HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
Downtown LA's oldest continually operating bar, where a Prohibition speakeasy ran through underground tunnels and a vanishing hitchhiker still reportedly begs a ride to Evergreen Cemetery
131 E 5th St, Los Angeles, CA 90013
Research updated June 2026
Age
21+
Cost
$
Bar prices. No cover charge.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Street-level bar entrance on E 5th St. Flat access.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1906 · 1906 King Edward Hotel ground-floor saloon · Prohibition-era speakeasy via documented underground tunnels · One of the longest continuously operating bars in Los Angeles
The King Edward Hotel went up in 1906 at the corner of 5th and Los Angeles Streets, built by investors who correctly read the direction of downtown growth. The ground-floor saloon operated from the start, catering to the mix of transient workers, hotel guests, and neighborhood regulars that characterized the area. By the time Prohibition arrived in 1920, the bar had been operating for fourteen years and had no intention of closing.
The underground tunnels beneath the King Eddy have been documented by local historians and journalists as the mechanism by which the speakeasy continued operating through the 1920s. The tunnel network — which connects to other buildings in the Historic Core block — allowed alcohol to be moved without visible street-level exposure. The bar operated throughout Prohibition without any apparent interruption.
The King Edward Hotel and its saloon sat in the Skid Row adjacent zone of downtown that experienced severe decline through the mid-to-late 20th century, and the bar's clientele reflected that neighborhood trajectory. The King Eddy became a known address in the world of down-and-out downtown LA — a place documented by journalists, novelists, and social workers alongside its paranormal reputation.
PBS SoCal covered the bar's history and uncertain future as part of the broader downtown gentrification story that has transformed the Historic Core since the 2000s. As of the early 2020s the King Eddy Saloon continued to operate, its 120-year tenure making it one of the longest-running bars in Los Angeles County.
Sources
The King Eddy Saloon's ghost story is unusually specific for the vanishing-hitchhiker genre. The account, documented by Creepy LA and repeated in local lore, places the encounter on the street immediately outside or near the bar. A woman — apparently inebriated, which suits the setting — asks a stranger for a ride home, providing a specific neighborhood address. The driver agrees. When the car passes Evergreen Cemetery in Boyle Heights, she is gone.
The address she gave, when the driver investigates afterward, belongs to someone who has been dead for years. This closing beat — the driver tracing the address and finding a grave — is the characteristic structural element of the vanishing-hitchhiker narrative, but the King Eddy version roots it in a specific named place (Evergreen Cemetery, one of the oldest cemeteries in Los Angeles) rather than leaving the destination vague.
The saloon's connection to the story likely derives from its location and history: a bar associated with the desperate and transient, the kind of place where someone might need a stranger to take them home. The Prohibition-era underground tunnel history adds a layer of literal hidden-passage atmosphere that the ghost story exploits without needing to explain. Whether the hitchhiker is a former patron, a onetime resident of the neighborhood, or simply an archetypal figure projected onto a very old building is left to the listener.
The King Eddy Saloon operates as a functioning bar at street level beneath the 1906 King Edward Hotel. The interior retains its old-downtown character: low ceilings, worn wood, and the general feel of a place that has been here longer than most of the city around it. The bar is walk-in during regular business hours.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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