The Abbey is a bar

Bar (establishment)

A bar is a business establishment that serves alcoholic drinks — beer, wine, liquor, and cocktails — for consumption on the premises.Bars provide stools or chairs that are placed at tables or counters for their patrons. Some bars have entertainment on a stage, such as a live band, comedians, go-go...

 and nightclub

Nightclub

A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...

 in West Hollywood, California

West Hollywood, California

West Hollywood, a city of Los Angeles County, California, was incorporated on November 29, 1984, with a population of 34,399 at the 2010 census. 41% of the city's population is made up of gay men according to a 2002 demographic analysis by Sara Kocher Consulting for the City of West Hollywood...

.

The bar originally opened in 1991 as a gay coffeehouse

Coffeehouse

A coffeehouse or coffee shop is an establishment which primarily serves prepared coffee or other hot beverages. It shares some of the characteristics of a bar, and some of the characteristics of a restaurant, but it is different from a cafeteria. As the name suggests, coffeehouses focus on...

. Wanting more of an evening appeal, a bar area was made. Wishing to compete with the other local gay bar

Gay bar

A gay bar is a drinking establishment that caters to an exclusively or predominantly gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender clientele; the term gay is used as a broadly inclusive concept for LGBT and queer communities...

s, the owners transformed the back stock area into a lounge area and eventually even bought out the neighboring pottery store to further expand the business's size.

The Abbey has been notably featured in a number of television series of interest to the LGBT

LGBT

LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...

 community, including being the venue of the Logo

Logo (TV channel)

Logo is an American digital cable television channel owned by Viacom's MTV Networks division. Launched in June 2005, the channel's programs are geared towards the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community...

 original series Wisecrack

Wisecrack

Wisecrack is a 2005 stand-up comedy series from the LGBT television network Logo. The show was taped at the West Hollywood, California gay club The Abbey...

. The club and its owner, David Cooley, have also featured in the Logo series Open Bar

Open Bar

Open Bar is a gay-themed reality television series. The six episode series follows Tyler Robuck through the planning, construction and opening of a gay bar called iCandy in West Hollywood, California. It also touches on the issues Robuck faced during his coming out process and trying to find a...

and Jacob and Joshua: Nemesis Rising

Jacob and Joshua: Nemesis Rising

Jacob and Joshua: Nemesis Rising is a reality television program originating on the LGBT network Logo. It follows identical twin brothers Jacob and Joshua Miller, who together comprise the pop duo Nemesis, as they seek success in the music business as openly gay artists...

and the Oxygen network original series The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency

The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency

The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency is a reality television series that debuted on Oxygen on June 6, 2006. The show has completed four seasons...

. Transgender actress Candis Cayne

Candis Cayne

Candis Cayne is an American actress and performance artist.Known in the New York City nightclub scene since the 1990s, Cayne came to national attention in 2007 for portraying transgender mistress Carmelita on ABC's prime time drama Dirty Sexy Money...

 was featured in several lip-synch shows there in 2008.

Recently, it was purchased by SBE Entertainment Group and has taken on more of a mixed clientele, offering entertainment to both gay and straight patrons.

David Cooley is now the president of The Abbey.