business 411
by lance perkins
David Cooley has come a long way from a pretty standard childhood, growing
David Cooley
up in the Midwest in the Solon area of Ohio to now being the owner of the “Best Gay
Bar in The World” voted by MTV’s LOGO channel. David Cooley explains, “Growing
up, I knew nothing better, so at the time it was great. But the first time I was able
Of THE ABBEY
to leave and go to Las Vegas for college, I knew I was missing a lot. It was my first
How THe BesT Gay Bar
opportunity to be out West and I never went back.”
David moved to Las Vegas when he was 19, earning a degree in hotel administra-
in THe worlD was MaDe
tion from UNLV and then moved to Los Angeles when he was 21. Cooley continues,
“I’ve worked in restaurants most of my life and that’s what I decided to get my
degree in, and then after I graduated, I moved to L.A. I was gay and wanting to be
in a big city environment. Los Angeles was the city I selected. I started working in
banking and finance and soon after opened a small little coffeehouse called The
Abbey. I started it across the street where Bossa Nova is currently located. It was
1,100 square feet. I had an espresso machine and three cakes. Three years later, I
moved across the street to our current location. It actually took five expansions to
get where The Abbey is at today. Working with contractors and so forth, my creativ-
ity is basically what you see.” The first thing when you walk in to The Abbey, you feel
like you’re walking into a living room, complete with a huge fireplace, Italian glass
lighting sculpture and the plush couches. David elaborates on his inspiration.
“When I first moved to L.A. all the bars that I attended were behind closed doors,
nothing outside and kind of not that inviting. You have to be proud of who you are
and enjoy the climate we’re in. So here we are almost 20 years later… being voted
the best gay bar in the world. I’m really, really proud of that. It’s especially gratifying
to know that we have been part of dramatic societal shift—maintaining our LGBT
roots and yet making all our patrons feel like The Abbey is their home away from
home.”
A little over three years ago, David entered into partnership with SBE (Sammy
Boy Entertainment). Cooley explains, “I merged with my partner Sam. I looked for
the opportunity because I had the business to myself for 16 years and I wanted
to take a little break. It took about a year to make the deal happen. It let me take
the opportunity to use their professional people within the SBE organization from
marketing to accounting to lawyers and also have the ability to expand into other
cities one day and also have other business ventures with them. Now we own quite
a few restaurants and hotels.”
The Abbey is one of the bars in West Hollywood that started creating more of
a mixed type crowd of straight and gay. “My goal was to be accepted wherever I
go and I want everyone who walks through those gates at The Abbey to feel that
they’re accepted and welcome whether they are gay, straight, black, white, Asian,
whatever. Everyone is treated the same, everyone is treated as a VIP. Even when my
architects were showing me the VIP area, I said take the VIP off because everyone
who walks into The Abbey is my VIP.” Everything is top notch, fit for a VIP including
the food. Cooley continues, “We call our chef, “Chef Eric. He has brought in a great
new menu. We do some seasonal / holiday dishes too, which is nice. We always
have daily specials. He’s doing a great job.” David also still holds true to his roots of
amazing pastries and desserts. “That’s very important, that’s how I got my start and
it’s very important to me that I maintain that.” The Abbey was also one of the first
in the flavored martinis craze. Cooley said, “I started with the apple martinis and
four other flavors. My bartenders and staff created all the other flavors. We have
seasonal martinis and we’re always looking for new flavors. People also love our
mojitos.”
The Abbey is a host to many events, the largest being the Academy Award after-
party. Cooley said, “Yeah, that’s the biggest. It’s the only day of the year that I close to
the public. We underwrite the event for AIDS Project Los Angeles and it’s a fun, fun,
fun night. A lot of stress, but it’s a great night that we raise a lot of money for APLA.”
The Abbey has even seen its share of celebrities and even presidential candi-
David Cooley
66 RAGE monthly | December 2009
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