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All the United States California McKittrick Penny Bar
Penny Bar is permanently closed.

This entry remains in the Atlas as a record of its history, but it is no longer accessible to visitors.

Penny Bar

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

McKittrick, California

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sama83
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The Penny Bar   Penny Bar on Facebook
The Penny Bar   Penny Bar on Facebook
The Penny Bar in progress.   Penny Bar on Facebook
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The Penny Bar   Penny Bar on Facebook
Detail of the bar top.   James Ricci / Atlas Obscura User
Penny covered billiards table.   Cusac / Atlas Obscura User
  James Ricci / Atlas Obscura User
  Avoiding Regret
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About

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.

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Added By

sama83

Edited By

Avoiding Regret, Blindcolour, Deathlok25, EricGrundhauser...

  • Avoiding Regret
  • Blindcolour
  • Deathlok25
  • EricGrundhauser
  • James Ricci
  • Cusac

Published

September 24, 2014

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Sources
  • http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/23680
  • http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/07/us/07penny.html?fta=y&_r=0
  • http://www.yelp.com/biz/mike-and-annies-mckittrick-hotel-penny-bar-and-cafe-mckittrick
Penny Bar
23273 Highway 33
McKittrick, California, 93251
United States
35.300302, -119.624516
Get Directions

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Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of California

California

United States

Places 1,494
Stories 135

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Wallace Creek

Santa Margarita, California

miles away

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Photo of California

California

United States

Places 1,494
Stories 135

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