Comments (0) Best Example of Old Hollywood - 2004
Stratford's Bar
Hollywood just ain't Hollywood anymore. The old mom-and-pops that catered to retirees along Hollywood Boulevard have been displaced by hip new restaurants with -- gasp! -- valet. The old slumlords who rented 300 square feet with a wall-unit air conditioner for $500 have competition in towering luxury apartments around Young Circle. Hollywood has somehow become hip. But no matter how many $1,200-per-month apartments developers build or how many coats of paint are slathered on those overpriced cement-block igloos surrounding City Hall, Hollywood will always be Hollywood. That is to say, Hollywood will always be just a little bit ghetto. The diehard holdout to municipal gentrification is Stratford's Bar on Hollywood Boulevard, so close to I-95, you can almost read those child-abduction alerts from the bar. This two-story landmark with three televisions, a pool table, and eight dartboards serves up beer for Hollywood's working man. With prices at $2.25 per bottle and the clientele always ready for a conversation, Stratford's is the place to go when you're looking for the true Hollywood experience. Like the city itself, the bar is just a little ghetto.
