Popular Silver Lake leather bar Eagle LA  has turned to the popular fundraising site GoFundMe to help with financial strain due to its closure during COVID-19.

The Eagle LA was opened in April 2006 by Charlie Matula and business partner Vince Quattrocchi, but its location at 4219 Santa Monica Blvd. in Silver Lake, Los Angeles has served as a watering hole for queers since it was The Shed (1968-1972).

Eagle has gone through many name transformations. It became The Outcast (1972-1983), and the Gauntlet II (1983 -2005) before becoming the Eagle LA in 2006 under Charlie Matula and business partner Vince Quattrocchi.

To save the bar from closing permanently, Matula has started a GoFundMe campaign, seeking $240,000.

The number of LGBTQ+ bars operating in the U.S. has declined steeply in the past 5 years, and, Matula writes, “We have lost too many historic venues resulting from this pandemic already, which is changing the face of our community. This is why we are asking for your help to keep Eagle LA from closing permanently. With your support, we’ll be able to continue to ride this out until we can safely reopen in what is expected to be months from now.”

Since the GoFundMe Eagle LA has been able to raise over $105,000 of its $240,000 goal. 

To help Eagle LA visit their GoFundMe at: