On a warm afternoon in Mid-Wilshire, the Kelly green door to Tom Bergin’s, one of the oldest bars in Los Angeles, is propped open, laughter and muddled conversation emanating from within. On a sun-drenched bench outside, Massi, a soft, blonde dachshund mix with soulful eyes, perks up as her owner, Janna Bryan, bookmarks her novel. Like many of Tom Bergin’s patrons, Bryan has been a regular for 30 years and can trace large swaths of her life back to this small bar.
“What we wanted to focus on was, you can’t erase what came before you,” says operating partner Francis Castagnetti, who runs Tom Bergin’s with his brother, Dave Castagnetti. “Everybody in this city has a chunk of time in this place and it will always be that to them.” The duo has been operating the bar since 2019, just after it was saved from demolition. “My brother and I knew right away that we were stewards of this place,” Francis says.
Tom Bergin’s almost didn’t make it this far. After closing in 2018, the bar was at risk of being bought up and torn down. In a bid to save the building, a group of devoted patrons, including Bryan, formed a group called Friends of Tom Bergin’s and petitioned the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission to designate it a Historic-Cultural Monument. Janna says that at the hearing, crowds of people packed into the room to share memories of Tom Bergin’s. Hundreds more sent messages from across the country. In June 2019, the bar was officially designated a Historic-Cultural Monument; Tom Bergin’s was saved…