Last call is coming soon for Stratford’s bar, Hollywood’s oldest watering hole.
A neighborhood institution since 1938, the old-time Hollywood landmark will close its doors later this year.
Next chapter: The bar will be transformed into a medical marijuana treatment center.
The news sent some of Stratford’s regulars on a trip down memory lane. Some are sad to see the place go but like the idea that the walls where so many memories were made will remain standing.
“We are not tearing down the building. We’re restoring it to its iconic heyday,” said Joseph Stadlen, whose company Stadlen Family Holdings bought Stratford’s for $1.5 million on Jan. 28. “As someone who was born and raised in Hollywood, I recognize the significance that Stratford’s plays in the community, and I’m very respectful of that. We never even thought about tearing it down.”
In a strange twist, Hollywood’s oldest bar may become its first dispensary.
Arizona-based Harvest Health & Recreation Inc. is partnering with Stadlen Family Holdings to open a dispensary as soon as June, said Ben Kimbro, a spokesman for Harvest.
“We’ve got this wonderful iconic building that’s in a gateway entry point to Hollywood,” Kimbro said. “We want to get that property back to its original intended glory.”
Al Stratford opened his namesake bar on Federal Highway 81 years ago. In 1944, the bar moved to its current spot at 2910 Hollywood Blvd., just east of Interstate 95.
Regulars compare Stratford’s to the fictional bar that inspired the sitcom “Cheers,” with one caveat: Cheers was more classy. But what Stratford’s lacks in finery it made up for in hospitality and charm, fans say.
For decades, an eclectic clientele of cops, firefighters, lawyers and politicians flocked to the bar for its cheap beer, fish-fry dinners and down-to-earth vibe.
Even Larry Csonka knocked back a few with his buddies from the Miami Dolphins legendary undefeated 1972 team.
The players came at the invitation of the late Guy Roper Jr., an avid Dolfan and grandson of Stratford, the original owner.
“The Dolphins were in there all the time,” said his daughter Robin Roper, 43, of Hollywood. “It was their watering hole, with the cheap drinks. They didn’t get paid then like they do now.”
In 1972, dolls dressed in football jerseys — one for each team in the NFL — sat on a shelf above the bar. Miami Dolphins players would come in and stick pins in the dolls, all to jinx opposing teams.
The Dolphins went on to win the Super Bowl, and a bar legend was born.