The West Hollywood gay bar dedicated to Elizabeth Taylor: “The Abbey is my pub!”
You can say a lot about Elizabeth Taylor as an actor and an icon of the silver screen who captivated audiences with her glamorous sensibility and indomitable star power, yet her legacy truly lies with her staunch Aids activism, which saw her become the first major celebrity to advocate for research and funding into a disease that the government wasn’t doing anything about.
She became more than just a gay icon of the screen, but a proper ally in every sense of the word, setting up several foundations in her efforts to raise money, including the American Foundation for Aids Research, and across decades of activism and various charities, she raised around $270million.
Understandably, then, she is considered a major figure for many members of the gay community, using her celebrity for a genuinely good cause, and more stars could certainly take a leaf out of her book, where after her retirement from acting, she spent much of her free time that wasn’t consumed by activism going to bars, immersing herself in nightlife despite her ailing health.
Seriously, nothing could stop her, and she regularly showed up to Hollywood bars and clubs in her wheelchair, her dog on her lap; Taylor might have been one of the biggest stars in cinema history, with two Oscars to her name and an unforgettable turn in the most expensive movie ever made, Cleopatra, but she was never going to act like a diva who was too good to join in the party, always ready to get stuck in.
You could probably find her at The Abbey in West Hollywood, a gay bar that first opened in 1991, although it has significantly grown since then, with owner David Cooley initially establishing the place as a coffeehouse which served as a safe space for the LGBTQ+ community, eventually expanding into a popular bar and club which has hosted many celebrities over the years.
Taylor loved the place, and sometimes she was there every week. Cooley told Fox 11 Los Angeles, “We would sit for a drink, or drinks, and I would still pinch myself, and I still do, saying, ‘I’m sitting here with Elizabeth Taylor having martini after another martini after a shot after another martini’. And she told me stories that I will never share.”
He claimed that it was her favourite pub, even erecting a plaque reading “The Abbey is my pub!” in honour of the iconic star. When she died in 2011, regulars, bar staff, and, of course, fans, paid tribute to the actor at her favourite drinking spot, and a shrine to her was erected in a corner now called the Elizabeth Taylor Room.
There’s a massive portrait of her, too, that she donated to the venue when she was still alive, which is now surrounded by wreaths, flowers, candles, and other tributes left by fans. It’s a real testament to her legacy as a gay ally and icon.
“People have been walking up and starting to cry,” a spokesman for the bar, Brian Rosman, told the New York Times, “Others can’t talk, they get so emotional”. Clearly, Taylor left a huge impact on the place, which will always be remembered as her favourite spot.
