The Airliner Bar Rescue Update – Los Angeles – Still Open in 2024?

Is The Airliner still open today?

Status: >> CLOSED <<
(keep reading to learn what happened)

Season: 6 | View All Season 6 Episodes
Original Episode Air Date: July 1, 2018
The Bar's Original Name Was: The Airliner
The Airliner Address: 2419 N Broadway Los Angeles, CA 90031

The Airliner Bar Rescue Update

Episode Recap

The Airliner was a Lincoln Heights, Los Angeles, California bar that was featured on Season 6 of Bar Rescue.

Though the Airliner Bar Rescue episode aired in July 2018, the actual filming and visit from Jon Taffer took place before that.

It was Season 6 Episode 16 and the episode name was “Not Cleared for Takeoff”.

The Airliner is a historic bar and music venue in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, CA.

It was first established all the way back in 1923 and has morphed back and forth between being a popular music value and a dive bar.

Luiz Quiroz owns the bar but was once a former dishwasher.

Initially, the bar was a Latin jazz bar and was successful.

Soon the fad ended, and they started booking all genres of music.

Nadia is the general manager, and even though she has years in the industry, Luiz is hesitant to change.

The bar is within six months of closing and is falling apart, which is why the Airliner Bar Rescue episode exists.

Phil Wills, an expert mixologist, and Chef Michael Ferraro join Jon Taffer to help rescue the bar.

Phil was once a patron of the bar because of the live music, which is pretty cool as usually the experts have no connections to the bars that they help rescue.

Famous musicians even performed at the bar, such as Common and Prince.

The exterior of The Airliner looks beautiful and historic.

Jon Taffer tells the experts about Luis.

He points out Nadia, Luiz, the cook, and Jorge, the barback. 

The band American Authors spies on the bar for Jon; they are made up of four men, one of whom is pictured above.

The Airliner Bar Rescue recon by American Authors

If you want to hear their music, you can check out the American Authors YouTube page.

Nadia is their server, and since they don’t have a drink menu, she reads off their specials.

They order a Miss Maryjane and an Old Fashioned.

Sadly, Nadia makes many mistakes because she doesn’t know the recipes. 

Nadia tells the band that the stage isn’t used very often anymore, which is a shame for such a historic venue.

The band is given an order number, and when their number is called, they must get their food.

In the SUV, Jon and the experts notice that the cook is unsanitary.

The band collects their food which is very greasy and tastes terrible. 

Jon enters and meets with American Authors who give him feedback on the bar.

Jon points out the greasy fryer in the kitchen, and Nadia says she doesn’t get any help when she cleans the kitchen.

The staff is made to clean the bar, and American Authors say they want nothing to do with the venue. 

The next day, Jon Taffer returns for a staff meeting.

Samantha, Luiz’s daughter, is there and she is upset with her father for being lazy.

The staff confides in Jon that they do not get paid on time.

It seems as if Luiz is disinterested in continuing with the bar.

The experts come into the bar to start working on improving things.

Phil Wills trains the staff on making quick and straightforward drinks in plastic glasses.

Michael shows the kitchen staff how to make one of his signature dishes.

The stress test is starting, and they have a fake live performance to practice all aspects of the evening.

The first task is to serve the customers before the show starts.

A band performs during the second part of the evening, and the bar takes a break.

After the performance, the bar is flooded with patrons.

However, the bar only has one POS machine, so it’s nearly impossible to handle all of the orders.

Jon and the staff decide they need more people to help during the show and after at the bar.

Jon spends time with Luiz to help him feel better.

Phil shows the staff more signature drinks.

Michael leads the kitchen to a buffalo chicken meatball. 

The inside of the bar looks more modern after the renovation.

While Jon Taffer did make changes to the inside, he didn’t change the outside or change the bar’s name because of its long history.

The bar is gifted three new POS systems.

American Authors is back to perform that night.

The night is successful with customers not having to wait for drinks. 

So was the Bar Rescue The Airliner episode a long-term success?

Keep reading to learn what happened next and if it’s still open in 2024.

The Airliner Update - What Happened Next?

Now that we’ve recapped the Airliner Bar Rescue visit, let’s talk about what happened after Jon Taffer and his crew left the City of Angels.

At the standard six-week check-in with the Bar Rescue producers, we learn that sales at The Airliner are up by a solid 10%.

The venue is also getting interest from promoters, which should help ensure it has a good event calendar.

So would it last?

Well, kind of for a bit, but now forever…

Is The Airliner from Bar Rescue still open?

The Airliner announced that it would close for good on February 24, 2023. However, the original version of the bar from Bar Rescue had already closed in 2019.

As you saw the bar on the Airliner Bar Rescue episode, The Airliner closed for a time in 2019, which is where Luiz’s ownership ended (the owner from Bar Rescue).

However, new owners Sean Kelly and Monica Blair reopened the bar in early 2020.

They kept the Airliner name, but they changed a lot of the stuff you saw on Bar Rescue.

You can learn more about the new owners in this article from Eater LA.

You can also learn more at the official The Airliner LA website.

However, the new owners also announced that they would close the bar for good on February 24th, 2023.

You can see the closure announcement in this Instagram post:

The Airliner Los Angeles closed

I was already close to marking The Airliner closed because the owner and concept from Bar Rescue were gone in 2019.

But now that the new owners are also closing the bar, I’m definitely marking this one as closed.

Here’s what the Airliner Los Angeles location looks like in the most recent Google Maps street view update, but I imagine that will change going forward:

If you want to see some other nearby Bar Rescue Los Angeles episodes, you can also check out my updates for Los Angeles Brewing Company / LA Brew Co, Dimples Karaoke in Burbank, and Champs Sports Pub in Burbank.

Or, you can check out my full list of all 48+ Bar Rescue episodes from California as of 2024. It’s by far the most popular state for Jon Taffer to visit.

Thanks for reading!


More Information

https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-airliner-los-angeles
https://www.facebook.com/TheAirlinerLA/


What did you think about the The Airliner Bar Rescue episode? I'd love it if you shared your thoughts on the episode in the comments below!

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And don't forget to check out all of the other Bar Rescue updates.

Last updated: 2023-04-07 05:27

7 thoughts on “The Airliner Bar Rescue Update – Los Angeles – Still Open in 2024?”

All comments are the sole opinion of the commenter and are not endorsed by RealityTVUpdates.

  1. After looking at the article about the new launch, I think it should be marked as closed. The only continuity is the name since the atmosphere, drinks, and menu were completely done. They redid the sign and have no mention of bar rescue on their website.

    Reply
    • Thanks for sharing! I will think about it. If they had changed the name, I would definitely mark it closed. But because it’s still the same name and location, it’s tricky.

      Reply
  2. I agree, this is a tricky one. It’s a completely different place, but the name and location remain the same.

    Reply
  3. When they said sales were up 10% at the end, I knew it would close

    The place only had 1 night a week that was busy so sales up 10% from nothing isn’t much to survive

    Reply
  4. The owner of airliners had no desire to work. I knew he wouldn’t last and I can’t believe Taffer would even bother with this mope.

    Reply
  5. This owner sucks. His body language and his overall demeanor the entire episode seems of complete disinterest. He seems to have some heavy unhappiness in his life due to poor relationship decisions (debt from paying tons of child-support).

    What a shame the employees and Jon’s staff all tried their best here but I could take one look at this owner and tell you they wouldn’t be open much longer!

    Reply

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