The hustle continues as Chad Patterson takes over West Hollywood’s iconic bar Numbers.

BY CHRIS FREEMAN

If Huntington Beach native Chad Patterson were better at learning lines, L.A. nightlife would have suffered considerably. Growing up in the sleepy, seaside Orange County community, Chad “dreamed about L.A. and Hollywood. It’s 40 miles away, but it’s a whole different world. I moved to L.A. to become an actor. I took classes, got a few jobs, a McDonald’s commercial, but I realized it wasn’t for me.”

His personality and love of people led him into bartending. “My inspiration was Cocktail. If Tom Cruise can do it, so can I. I am a certified mixologist. I always say that I went to the College of Hollywood.” Chad’s gregariousness and charm created all kinds of opportunities for him, and before he knew it, he was a mover and shaker in the nightclub scene. His career took off in the unlikeliest of places: at Neiman Marcus, in the middle of the men’s ties department. At the Bar on Four, “the concept was genius: a high-end martini bar in the men’s section—like Vegas, comping people while they shopped. They hired me to be the manager and hired some very good looking guys. It became the biggest thing in town—a nightclub that was only open in the afternoons and evenings. We were ‘the boys of L.A.’”

From there, the sky was the limit for a young impresario. “I got involved with the folks who ran Deep up on Hollywood and Vine—it was the club that brought Hollywood back to life. There’s even a scene in the VIP room in Oceans Eleven. I was the general manager—that’s when I realized I had a choice to make. Stay with acting, or take this golden opportunity and run with it. I was now the guy getting all those calls—‘can you get me in?’ I also opened Forty-Deuce and was the general manager—I was running two of the hot spots in L.A. at the same time.” All work and no play, though, made Chad a dull boy. And there was the other problem: He was a gay guy who spent 19 hours a day at straight clubs. “My whole life was work—I was running all these straight bars, so I kind of had a double life. I was the guy in a suit with an earpiece in charge of eight giant security guys at Hollywood and Vine.”

After a few other moves and some crafty, entrepreneurial ventures, Chad got a phone call. They say it’s who you know in L.A., but that’s only half the battle. “You have to impress them—they have to like you, or they won’t help you. I could always deliver the goods once the doors were opened to me. I will talk to anybody and genuinely engage with them. I reach out to everyone. The most important thing is our human interaction.” His business partners had a great idea—an idea with a past and, they hope, a future.

A sense of history and an appreciation for human connection have inspired Chad’s new adventure: remaking the notorious West Hollywood bar, Numbers. “This is not a new club—it’s a new incarnation of an iconic place. We wanted to remake Numbers—we remodeled, we wanted to make it classier—back to the glamour. It has a 33-year-long legacy. Everybody missed it. The vision was simple: Let’s take a mixed-age clientele and infuse it together and create a fun environment with the right kind of mix. Having friends of every age is so much fun. I love hearing the stories, getting advice from my older friends.”

In a time when new development seems to be taking over the old neighborhood, it’s nice to see an effort to reach back to what made West Hollywood the gay enclave we still love. Numbers is one of those original places. Chad and his partners do more than nod at the past. They wink at it—and at their clientele. “We had this great idea to have ‘the hustle continues’ as our tagline. We embrace that history and image and have fun with it. At the end of the day, we’re selling fun. What goes on when people leave Numbers is not my business.” With $5 martinis and one of the best views in WeHo—inside and out—I think Chad will have lots of us bellying up to the bar to tell stories, make friends, and savor this intoxicating mix of past and present.