Beetle House LA, a beloved bar known for celebrating Halloween every day of the year, is asking the community for support as it faces a serious financial crisis that threatens its future.
The gothic-themed bar and restaurant, which first opened in Los Angeles in 2017, has launched a public fundraising campaign after a series of unexpected setbacks including investor withdrawals, and alleged theft.
According to the GoFundMe page created by the establishment, the financial troubles began when a key investor failed to deliver promised funding, followed closely by the alleged theft of over $60,000 by a former manager. These losses, the owners say, were compounded by recent wildfires in the region and wider disruptions in the Los Angeles area that have affected foot traffic and sales.
“We had an investor that did not put in the money they agreed to, which left us with a large hole in our finances,” the campaign states. “In addition, we had a manager steal over $60,000 from us. These two things happened in a short timeframe, immediately followed by the LA fires and the current chaos going on in Los Angeles that has affected our business greatly.”
Founded by Zach Neil as a pop-up in New York City in 2016, Beetle House later expanded to Los Angeles the following year. The concept pays tribute to the macabre and the whimsical, drawing inspiration from figures such as Tim Burton, Edgar Allan Poe, and Washington Irving — though the venue has no official affiliation with those artists.
Inside, patrons can expect an immersive atmosphere filled with dim lighting, costumed staff, themed cocktails, and décor that channels gothic literature, cult cinema, and outsider art.
Beetle House has long marketed itself as “a safe place where every goth, punk, freak, weirdo, artist, and visitor is welcomed and celebrated.”
Despite surviving the COVID-19 pandemic and previous challenges, the team behind Beetle House says they’ve reached a breaking point.
“We have never asked the public for help, not through the pandemic, not at any other time,” they wrote. “For us, this is a last-ditch effort to see if we can keep this thing going. Beetle House has always been a labor of love… It has always been about doing something that we love for the community that we love and for the people that love what we do.”The GoFundMe campaign is now live for those wishing to help keep the venue alive. As of this writing, donations continue to trickle in from fans eager to preserve what many describe as one of LA’s most unique nightlife experiences.
