Barhopping like it's 1975: the Barkley

(Credit: dee dee deGelia)

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As ’80s high-tops and slim jeans parade their way into contemporary fashion, it’s throwbacks to the prior decade that are surfacing in the design and architecture of L.A.’s nightlife venues. Maybe it’s only a coincidence that problems we have on our hands now—an oil crisis and a lengthy war—are the same ones we faced three decades ago, but several bars and clubs are making it clear: The ’70s are back.

Spacecraft founder Kristofer Keith (who designed Kitchen 24, Ortolan and Bowery) recently flipped through the admittedly gaudy pages of a few interior decorating books from the ’70s and decided what he saw was “so ugly that it’s great.” And so was born the design for Barkley, a thoroughly ’70s-inspired lounge scheduled to open this October that will inhabit the Melrose Avenue building once occupied by Forty Deuce.

Keith views each of his design projects as “a three-dimensional sculpture you can walk into,” and, taking in the vintage furnishings of Barkley, you’ll think you’re in the groovy digs of a moneyed bachelor. Expect a kitschy palette of olive and mustard in the main room and a maroon vinyl make-out booth in the back. But the kitsch won’t be limited to colors; it’ll be in the textures too. The walls will be smothered with quilts, throws and painted-over vintage cabinet doors. Recessed in the floor of the lounge will be a circular fire pit inspired by the concrete facades of the brutalist architectural movement of the ’50s, ‘60s and early ‘70s. A swanky white-and-brass stove and flue will complement the pit’s raw finish and make the area a haven for soused lovers.

Read on for four more '70s-style bars»