Studio City’s Oil Can Harry’s helps country fans kick up heels
Oil Can Harry’s is country with a little kitsch. Vintage saddles and cowhides adorn the walls of this Studio City institution, a disco ball spins above the dance floor, and a giant steel cowboy hat (which could soon be named the word’s largest indoor hat) hangs above the bar.
This country and western club seems to have set another record, at least by L.A. night life standards: It’s stayed open, and busy, for 40 years. That may be because it is one of the most inclusive clubs in L.A., where gay and lesbian couples do their boot-scooting right next to straight couples and every other combination imaginable. On a Friday night, DJs spin a mix of Lady Gaga and Shania Twain, and patrons in full country garb squeeze onto the dance floor to show off the tricky turns and booty shakes of line dances like “Down and Dirty” and “Bad Romance.”
It’s a scene right out of “Urban Cowboy,” and many of its patrons have been coming since the movie prompted Oil Can to swap disco for country in the ‘80s. “Basically, it’s the only country bar in L.A.,” says Jeremy Box of Long Beach, an Oil Can regular for more than a decade, “and I can dance with guys.”
Yes, Oil Can Harry’s is where gay meets cowboy. And the obvious reference isn’t lost — patrons sometimes two-step to the theme of “Brokeback Mountain.”
But it’s the ever-changing line dances that keep regulars and newbies on their toes.
“I’m getting my line dance education,” says first-timer Leslie Hoxworth, 22, from Valley Village. “It’s a lot of fun and great energy. I want to learn all these dances.”
There’s no shortage of line dances to learn. “I’ve choreographed over 25,” says Rick Dominguez, a DJ at Oil Can for 15 years. Dominguez also updates old-school country dances with newer pop music. “How many times can you have the same song for a line dance?”
Knowing how to line dance isn’t a prerequisite. Free lessons are offered Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., and Fridays at 9 p.m., and regulars will often count out the steps for first-timers who might suddenly find that they’re facing the wrong direction.
“Bar none, it’s the friendliest place,” says Melaynee Devore from Silverado in Orange County, who’s been coming to Oil Can since 1986. While the native Texan was already schooled in country dancing, she came for a different kind of lesson. “I had to learn to lead because the girls I wanted to dance with wanted to be led.”
Devore now guides both men and women around the dance floor. “A guy has to be a strong dancer to lead me,” she says.
Gay or straight, Bob Tomasino, who’s owned the club since the ‘60s, says he tries to “create a club where no one is uncomfortable…. I want this to be the kind of place where you can bring your mom.”
Oil Can does seem to appeal to a multi-generational crowd, from boomers to Gen Y. And as Tomasino puts it, “Where else can you find two men, two women and a man and a woman dancing?”
Country Dancing at Oil Can Harry’s
Where: 11502 Ventura Blvd., Studio City
When: 7:30-11:30 p.m. Tuesday; 7:30 p.m. -12:30 a.m. Thursday; 7:30 p.m.-2 a.m. Friday
Price: $3 Tuesdays and Thursday
Info: (818) 760-9749; https://www.oilcanharrysla.com
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