(NOTE: The sign, “Joe’s Bar & Gr ll” dates back to the early 1980’s when the neon letter “i” in the word ‘grill’ burned out. The owner, being perennially short of cash was reputed to have told one of the girls who asked about the sign, “There ain’t no ‘i’ in Joe’s 'cause it’s all ‘bout the grlls an’ the customers!” Whether the story is true or not, it became something of a local legend and subsequent owners have carefully maintained the signature misspelling in their signage, saying it honors the ‘grlls’ who work there.)

Joe’s Bar & Grll has a long history dating from the 1920's when it was a notorious speak-easy. After prohibition, the building was renovated and became one of LA’s poshest and hippest luxury restaurants, one rivaling the ‘Brown Derby’ and the ‘Polo Lounge’. But in the mid-1960’s - with the inner city deteriorating - the building, like the surrounding neighborhood, fell on hard times and closed for several years.

The place was sold to new owners who reopened it in 1972 as a bar catering to a ‘working class’ clientele and it became the home an eclectic mix of motorcycle mama’s, down on their luck housewives trying to pick up a few extra bucks to stretch the family budget, upscale hookers out for a diversion and the inevitable - ‘college girls’ hoping to catch the eye of ‘that certain someone’ who’d make additional years of dreary education unnecessary and take them away from the drudgery to a life of glamour as a model, actress or mistress.

These and many others, came and went as, for more than two decades, “Joe’s” hosted mud and oil wrestling matches; barely managing to keep the owners heads above water until the early 90’s when downtown 'gentrification' changed the face of the neighborhood. “Joe’s” became first a nightclub, then an ‘urban’ dance club and finally an upscale 'gentleman's’ club catering to downtown office workers, businessmen on an expense account and entertainment executives and lawyers.

In recent years, “Joe’s” girls have been performing on-stage and doing lap dances for businessmen on week nights, then on the weekends the club hosts the ‘Celebrity Boxing Tour’ featuring fights between high-profile celebrity women. The club is now considered something of a ‘Mecca’ for celebrity boxing aficionados and their Saturday “Fight Night @ Joe’s Bar & Gr ll” plays to standing room crowds.

One of the most popular celebrities is local resident - former South African model, now Oscar winning actress - Charlize Theron who has become something of a fixture, making Joe’s her ‘home base’ for many of her biggest fights. Some of her more exciting bouts are described in graphic detail below:

Fight #1: Charlize Theron vs. Beyonce Knowles (I)

Fight #2: Charlize Theron vs. Mandy Moore

Fight #3: Charlize Theron vs. Angelina Jolie

Fight #4: Charlize Theron vs. Halle Berry

Fight #5: Charlize Theron vs. Beyonce Knowles (II):

Fight #6: Charlize Theron vs. Hillary Swank (due Spring 2007!)

Fight #7: Charlize Theron vs. ?