Westwood Village bar O’Hara’s will close Saturday, and an Italian bar and tavern will move in at the corner of Gayley and Weyburn avenues.
Rocco’s Tavern, which has three locations throughout the Los Angeles area, will replace the bar, said Joshua Trifunovich, the new owner of the property. He added he closed the deal on the property on Jan. 19, after three years of negotiations.
Trifunovich said they will begin remodeling the restaurant soon, after the previous owners leave the property. He said they will also revamp the bar in the basement level of the establishment to feature a lounge area and high-end bar.
O’Hara’s originally opened under the name Maloney’s On Campus around 1994, and the bar has not changed owners since, said Steve Sann, chair of the Westwood Community Council.
Trifunovich, a UCLA alumnus, said he decided to pursue the project because he remembers going to Maloney’s On Campus. He added he thinks Westwood Village used to be much more vibrant, and hopes Rocco’s Tavern will revitalize the district.
Trifunovich added former UCLA football players Daniel Farmer and Cory Paus will partner with the tavern to promote it to athletes and UCLA alumnus.
Craig Leppert, a bartender who has been working at O’Hara’s since last year, said he received a notice Sunday about the bar closing down. Leppert added he thinks students will miss the bar because it was one the major locations where students socialized.
“There are not a lot of places for students to get together,” he said. “Westwood doesn’t have a great social scene.”
Shruti Narula, a third-year business economics student, said she felt disappointed the bar is closing because she spent a lot of time there with her friends.
“Some of my best college memories (were made) there,” she said.
Narula added she plans to go to the bar on its closing day for with her friends to look back on the memories they have made there.
Mike Trifunovich, the project’s architect, said he has high expectations for the location, given his ties with UCLA.
“We are very excited because it’s home,” Mike Trifunovich said. “My whole family went to UCLA.”
Contributing reports by Nicholas Yu, Bruin senior staff.
This is a very sad day for Westwood and the UCLA community. I respect the development of posh trendy bars in Westwood (we have a ton that try to over charge “students”). But students need a place to escape, not sit down with reality and talk about their research or midterms. Dive bars with flavor that offer cheap and very affordable drinks is what college students need and want. Being taxed and Paying more for age old wood decor and fancy lighting doesn’t help quench the void of dive bars that have left Westwood over the years. The community already took a huge hit when it lost Brew Co. A large space, affordable drinks, and an awesome kaeroke and even a comedy night that drew in a diversity of fun! And back when Barneys was another great competing dive bar. Westwood had choices and a great energy about it. Now we have been left with 1 remaining HOME – O’Haras. I can only hope, that our UCLA Alums who are taking over this bar (who have said they love UCLA etc….) Have not lost touch what it’s like to be a 21+ year old undergrad and grad student who gets 1-2 nights to let off some steam and have an adventurous night out. There are enough trendy, over-priced, stuffy eateries claiming they’re bars in Westwood. Please don’t replicate the cycle, and instead look at the NEED and WANT. There is a way to succeed with a dive bar. Please no more red velvet rope bars that frown upon the very student community they depend on. (Maybe someone should take a poll and ask what the “students” want- please prove me wrong) Cater to our needs and we will gladly reward you. Be creative and fresh and hopefully we can look to our new bar as OUR HOME. We’ve lost so many
homes and now that this is happening we really don’t have a home base anymore. Where do we put up our very proud UCLA flag? What bar welcomes students and our crazy, but tolerable behavior? :(. Who’s Rocco by the way?
Times are changing…yikes.
Oh wow…No Brew Co either? It’s been 4 years since I left westwoodLA, and wow, that’s really sad. Ralph’s is probably happy though. Wasn’t there another place Acapulco that had “margarita mondays”? Hope that atleast is still there.
Sad. Times change for us all. We have to change with them or get out of the way.
Lets hope an enterprising entrepreneur recognizes the void i.e.opportunity and takes advantage.
If readers are concerned about the new tenant moving in, why don’t you just google it? The already have other locations around the area, including close by in Culver City. The place is like O’Hara’s, but cleaner and in better condition. It’s always packed. http://roccostavernla.com