Can this bar bring back DTLA's nightlife?

[Bar Franca, from E1] high hopes, but they also need a little bit of help," Alvarez said. "We're doing our best to have people back on the streets, from all corners and all sensibilities, coming and being like, 'I want to hang out in downtown.' But how do we take care of it? How do we get there?

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CONCERT promoter Roland Alvarez, who lives nearby, bought the space this year. “I still feel like smaller, more intimate places is where the magic is,” he says.

(Photographs by CARLIN STIEHL For The Times)

After two decades of hopeful growth and global cachet as a nightlife destination, downtown L.A. has suffered tremendously post-pandemic. While its resident population has stabilized and grown, a citywide shift to working from home, the ongoing tragedy of homelessness and recent political turmoil have added to the challenges for local restaurants, bars and nightclubs. Many beloved nightspots have closed, or worry they will soon.

Cole's, which survived the Great Depression and two world wars but couldn't withstand the current economy, will shutter Dec. 31, though the venue is currently up for sale. Concert hall the Mayan, which opened in 1927, closed after 35 years in its current incarnation. In the summer, after a lawsuit from a former employee, the sprawling queer bar Precinct said on Instagram that "We're a couple of slow weekends away from having to close our doors. Like many small businesses, we've taken hit after hit - from COVID shutdowns and ICE raids to citywide curfews and the ongoing decline of nightlife."