama.

This place is dope! First time here tonight, starting from the security guards, to the staff they were super cool. It being a Saturday night it wasn’t so crowded, prices are great compared to other bars, they have a few arcade games and a section to play some darts. We were there for if I’m not mistaken their anniversary, and celebrated by giving everyone a glass of champagne to cheer. Will be back again.

I used to love this bar. So much that when my brother came to visit from Chicago, I suggested that we have our first drink @ King Eddie’s. When we got to the door to show our IDs, the security guard was extremely rude and disrespectful to my brother. He suggested that my brother was already drunk and a trouble maker. I know this was based on his appearance because I was with my brother all day and he had no alcohol or drugs. He actually barely drinks. It was his first time in LA. I was extremely surprised and embarrassed because I was raving about this place to my brother only for him to walk up very normal and be treated like a problem. This was Tuesday night March 29, 2016 the guard was the bald, heavyset, Caucasian guy with a beard. I must say that I really used to like this bar until I found out who they have watching their doors.

Perfect if you are looking for the following:
* Not overly crowded on a Saturday night * very low-​key laid-​back
* douche-​free

Music was odd and I couldn’t really figure out if it was a gay bar, hipster bar or just a bunch of odd people that came together to listen to some strange music. Drink prices were a bit high for a dive bar too.

I love King Eddy’s! They always have great music, nice bartenders and cool clientele. While you’re almost guaranteed to get yelled at by a homeless person either walking in or out of the bar, it’s worth it to hang out in this dark, unpretentious dive. Plus, ARCADE GAMES?! Awesome.

The King Edward is located downtown by skid row. It opened in1906. The surly old geezer of LA bars, this Skid Row-​adjacent stalwart first opened as the tavern for the still-​operating King Edward Hotel and managed to get a court order to keep the pesky street preachers of the day from scaring off would-​be booze-​hounds. During Prohibition, the space became a front where pianos were tuned upstairs, and people were tuned downstairs at the (soon-​to-​be-​renovated) speakeasy, where booze was delivered through Downtown’s network of underground tunnels, and worn murals of kegs and cops can still be found. Since officially reopening in ’33, The King Eddy Saloon has famously poured heavy for Bukowski, Burroughs, and other literary liquor lovers, and, despite a recent refurbish featuring vintage radios and comic book noir-​ish paintings, is still a solid cavernous dive that’s good for losing a few hours.

Friendly bartenders and cheap drinks. It’s a good place to just chill and hangout with some friends.

dirty dive bar with strong drinks, fun music and a light up dance floor! really love this place, always have a great night here. bartenders are friendly and usually pretty quick. i really wish there was more than one ladies bathroom though …

Great for a dive bar… more than reasonable drink prices
For the area. .a must see

NEVER have I ever written a review. This place just had Horrible service! I was overly charged for small beer… And shots too… I didn’t give it importance because I assumed what was adverstised was going to be true but no… The music that was adverstised wasn’t even played. Bartenders hookup their friends so they take advantage and over charge their costumers. My friends and I requested ONE song we were told they would play it and never did.

What can I say about King Eddie’s after tonight? Frequented by rude, aggrogant locals? Who are protected by the bar’s security? Horrible, please save yourself from the drama. There is ONE stall in this place, my girls and I were here for my birthday celebration, waited in line for this stall. When the door opened a pair of girls cut in front of me and proceeded to use the stall we waited for. Disgruntled, my friends and I approached these girls and made clear to them we were in line first. These girls laughed in our faces and told us we are here to wait on THEM. One word led to another a fight broke out. Of course they were protected since they were the «locals». My girls and I ended up getting kicked out for the stupidity and arrogance of these «regulars». My home girl’s purse (wallet and phone) was lost in the brawl. We were not allowed into the bar at this point and had no choice but to wait outside for «security» to find our things. It was a pretty infuriating experience. We were at the mercy of these bouncers, «who couldn’t find anything» we literally waited till the bar closed. The dj who was waiting to be picked up threw racial slurs at my group of friends telling us to go back to Tokyo. It took every ounce of me not to punch this guy. Even when police showed up, Security clearly chose the the side of these locals… my friend’s phone magically appeared— smashed. that was found by the «toilet» when everything had been zipped up in her purse. Her credit cards started showing up one by one. We realized it was a lose lose situation at this point. The police actually suggested us to write this review. I encourage you to not support this business, but If you do decide to check out this wack place out, be prepared to face the unruly people and lack of justice if you get in a scuffle. Seriously eff this place.

This place sucks. If you’re into being disappointed, you’ve found your bar. Rude bouncers, entitled locals, no draft beer, tiny bathrooms, don’t waste your time.

I guess there’s no better place to post my first Unilocal review than here.
If you want to have a great night out with your friends, don’t come to King Eddy’s. As a disclaimer, the bartenders were nice and we received great service from them. However, this is a response to the management and asshole security treatment my friends and I received last night. The bar is definitely not what it used to be. I had always come back to King Eddy’s because it was, well, King Eddy’s, but that won’t be happening again.
Last night, two girls who were considered «regulars» of the bar decided to cut the line for the restroom. My friends told them that «hey, sorry, but there’s a line and we were here first». With that, one of the girls responded with, «ACTUALLY, you need to wait on US». Long story short, a fight broke out. We were then told by the bouncer that we could wait outside as long as we wanted, but the girls had «a lot of friends» in there with them.
If it weren’t for my friend’s missing purse, we would’ve left right then and there. We weren’t allowed to go back in and the bouncer and security of the bar kept giving us the run around, DESPITE one of the girls’ friend coming out and admitting to having my friend’s purse.
The bouncer comes out with the purse 40 mins later.
Surprise: Her wallet and phone are missing.
He comes out about 20 mins later with her phone.
Surprise: It was completely smashed.
About an hour later, we get her wallet back.
Surprise: Her ID and all of her credit cards are missing.
The bouncer at King Eddy’s is a power tripping d*ck bag who was not only extremely disrespectful to us, (telling us to step to the f#@%-ing side and do what we were told or else he would lay us out himself), but let the girls walk away in the other direction, escorted by their male friends. Right when the cops showed up, after the bar had closed and the girls had left, he did a complete 180, coming off as willing to do whatever he could in his power to help us out.
If this is how King Eddy’s treats their patrons — siding with their regulars in an instance where property was both stolen and damaged — then f#@% this place. And oh yeah, we got a nice, «go back to Little Tokyo!» from the DJ at the end of the night as he was waiting to be picked up.
Stay classy King Eddy’s. Or really, just eff your bullshit.

King eddy. My home place. King eddy works. With johnny. built the booths set the tvs. I was in the era of bill roller and babe. lately i have gone back. some one took my cell p
hone the security guard came in asked me to leave. i left went to dennys for early breakfas. went back by the bar someone said. Here is yo u f pphone. I have not been back since. Hire a decent SECURITY guatd. Phillip

All I have to say about this place is if you pay cash, ask for an itemized receipt and count your change, if you pay with a credit card definitely ask for an itemized receipt. I was quoted $ 10 for two drinks, I handed the guy a $ 20, and I was only given $ 9 in change.
When my friend received a bill that seemed awfully high for what he’d ordered, he asked for an itemization and got a dirty look (apparently you only get a receipt if you ask and asking is not appreciated); he got his itemized tab and it had four drinks he didn’t order. When he challenged the incorrect drinks, the bartender responded by giving him attitude, taking the drinks off his tab, throwing a new receipt down and then throwing my friend out. And, yes I’m sure he didn’t order them — his brother (same last name) also had a tab going and one of the bartenders apparently put the drinks on the wrong tab. His brother even went up to the bartender to straighten things out and the guy still had major attitude.
Shady and rude. Wow.

Cheap and shady — just the way I like it. I’ve been here a few times and the music seems to be hit or miss. The first time was pretty fun — the dj was playing old school jams. The other times have been pretty hit or miss as far as music goes. But you can’t beat the divy feel and cheap drinks. And the people watching. Good god, the people watching. Plus, it’s on Skid Row. Can you really beat that?

I’ll preface this review by saying that I have been thrown out of this bar not once, not twice but three times. Alright here we go:
King Eddy Saloon is a local watering hole chock full of weirdos, yuppies, hipsters and the occasional homeless person. The drinks are strong, the bar is dark and they have darts in a little corner room. To the untrained eye, KES looks like a gross hole in the wall directly next to Skid Row. BUT DO NOT BE FOOLED: this bar is a rare gem in DTLA. No one is pretentious… drinks are fairly priced… and dance parties are started every night and everyone dances with everyone.
If you ask Phoebe the DJ nicely enough, she will put on «Shout» and the whole bar (including bartenders) will run to the dance floor to jam out. It’s magical.

Worst bar I’ve ever been to, i wish i could give them 0 stats! Not because it’s on skid row but because one bartender in particular is there to rip you off! Not sure his name but myself and three friends got 3 rounds of beer and cocktails, when we wanted to close out the guy couldn’t find my tab. He gave me a clean piece of receipt paper on a clip board and expected me to sign it blindly without telling me my total. I took my card, left a $ 13 tip (cash) and left thinking they can’t charge me if i haven’t seen a receipt with the charges. 4 days later on a Wednesday i had a charge for $ 54. Sounded about right but i called it in to the bank just to verify. 2 days later on friday the charge went up to $ 72. Apparently, bartender decided days later to add a tip!
Long story short bar never answered (vmail)my attempts to clear up the charges and i ended up calling the bank and filing for fraudulent charges. Any server/​bartender knows you close all tabs at the end of the night and not 4 – 6 days later!
You’re better of paying for beers as you have them served and save your receipt if paying my cc.

Finally, a bar that 100 tubs of Damp Rid couldn’t make better. in a good way! Seated on the edge of Skid Row, be prepared to park your car in the Skid. better yet. be prepared to take a Lyft home from here. The beers are cheap and the liquor is endless. They have a pretty decent selection of canned beers.$ 3-​$ 5. The DJ kills it and the whole bar turns into a dance floor. Really nice mixed crowd, all types of people come here. Tv’s for sports and current events, too. This bar is quickly becoming one of my favorite dives in LA. Shout out to Stevey Z behind the bar!

So we heard that the underground tunnels led to this place and so we decided to go and check it out. The prices seemed reasonable so we were like let’s check it out. We get Here and there’s this red headed hipster Hawaiian shirt wearing mother fucker who takes it upon himself to treat us with disrespect. Silver lining the drink prices were not bad for being in this location

Do you know Down And Out? Same crowd, but you won’t get a draft beer here.

Whoever took over this place has literally destroyed it. This used to be the best bar in LA and now it’s the absolute worst. Back in the day it opened at 6am and was a great place to come for an afternoon drink. Now it doesn’t open until 8pm, even though the website says 5.
For a bit they had these Bukowski and Burroughs paintings on the walls, which was cool because at least it was a throwback to the history of the place. But now those have been taken down and they’ve opted for… chalk. There is chalk graffiti all over the walls.
To top it off, they’ve gotten rid of their taps and you can only get canned beer, and they are all expensive.
They’ve created a dance floor. This is a dive bar, you idiots, not a club.
You used to be able to come here and get a good beer for $ 4 bucks. Now it’s a cheap can at $ 6. Plus tax.
This place should be bulldozed.
Whoever took this place over: You have no effing clue.

A bar perched on the corner of 5^th and Los Angeles street, with Los Angeles street the divider that separates the nicer remade parts of DTLA and the still rundown Walking Dead zombie campground that is Skid Row.
I like this bar, interior is dimly light and dark, its a bit rough, with not too many frills. The drinks are cheap and strong, they have decent selection of spirits from shitty well whiskys to laphroaig 10 y. o (which was kind of unexpected). It sadly has no draft beer and only serves beers in cans (perhaps they learned a lesson from long ago and they don’t want people smashing beer mugs and bottles over each others heads?).
If you’re on this side of DTLA and you don’t want some fancy craft cocktails at the varnish or the association, you can drop by here and do a different kind of people watching. Don’t worry (too much) the clientele is quite varied and the people seemed relatively friendly. It does get rather packed on the weekend though.
p. s. The mens bathroom is covered with stickers and graffiti, it has a shitter with no door, and two pissing troughs.

King Eddy used to be my favorite bar. My girlfriend, friends and I would frequent it at least twice a month. Then Jeremy Fall happened. What was once a pretty cozy dive bar with soft lighting and a retro vibe, is now a full on 80’s themed hipster bar.
I could complain about the change of décor, switching out the comic book art of Dave Johnson and Chris Bachalo for generic signs and chalk strewn walls with ironic homophobic and racist slurs… well I suppose I did. My main issue though is with the bar itself, and by that I mean the reduced island in the center that serves alcohol.
Where to start. First off there is no more beer on tap. Instead we have PBR, cheap brands and hipster craft beers ONLY served in cans. That’s right, not even bottles, just cans. So we lose the tap beer and variety and are left with about 7 choices of hipster swill. Now the hard stuff is just laughable. For some odd reason the new bartender didn’t even know how to make an amaretto sour. She had to ask another bartender. When actually ordered it could barely even considered a mixed drink. Oddly enough my friends jack and coke was the same, tasting like it had a drip of coke and an extreme amount of Jack. These new people cannot mix drinks. If you can’t make a Jack and Coke, why are you even a bartender?
The other problem is the environment. What was once an eclectic group of patrons, is now a bunch of hipsters who stand around smugly laughing at post-​modern humor while they barely even drink. What is the point?
Honestly, I wouldn’t be so let down and irked if this place weren’t my favorite bar, or I should say WAS my favorite bar. Chalk this one up to another case of gentrification brought on by hipster culture. First the Writers Room and now this…
The King is Dead.
(But if you’re a hipster you’ll love it! Wait, I’m sorry, you don’t consider yourselves hipsters. My mistake.)

great small dive bar in DTLA.
pros:
— there is usually a DJ playing music (different theme each night of the week i think).
— great old dive bar!
— if you talk to the door guy he can give you a run down the rich history of this bar. the oldest bar in DTLA. i think it was around before prohibition (it had a speakeasy downstairs/​back room?). it closed for a while but it’s back up and running now
— stiff drinks, as expected from any dive bar
— plenty of stools around the bar, or along the wall.
— seemed like there was plenty of street parking around the surrounding blocks, though, be aware of the homeless
cons:
— it’s DTLA. there are plenty of homeless vagrants to encounter. but as long as you’re respectful, most are nice enough. door man did say that it took a while to get the homeless to stay off their street corner.
— as a girl, i wouldnt want to come visit the bar alone, especially at night. but then, why would i go to any bar alone? … wait, what?
would i come again? probably not.

KING EDDY SALOON: SET YOUR LIVER FOR STUN
You are about to cross the threshold of the King Eddy Saloon.
When you enter the King Eddy Saloon you are not just walking into a bar, you are bridging into history. Bukowski history and your liver quivers because you aren’t walking out of there, you’re crawlin’.
It’s just the respectful thing to do.
The King Eddy Saloon rests on the corner of East 5^th and Los Angeles St. along Skid Row in a part of Downtown LA that has yet to be gentrified. Far from it.
It’s just as dirty as a public shitter in the Temple Bar district of Dublin.
Parked next to it and across the street from the saloon are two flop houses, the King Edward Hotel and the Baltimore Hotel; the bar attracting the loneliest of degenerates.
Homeless wonder the streets pushing their steel closets or in some cases themselves in wheel chairs and garbage spills out onto the street from each corner municipal can. On hot summer nights when the thick, humid air gathers some of that Santa Ana steam it wafts the aroma of ode de homelette and gutter piss right up your powerless nostrils.
Is it odd that I find this alluring?
I think it has something to do with my childhood. I grew up in New York City in the 1970′s. An age when New York City was broke beyond repair. A time when no one was safe and almost everybody was hungry.
But times have changed, not just for New York City and Downtown Los Angeles but inside the walls of the King Eddy Saloon. In the winter of 2013 it reopened its doors after being sold and it’s not the same King Eddy Saloon that Bukowski and John Fante squandered their organs in.
The bones of the bar are the same but they cleaned it up quite a bit, slapped some «Moulin Rouge» make-​up on her face and tacked up some artist renderings of the more famous and devoted patrons of its illustrious past as an homage.
What was formerly a bastion for degenerate behavior and struggling poor souls is now the haven for proud card carrying members of the united brotherhood of hipsters.
Fortunately, this includes starving artists as well.
This is not a nock on anybody or the bar, it’s just different. It’s a different time. A different place. There just is no room for poverty anymore. No place at all.
The King Eddy Saloon is the first domino in its area to fall, the rest is soon to follow just like all the other pockets of DTLA.
Not that this is a bad thing, necessarily.
New minds and great artists will take ownership of the new space. They will wallow in their scotches and rage against the machine just as Bukowski did. They will just have to do it in expensive jeans and a Chase Platinum Credit Card.
Thankfully, the long time patrons, the OG Eddy’s, still stumble through their doors everyday for the $ 4 beers and $ 5 well drinks to keep it honest.
Hopefully that won’t ever change.

A stones throw away from Skid Row but it adds to the fun-​o-​meter for your night out in DTLA. The crackheads come out at night asking you for change while you’re drunk, I hate being taken advantage of! Cheap drinks, no fancy cocktail menu needed. Great for large groups or small, they have booth seating with tables. A DJ playing old school hip hop and groovy jams sets the mood for your night.
Chill, no pretentious, and fun! A nice and close getaway if you’re not feeling the music at The Lash around the corner.
Oh, and they serve chili. I thought my boyfriend burped and I was about to call him out on it (as per usual) but then I turned around and the bartender was opening the crock pot of chili.