Daily Inspiration: Meet David LeBarron

Today we’d like to introduce you to David LeBarron.

Hi David, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Akbar is something of a paradox. It is both globally-iconic and a tiny neighborhood oasis. It has won top-five gay bars in the world numerous times and yet many Angeleno’s don’t even know they have a dance floor! Albert Loya and David LeBarron bought Akbar in 2023 from the previous owners, Scott Craig and Peter Alexander because they had to keep one of the last few queer spaces in Los Angeles thriving.

They emptied their life-savings and borrowed from many people in order to keep the bar they had worked out tirelessly, for decades, from becoming a stranger’s franchise. The bar that fulfills many queer, and allies, hearts hosts: BINGO, Craft-night, Drag Shows, Comedy Night, Performance Art, Mural Installations, and of course a weekend dancefloor with a variety of world-class DJ’s.

“We are here for everybody,” says Albert, “from our Old-timer happy hour folks to the newbie-divas!” “We’re proud of the space we’ve cultivated over the many years of being your bartenders and managers,” David adds, “now as owners, we get to make sure that Akbar stays true to its pop-n-pop spirit.”

Press release from 2023:

The iconic queer space is set in loving hands.
AKBAR, everyone’s favorite Silver Lake hangout and dance bar, is under new ownership. After 27 years, owners Scott Craig and Peter Alexander have sold the beloved bar to their managers, Albert Loya and David LeBarron, in the spirit to keep Akbar… well, Akbar.

In 1996 Scott and Peter bought Joley’s II, a gay piano bar. They bought it with a desire to have a cool place to hang out with their friends. 27 years later – with AKBAR now an iconic watering hole of Silver Lake, Los Angeles, and albeit the world – they have sold it to the two people who pulled Akbar out of the pandemic and who have a long history of living and loving on that corner of Sunset and Fountain.

David started working the door in 1998 to make a little extra money on the weekends and soon saw the potential for a vital theatrical space. Likewise, Albert Loya, a Lynwood local, started at Akbar during the last writers’ strike to make some money barbacking. Soon the two became fast friends and together rode the ranks from part-time to bartenders to managers and, today, owners of Akbar. It is their mission to honor the tradition of keeping Akbar a welcoming, creative, alternative space for queer and queer allies in Silver Lake, in Los Angeles and beyond.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Obviously, pulling Akbar out of the Covid pandemic, including dragging furniture into a parking lot to create Alfresco, was significantly life-changing and exhausting. Since the reopening things have been smoother, but yet we strive to keep abreast of everything from adding new drinks, including the now popular N.A. cocktails; our queer communities changes in attitudes and beliefs; and of course, trying to keep Akbar safe as possible in the new political regime.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
David LeBaron:
I have been involved in the film and theater community in New York City and Los Angeles for 30 years. I helped open up Akbar as a performance space and venue back in 2001. I continue to perform various places as a storyteller and artist, including Hollywood Fringe festival. I am currently headed to the Brighton Fringe Festival for my solo show Monsters, a queer myth, which won two awards in 2023 at Hollywood Festival. site: davidlebarron.com

Albert Loya
I am a local Angeleno, growing up in Lynnwood California. I spent many years in film production from being a PA to set dressing to finally working in a writers room. However, in 2007, during the writer’s strike, I found a passion for social work and became certified through Los Angeles City College. I soon discovered that my passion for people, and hearing their stories, let me to being an amazing bartender during happy hour with all the old timers. I became fast friends with them. Suddenly, a combination of all the skills I learned in art department and social work came together to becoming the manager of Akbar.

If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Our our formula of success is: hard, work, accountability, and transparency

Pricing:

• Happy Hour $6 drinks
• standard prices range 8 to $15

Contact Info:

• Website: https://akbarsilverlake.com/
• Instagram: akbarsilverlake
• Facebook: akbarsilverlake