We have always been and will always be a meeting place for like-minded leather men to bond, interact and further their life style. On its website, the Eagle describes its mission this way: “The Eagle LA is the premier leather / Levi bar in Los Angeles. Today the Eagle is one of the few bars (outside of the Bullet bar in North Hollywood and the newly opened Eagle 562 in Long Beach), where you’re much more likely to find guys with a cigar, a Prince Albert or a harness than those flaunting a waxed six-pack or plucked eyebrows. There was an earlier Eagle, in West Hollywood at the corner of Fairfax Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard. It was home to a gay bar known as the Shed from 1968 to 1972, then the Outcast from 1972 to 1983, and then the Gauntlet II from 1983 to 2005. The Eagle LA’s Charlie Matula (Photo by Dusti Cunningham / The Eagle LA was opened in April 2006 by Charlie Matula and business partner Vince Quattrocchi. In April of this year, the Eagle LA will be 12 years old, making it in some ways the “Daddy bar” of gay L.A. This interview is with Charlie Matula, co-owner of the Eagle. Behind the Bar is series of occasional interviews with owners of gay bars in Los Angeles County, which, in this age of Grindr and Scruff, still remain the best place for gay men to come together as a community (and find someone with a real face to go home with).
