Oh, the effects of a Hollywood facelift. We loved the bar – a Mecca for Tinseltown tipplers since 1927, in its current incarnation since 1942 – when it was a scruffy, slightly seedy hole-in-the-wall with a storied past (Robert Mitchum drank here, as did W.C. Fields, Raymond Chandler, Ed Wood and even the Black Dahlia herself). But when Hollywood Boulevard finally started hosing off decades of accumulated grime, so too did Boardner’s, making itself over as a more luxurious lounge for hipsters and habitués alike, while remaining a no-muss, no fuss watering hole for chatting up friendly strangers and soaking up both its legends and its liquors. Adding a welcome shot of weirdness: the adjoining Club B-52 is ground zero for LA’s underground goth scene.