Coyote Ugly Saloon

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Outside the Coyote Ugly Saloon in New York.
Outside the Coyote Ugly Saloon in New York.

The Coyote Ugly Saloon is an American drinking establishment and the namesake of a national chain of bars. It served as the setting for the 2000 movie Coyote Ugly

Contents

[edit] History

The original Coyote Ugly Saloon opened January 27, 1993, in New York City, after New York University alumna Liliana Lovell eschewed an internship on Wall Street for a career as a bartender.[1] Lovell held several bartending jobs during college and perfected a routine of dancing on the bar, singing, and challenging customers to drinking contests. Applying a business model learned from her former boss, Tom McNeill,[2] she began hiring young women and training them in the wild routine, which included such antics as chugging alcohol, setting light to it, then breathing fire. While some girls were good at singing, others good at dancing, and others good at yelling, Lovell found that not all the girls were talented in each of the three aspects, so she often paired girls with complementary abilities.

The bar reached national prominence in 1997 when former bartender Elizabeth Gilbert wrote of her experiences in an article for GQ magazine, titled "The Muse of the Coyote Ugly Saloon".[3] A movie based on the article Coyote Ugly, opened in August 2000 with Maria Bello in the role of Lil and Piper Perabo as an aspiring songwriter in New York City who becomes the newest "Coyote." It grossed over $100 million worldwide.[4]

In 2001, the second Coyote Ugly Saloon opened in Las Vegas, Nevada at the New York-New York Hotel & Casino, as a franchise operation.[5] In 2002, a new company-owned bar opened in New Orleans, Louisiana's French Quarter. In 2003, Lovell relocated from New York City to New Orleans, and is today primarily involved in the day-to-day corporate operations of the company from there.

From 2001-2003, 19 bars were in operation in the United States. As of 2008, there are 13 bars left in the chain.[6]

[edit] Locations

The company has closed six locations since 2003. These closed in this order:

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Coyote Ugly", New York City Bartenders & Patrons, Accessed May 7, 2008.
  2. ^ "Coyote Ugly", New York City Bartenders & Patrons, Accessed May 7, 2008.
  3. ^ "The Muse Of Coyote Ugly"
  4. ^ Box Office Mojo estimate
  5. ^ "Coyote Ugly", New York City Bartenders & Patrons, Accessed May 7, 2008.
  6. ^ Coyote Ugly Saloon official site

[edit] External links