Penny Bar – McKittrick, California - Atlas Obscura
Penny Bar is permanently closed.

Penny Bar

McKittrick, California

Hidden in the back of a disused small town hotel is a dive bar shellacked with over a million pennies. 

84
611

Located in the tiny California town of Mckittrick, Mike and Annie’s Penny Bar is a small watering hole that has been covered from floor to ceiling to television to pool table in hand-glued pennies. 

More people than not have at some point developed an ever increasing collection of pennies that they have no idea what to do with. Most simply wait for their copper pile to reach critical mass before dumping it in front of some poor bank teller, but Annie Moore, after purchasing a small dive bar with her husband, decided to put her change to better use. Gang-pressing her long-suffering husband into the effort, Moore glued a layer of pennies, edge to edge on every surface of the bar. After burning through her initial stash, the Moores received donations from friends and family and currently the now completely covered bar is said to contain over a million pennies. The floor alone is estimated to be carpeted in over 200,000 coins, with the rest covering the television, the bar, the walls, the pool table, and the bathroom doors. Hidden messages and bar signs are spelled out using tarnished coins juxtaposed against mint ones among the golden cacophony as well.   

In a town whose population has been described as around 190 (if you are counting cats and dogs), the local bar is often a home away from home (for better or worse), and unlike many such situations, this second home may be richer than the first one. 

Update: As of September 17, 2022, the Penny Bar has shut its doors forever.

In partnership with KAYAK

Plan Your Trip

From Around the Web