Event coordinator, head bartender and former manager Tommy Young describes it as “a blast from the past. offering line dancing, it’s a warm place with a mixed, eclectic crowd. Credit: Tommy YoungĪfter a satisfying dinner, we're off to our first stop of the night just a mile away: Oil Can Harry’s in Studio City. Oil Can Harry's is a little bit country on the dance floor. “Of course, courting the gay community is always a great badge of honor when our people show up because they’re so discerning and hard to please, and I love them.” … I think a lot of that comes from Scott and I being gay and being aware of what our community want, what it wants to eat and drink and how it wants to be treated,” Crank says. “ has a really nice mix of people and a very diverse group of people. Germain liqueur and Champagne (the restaurant also offers brunch with bottomless mimosas and rosé). Finally, its cocktails are tasty and unique, including one called the Cranky Jay, named after Crank himself, which features gin, St.
It also offers four flatbreads for those with a smaller appetite, including one with peach and prosciutto. Crank says eating there is “like arriving in a beautiful California outdoor garden under towering sycamores for a fully California, authentically designed cuisine that celebrates diversity not only of its guests and its staff but of its food.” The Front Yard features many delicious food options, including three “made for many” plates that can be easily shared in a big group: a crispy whole branzino fish, a large rib-eye steak and fried chicken. That energy definitely can be felt at the Front Yard, which often has more locals than hotel guests dining there. “As I created my team, I really made it very clear that this would be a place … really tolerant and really champion diversity.” “My vision was to launch ourselves as the happy alternative boutique hotel, a place where everybody feels included,” Crank says. He worked with his life partner, Scott, on a $20 million renovation that turned the Garland into what it is today, including the restaurant that would become the Front Yard.
Crank, who became the sole partner after his mom’s death, decided to go independent. Shortly after, they changed from a Howard Johnson to a Holiday Inn, which lasted until 2013, when the contract was up. When Crank’s father died in the late '80s, he gave up his pursuit of a master's degree in counseling gay youth and gay family services to help his mom run the hotel. The Front Yard cocktail Credit: Courtesy the Garland Then we’d all get a room and go upstairs.’ So I was really kind of proud of that,” Crank says. “As I got older, I just had these older gay guys come up to me and say, ‘You probably didn’t know it, but in the ’70s, your bar was like the gay hangout. His parents built the hotel in 1971 and opened it as a Howard Johnson's, which featured a Howard Johnson restaurant/lounge that was a popular gay hangout back in the '70s. The Garland’s owner and asset manager, James Crank, is an out and proud gay man whose family has a long history with the property. While none of the Valley gay bars or clubs offers food, there is a gay-friendly, gay-owned restaurant in North Hollywood’s Garland Hotel called the Front Yard. My friends and I like to start the evening with a nice meal in a quieter setting, to catch up and get some food in our stomach before the drinking begins. Now you may be asking yourself, do we need another Pride celebration? Is the Valley LGBTQ community large enough to shut down streets for? The answer is yes, and as with WeHo, DTLA, even Long Beach, a great gay night out can be had in the San Fernando Valley. Taking place on Burbank Boulevard between Cahuenga and Strohm, the festival will be a large block party celebrating the valley’s LGBTQ community, featuring vendors and entertainment. 12, the first annual Valley Pride Street Festivalwill be held in North Hollywood. It has its own unique and bustling gay nightlife, and it's steeped in history, providing unique alternatives (and less traffic) to L.A.'s other gayborhoods. Silver Lake has both the history and a handful of great bars to keep it in the running, and Long Beach has some fun LGBTQ options but is so far that it’s practically another state. is the up-and-coming, rapidly expanding region in terms of ragers and residents. West Hollywood is, of course, the biggest and best-known, while downtown L.A. The San Fernando Valley may not be the first “gayborhood” one thinks of in Los Angeles, but maybe it should be.