HMS Bounty

Los Angeles, California

Contemporary Los Angeles has much to offer, but it’s hard not to fall in love with the city’s rich past, a history that includes dive bar HMS Bounty. The nautically-themed Koreatown institution conjures memories of the city’s 1960s-era lounge culture thanks to founder Gordon Fields, who opened the dive bar in 1962 within the Gaylord Apartment Building. After stints as the Gay Room, Secret Harbor and Golden Anchor, the space came into its own as HMS Bounty, now a dive bar mixed with an affordable steakhouse.

As with any historic Los Angeles dive bar, celebrity sightings are part of the HMS Bounty story, including visits by Elizabeth Taylor, William Randolph Hearst and Winston Churchill of all people. Today, original booths and vintage chairs great drinkers with dim lighting, random wall decorations and a sign above the door that reads “Food & Grog.”

The Basics

Classification:
Neighborhood Bar

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Further Reading