barelysarcasm: topshelftales: THE POWER HOUSE When my friend and I lived in Hollywood, we frequented Power House, an excellent dive bar on Highland, just north of Hollywood Blvd. The leather seats inside were torn to shreds, the walls were adorned with oil paintings of sad clowns, and the only beer on tap was Pabst Blue Ribbon. Due to location and conceivably reputation, it attracted a wide spectrum of specimens from the human race. Actually, it wasn’t a far cry from the biker bar that Pee Wee stumbled into, except at Power House, the bartender and not the patrons carried a knife in his pocket, clipped on so it remained a visible, unspoken warning. Now that you have a sense of the place, I want you to imagine being there on mushrooms…because that’s how my friends and I experienced it during our most memorable visit. We indulged in the fungal delights about an hour before we arrived at Power House, when we were still at my old apartment on Hollywood and Sierra Bonita. From there, the three of us walked down Hollywood Boulevard, past the tourists, star map hockers, and dudes trying to do you a solid by giving you an aural taste of their hip hop masterpieces, available on compact disc for a nominal fee. At that point, we were all mildly buzzed, but the mushrooms had yet to take effect. They kicked in right after we got our first drinks at the Pig ‘N Whistle. I know this because that’s when I caught myself staring at the lines of the beams overhead and how beautifully they contrasted with the ceiling. We only took a few stems and caps, so the effect actually complemented the drinking nicely and wasn’t too intense. After staring at the ceiling lost its appeal, we decided to go to Power House. When we entered, we looked over at the bar and spotted two actors who portray movie characters outside the Chinese Theatre. The interesting thing about that was one of them was the little person who portrays Chucky from Child’s Play and the other was still in costume - as JACK SPARROW. Oh yeah, did I mention that we were on mushrooms when this happened?! We couldn’t avert our collective gaze from that overwhelming spectacle for what felt like ten minutes, but we were compelled to look to the right of the two actors by that strange feeling you get when you sense that someone is staring daggars at you. Sure enough, some swarthy dude by the bar was glaring at us. My awareness of this increased just as the whiskey made its way into my blood stream, and I decided to confer with my friends. “If shit goes down, I’ll handle it,” I told them. “I’m capable of taking a life.” Of course that isn’t true, but at that moment, my instinct to protect kicked in. Luckily, my pledge to kill the staring gentleman was never tested. We were summoned to a table full of girls dressed like pirates. They had no affiliation with the faux Captain Jack Sparrow, but they were all roller derby girls having a costume bachelorette party. Oh yeah, and we were ON MUSHROOMS during all of this. The girls were fun and protected our minds from being blown by providing us with stimulating conversation, enabling us to avoid having our minds melt from watching Jack and Chucky, and having our bodies penetrated by the blade and/or bullets that we were sure the staring guy was packing. If you’re ever in the area, make sure to stop in Power House for a drink. The service is great and the drinks are cheap. If you’re ever in the area and on mushrooms, don’t go in there alone. You’ve been warned. True stories are true… also - Rick - I can’t say for sure but I think the Power House might have been closed and bought by some new company - does anyone know this? The Power House was my haunt when I lived right up the street on Yucca many years back. I loved the dive so much - The torn seats, the sticky walls, and yes those sad clown paintings. And the drinks! A Long Island for $3 or $4?? Yes, please!Anyway, it still exists… Still there. Still called the Power House. The last year I lived in Hollywood, however, it was sold to new owners. They cleaned up the joint a ton. They restored the paint, took down the sad clowns I think, fixed the seats, fixed the bathroom (oh, I hated that bathroom) and parts of the floor. It’s different now. It’s definitely not the same Power House - Not like some of us remember it anyway.
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barelysarcasm:

topshelftales:

THE POWER HOUSE

When my friend and I lived in Hollywood, we frequented Power House, an excellent dive bar on Highland, just north of Hollywood Blvd. The leather seats inside were torn to shreds, the walls were adorned with oil paintings of sad clowns, and the only beer on tap was Pabst Blue Ribbon. Due to location and conceivably reputation, it attracted a wide spectrum of specimens from the human race. Actually, it wasn’t a far cry from the biker bar that Pee Wee stumbled into, except at Power House, the bartender and not the patrons carried a knife in his pocket, clipped on so it remained a visible, unspoken warning.

Now that you have a sense of the place, I want you to imagine being there on mushrooms…because that’s how my friends and I experienced it during our most memorable visit.

We indulged in the fungal delights about an hour before we arrived at Power House, when we were still at my old apartment on Hollywood and Sierra Bonita. From there, the three of us walked down Hollywood Boulevard, past the tourists, star map hockers, and dudes trying to do you a solid by giving you an aural taste of their hip hop masterpieces, available on compact disc for a nominal fee. At that point, we were all mildly buzzed, but the mushrooms had yet to take effect.

They kicked in right after we got our first drinks at the Pig ‘N Whistle. I know this because that’s when I caught myself staring at the lines of the beams overhead and how beautifully they contrasted with the ceiling. We only took a few stems and caps, so the effect actually complemented the drinking nicely and wasn’t too intense.

After staring at the ceiling lost its appeal, we decided to go to Power House. When we entered, we looked over at the bar and spotted two actors who portray movie characters outside the Chinese Theatre. The interesting thing about that was one of them was the little person who portrays Chucky from Child’s Play and the other was still in costume - as JACK SPARROW. Oh yeah, did I mention that we were on mushrooms when this happened?!

We couldn’t avert our collective gaze from that overwhelming spectacle for what felt like ten minutes, but we were compelled to look to the right of the two actors by that strange feeling you get when you sense that someone is staring daggars at you.

Sure enough, some swarthy dude by the bar was glaring at us. My awareness of this increased just as the whiskey made its way into my blood stream, and I decided to confer with my friends.

“If shit goes down, I’ll handle it,” I told them. “I’m capable of taking a life.”

Of course that isn’t true, but at that moment, my instinct to protect kicked in.

Luckily, my pledge to kill the staring gentleman was never tested. We were summoned to a table full of girls dressed like pirates. They had no affiliation with the faux Captain Jack Sparrow, but they were all roller derby girls having a costume bachelorette party.

Oh yeah, and we were ON MUSHROOMS during all of this.

The girls were fun and protected our minds from being blown by providing us with stimulating conversation, enabling us to avoid having our minds melt from watching Jack and Chucky, and having our bodies penetrated by the blade and/or bullets that we were sure the staring guy was packing.

If you’re ever in the area, make sure to stop in Power House for a drink. The service is great and the drinks are cheap.

If you’re ever in the area and on mushrooms, don’t go in there alone. You’ve been warned.

True stories are true… also - Rick - I can’t say for sure but I think the Power House might have been closed and bought by some new company - does anyone know this?

The Power House was my haunt when I lived right up the street on Yucca many years back. I loved the dive so much - The torn seats, the sticky walls, and yes those sad clown paintings. And the drinks! A Long Island for $3 or $4?? Yes, please!
Anyway, it still exists… Still there. Still called the Power House.
The last year I lived in Hollywood, however, it was sold to new owners. They cleaned up the joint a ton. They restored the paint, took down the sad clowns I think, fixed the seats, fixed the bathroom (oh, I hated that bathroom) and parts of the floor. It’s different now. It’s definitely not the same Power House - Not like some of us remember it anyway.

Source: topshelftales