NYT: Gay Bar Mourns Elizabeth Taylor

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/us/25abbey.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

By BROOKS BARNES
Published: March 24, 2011

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Last Halloween, David Cooley, the founder of the Abbey, a sprawling gay bar here, got a phone call. Elizabeth Taylor was on the line, and she wanted to know if it was a good night to swing by.

“I told her not to come,” he said. “It was too busy. And there were already a half dozen Elizabeth Taylors here anyway.”


Axel Koester for The New York Times


The Abbey was a favorite hang-out of the late Liz Taylor.

A gay bar, even a fancy one with chandeliers and a roaring fireplace like the Abbey, seems an unlikely haunt for a megastar. But the actress, who died on Wednesday at 79, was a once-a-week regular in recent years — sipping tequila shots, downing watermelon and apple martinis or simply waving merrily from her wheelchair.

Sometimes she brought her dog, Daisy, who, some bar-goers insist, liked to nod her head along to the bar’s throbbing Madonna soundtrack.

The scene in the “Elizabeth Taylor Room” — her favorite spot amid the Abbey’s many nooks and crannies — was decidedly somber just after news of her death on Wednesday. Regulars, fans and Abbey employees started leaving flowers, candles, pictures and other tokens of affection (an autographed napkin) around a donation Ms. Taylor once made to the bar: a large portrait of herself in her prime.

Sitting untouched on an empty table nearby was a remembrance from the bar staff, a Blue Velvet martini, a bluish drink made with vodka and blueberry schnapps and named in a nod to Ms. Taylor’s 1944 film “National Velvet.”

FULL story at link.

[aquart]

1. Blue Velvet named after National Velvet?

That's what they told you, Alex? And you believed them?

[dhill926]

2. great story..........n/t

[midnight]

3. Glad to know she had a place that nurtured her, as much as she nurtured others...

[FreeState]

4. The Abbey is a great bar, too bad the one in here closed

One of the owners, I think they broke up and one got the one in LA and the other partner opened one here inSan Diego (more on the restaurant side, but it closed a few years ago).

[joeybee12]

5. Liz loved gay men and we loved her...

From a young age she obviously felt more comfortable around gay men and had so many friends in the community.

RIP.