Hennessey’s at 40: How Paul Hennessey took a dingy pub and launched a thirsty empire
Four decades in, Paul Hennessey still makes a point of bartending at each of his 16 restaurants “to show them how it’s done.” Photo courtesy Hennessey’s When I asked Paul Hennessey what set his bar apart from the rest of the eating and drinking establishments in Hermosa back when he opened, he started with a history lesson. In just a few words he set the scene of a neighborhood very different from the upscale playground we see now. “In 1976 Hermosa was very depressed, and there were five or six vacant storefronts in the first block of Pier Avenue and a lot of bikers hanging around. We used to call it “Where the debris met the sea.” When I bought a bar two doors from the beach it was called Mr. C’s. It was what we used to call a 6 a.m. bar, a place that sold lots of drinks first thing in the morning because the Mermaid didn’t open until 7. There aren’t any of those left now… My biggest innovation was cutting windows in the front of the place. Back then all the restaurants and bars were dark and dingy, and some people said, “Who wants to be sitting in a place where you can see outside?” It was just the opposite — people who were outside wanted to see what was inside. I talked the…
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