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Known as a gay community haven, the bar in downtown Los Angeles is warning that it can be shuttered immediately as it faces a costly legal battle with former employees.
“We’re a few late weekends because we don’t have to close the door,” the DTLA district owner wrote on Instagram Friday.
“Like many small businesses, we were hits, then hits. From the closure of Covid and the ice attacks to the nighttime decline of the city as a whole. But what we are facing now is even more devastating.”
In May, Jessica Gonzalez sued the owner, manager and employee, claiming that she was faced with discrimination and harassment as a cisgender heterosexual woman and exposed to an unsafe work environment.
Gonzalez, who had worked at a Broadway bar for eight years, claimed that the owner told him to “stop complaining” when the employee and patron reported having sex at the bar.
Gonzalez had to do a weekly “jockstrap/underwear party” coat check in the DTLA district, without receiving wages. According to a complaint filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Gonzalez had to do a weekly “jockstrap/underwear party” coat check. She said she believes the bar manager will eliminate the coat check fee and “encourage more patrons to drop into pants.”
Gonzalez claims the environment has become very hostile and is necessary to bring the stress ball to work. One day, according to her complaints, another employee grabbed her stress ball and refused to return it to her. In the struggle over a stress ball, Gonzalez claims that the employee broke two fingers.
According to her lawsuit, Gonzales was effectively fired after the incident. This is because the owner and manager of the DTLA district wanted to replace her with a gay male employee.
“These claims are completely wrong,” a Barr representative wrote on Instagram.
In the post, they added that the lawyer representing Gonzalez “appears to have a clear anti-LGBTQ agenda.”
“There are multiple reports from individuals who previously worked with him, and he used anti-LGBTQ slur in emails written while at his previous company,” they wrote on Instagram.
Gonzalez is represented by John Barber, court records show. In 2023, the Times reported that Barber and his colleague Jeff Lanen regularly slandered Black, Jews, Middle Eastern, Asian and gay people in an email exchanged with partners at Lewis Blissvoice Bisguard & Smith.
After Barber and Ranen left to start their own company, Lewis Brisbois released an email score for their lawyers. This showed that men regularly used gay Slur to refer to people, The Times reported.
In a joint statement at the time, Barber and Ranen said they were “embarrassing” and “deeply sorry.” Barber did not immediately return a request for comment on Saturday.
In an Instagram post, a representative from the DTLA district said protecting ourselves from Gonzalez’s allegations is “emotionally and financially eliminating us.”
“Come to the bar,” they wrote. “Buy some drinks. Order food. Tip staff. Show up.”
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