Tavern on Main

Tavern on Main is a neighbourhood bar and restaurant at 123 Main Street in downtown El Segundo, California, a short distance south of Los Angeles International Airport. The premises have operated as a bar since at least the early 1960s and were known as The Keg during much of the following two decades. After closing in the late 1980s, the building briefly housed an automobile repair business before returning to use as a bar. In 2002, Kristian Krieger took over the establishment and reopened it as Tavern on Main, developing it into a sports bar and restaurant serving American pub food. The business underwent substantial expansions in 2006 and 2014, eventually doubling the size of its original interior. Its traditional Main Street location, surrounded by older commercial buildings in the historic centre of El Segundo, has remained largely unchanged, although the storefront has been remodelled. The bar also has a connection to Hollywood through its appearance in the crime thriller 8 Million Ways to Die (1986), filmed while the establishment was still operating under its original name.

Tavern on Main appears in 8 Million Ways to Die (1986), the crime thriller directed by Hal Ashby and starring Jeff Bridges. The establishment portrays itself under its former name, The Keg, where alcoholic former police detective Matt Scudder meets two women connected to a dangerous criminal investigation. The filmmakers used the actual bar at 123 Main Street, together with a neighbouring property at 117½ North Main Street that represents Scudder’s modest apartment behind the establishment.

In 8 Million Ways to Die (1986), Tavern on Main first appears approximately 21 minutes into the film, when Matt Scudder, played by Jeff Bridges, meets Sunny, played by Alexandra Paul, at The Keg. Scudder is a former Los Angeles County sheriff’s detective whose career and marriage have collapsed because of his alcoholism. Having recently completed rehabilitation, he has remained sober for six months and is attempting to rebuild his life. Sunny, a prostitute whom he met earlier at a private gambling club, arranges to see him at the bar and orders banana daiquiris. She questions why a recovering alcoholic would choose to spend time in a drinking establishment, suggesting that he is deliberately making sobriety more difficult for himself. Their conversation gradually reveals that Sunny is frightened of the people she works for and hopes Scudder can use his former police connections to help her escape. She offers him $5,000 for his assistance and eventually accompanies him to his apartment immediately behind the bar. The apartment exterior was filmed at 117½ North Main Street, allowing the two locations to function as neighbouring properties in the story.

The Keg appears again later in the film when Scudder returns with Sarah, played by Rosanna Arquette, another woman connected to the criminal organisation he is investigating. After removing her from a gathering controlled by drug dealer Angel Maldonado, played by Andy Garcia, Scudder brings Sarah to the bar after closing time and gives her vodka while attempting to obtain information about Sunny’s murder and Angel’s activities. Their conversation continues at his nearby apartment, where Sarah becomes increasingly intoxicated. The scenes at The Keg were filmed at the actual establishment during the summer of 1985, with the bar and adjoining apartment forming part of Scudder’s everyday surroundings in El Segundo. The production also used several other locations around the city, including St Anthony’s Church for an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. Although the frontage of the former Keg has since been altered and the business has undergone extensive renovations, the address and surrounding section of Main Street remain identifiable from the film.

8 Million Ways to Die (1986)

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