the very sad tale of the demise of Numbers in WeHo

[TownsendPLocke]

Since folks on "the other site"have got it all wrong I thought I would give y'all the straight shit on the demise of the beloved Hustler bar/restaurant in WeHo flormerly known as Numbers.

Numbers for years was located on Sunset-this period is remembered very fondly by those of us who visited this institution-the food was ok,parking was a bitch-but the boys could be devine.

Then Greenblatts deli which owns the property refused to renew the lease.Bob and Tony(the old owners)relocated to Santa Monica Blvd-it was never really the same.

Many folks had problems with the favoritism that the owners showed some of the clientele.Since I was one of the favored it did not bother me very much

Bob and Tony decided to retire.They had worked hard for a long time-in several buisnesses.They played favorites again in deciding to whom they would sell their buisness-instead of selling it to a long time customer with some cash and lots of collateral for a loan they decided to sell it at a lesser price to a dotcom'er who had the cash on hand -at a lower price.This fellow we will call Bob2

Bob2,while a nice guy,had no real experience running restaurants or bars,but he did have a lot of money to hire folks who did.He made some major misteps IMO and the buisness suffered.

Bob2 fell victim to some"problems"that befall many rich gay men with too much money(Remember what Richard Pryor said?)And after a while he decided to get rid of one of these problems by going on a little vacation and letting someone else run Numbers.

The new owners-a straight couple-made a few changes=but not enough and not the right ones.

The buisness came to a screeching halt when Bob2-fresh from his "vacation"decided he did not like the changes(including the ridiculous name change to Digits )and saw the buisness on the brink of failure.He did something very,very drastic and pulled the liquor licence.

One day the employees showed up for work to find the doors locked and a handwritten sign saying "we will reopen when we get things worked out"

I went up to Numbers on a Saturday to secure reservations for a Hooville/MERmen dinner to find a locked door-with a sign simmiliar to the above.Passing the coffee shop on the corner I waved hi to Bob2 who was screaming into his celphone"I don't want to run this damned place anymore"!

The future of the place is up in the air-it will reopen I am sure.All of this makes me long for the old days-but c'est la vie.

[TotallyOz]

Holy Shit. What a sad saga that is. Living in Thailand much of the past few years, I have seen guys with dreams abound wanting to open a gogo bar. They put tons of cash into it and then, nothing. They don't know how to run it, get the boys, or pay the cops. It is usually closed faster than it took to remodel and then another foreigner takes over and does the same thing.

In this case, the owners were not smart in selling to someone who knew how to run the business. Often it is simply a business decision but if one has put heart and soul into a place it is not easy to just let someone take it over.

I hope it works out in the end and your place reopens in gay glory!

[TownsendPLocke]

I made my first visit to "Digits"last night-a saturday at 8 pm.

Bar was populated by a few senior citizens(the same that hung around the old place)and with the exception of the staff the average age of the clientele was well past 50.Not a young stud in sight!And none had appeared(again with the exception of the staff)when we left at 9:15

The new decor is just dreadful-and the floors are bare concrete so the sound just bounces and bounces.The bar had been stripped of at least half of its display bottles-and a lot of the glassware,giving it a rather sad look.The new upholstry looks likeit was bought at a rummage sale at Suzies Quickbite diner.

The staff is mostly young and cute.But they were overwhelmed at one point as there were just two waiters and the busman who has been at Numbers for years.

The staff likes to listen to loud rock-so I guess the staff gets to make the rules-with all the hard surfaces it was imposibble for me to hear the waiter-let alone carry on a conversation with my friend Hussy.

The food was disgraceful-and they have raised the menu prices.

I won't say I wont drop by again,but not for dinner

[Guest EXPAT]

I was there again on Saturday night too. While I agree the age of the crowd was up there, they haven't started advertising that they are open yet. They wanted to work out the kinks in the kitchen first. I also thought it was odd that they removed the carpeting. I asked the manager about it later on Saturday and they took the carpet out to have the floor corked before the piano comes in December. I didn't ask if they were going to leave it that way or not.

I do have to say that I've eaten there twice now since it re-opened and both of my meals were excellent. I find the prices near other restaurants in West Hollywood.

I hope that you try the food again. They are still working out the bugs and I'm sure it will continue to get better. I know two of the service people now including the new bar manager, Ryan. Adrian is one of the waiters (who is also a working TV/movie actor - He was in the 3rd episode of CSI:NY called "The Deep" this season among other things like "The Bold and the Beautiful" last week).

In terms of the bar and all of the bottles they had before, the new bar manager is trying to work out new deals with all of the liquor vendors and that is all still in process. So keep trying back. I know it will keep getting better and better. Ryan (the new bar manager) told me that they are hoping to bring back the spirit of "Numbers" with the crowd. So I'm sure it will become an interesting place to visit especially once people know it has re-opened.

[seaboy4hire]

I went to Numbers a few years ago and failed to see anything special about the place. What was I missing? Seemed like just about every other bar