Entertainment
Coyote Ugly founder Liliana Lovell on wild nights behind bar and what star-studded film got right as iconic New York institution turns 30-Rishma Dosani-Entertainment – Metro
A true New York landmark.
The real-life Coyote Ugly bar is the stuff of legends (Picture: Getty/@coyoteuglynyc)
Coyote Ugly founder Liliana ‘Lil’ Lovell has lifted the lid on the wild success of her infamous bar – and the iconic film it inspired – as the New York institution celebrates its 30-year anniversary.
Lil threw open the doors to the East Village saloon at the age of 25, on January 27, 1993, having already established her presence in the bar scene through other jobs.
Although she had an inkling that it would be a successful venture, there was no telling that it would grow into a huge chain with more than 25 locations around the world, a big screen flick and so much more.
Speaking to Metro.co.uk ahead of the huge anniversary party at the original location, Lil delved into her success so far, confessing that the celebrations make her feel ‘very old’.
‘I’m incredibly proud of the company but I don’t like to think about 30 years,’ she told us. ‘That just makes me feel very old, so to me, I’m just pretending it’s just a regular anniversary!
‘One of the things I’m most proud of is more of the business end. [Friday] is 30 years in New York, but [this week] was 21 years of Coyote Ugly New Orleans. I’m very proud of that – the business end of it.’
Lili attended the premiere of the film in New York City (Picture: RJ Capak/WireImage)
Lil began bartending when she was at university and stuck with it while also landing a job on Wall Street, before opting to take on the career full-time, and has never looked back.
She gained notoriety for her antics behind the bar – as well as on top of it – and soon opened the doors to her very own venture, the world-famous Coyote Ugly Saloon in New York, which spawned a string of other venues spanning the globe.
Discussing where the idea came from, she continued: ‘That was my bartending style, so when I opened Coyote, it was just very natural to me to get on the bar. Some of it, honestly, probably is because I’m short! If it was crowded further back in the room, I would stand on the bar to get their attention.
Coyote Ugly was released in 2000 and became an instant classic (Picture: Getty)
‘I’m not a good dancer but I was very good at having people have a good time. That’s how I worked, and then as I started hiring more women, they all had something. You have a singer, you have a good dancer, you have somebody who is just quirky and funny, and it all just worked.
‘It’s interesting that people like to romanticize the front of the house. When you walk as a customer of Coyote, you’re buying drinks, you’re seeing the girls dancing, you’re watching all the wild antics, but the reality is I’m a businesswoman and there’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes to create that.’
It wasn’t all drinking and dancing, as Lil insisted that there was a lot of hard work involved – including many days where she started work at 9am, and didn’t arrive home again until following morning.
But the bar hit a level of success that she hadn’t anticipated when Hollywood came calling, thanks to a GQ article written by former bartender Elizabeth Gilbert, who shone the spotlight on her unique experiences.
Spilling the beans on the 2000 film, which starred Tyra Banks, Piper Perabo, Adam Garcia and Maria Bello – who played the founder – she explained that they didn’t get everything quite right on the big screen.
‘That was a fictionalized script,’ she said. ‘They would call me to ask me, “Hey, any fun bar antics we could put in?” But the character, that love story, was all fictional. They were writing that themselves.
‘The things that bugged me are one, never in a million years would I buy the whole bar a round. Never!
Maria Bello played Lil in the big screen flick – starring opposite Piper Perabo (Picture: Getty)
‘And then at the end, my character closes the whole bar down just to go see her play. Who the f**k in their right mind would do that? Nobody.
‘It’s so funny, because I’m very proud that the movie came out and obviously it helped me expand my business. But little things like that drive me nuts.’
‘Personally, for me, it’s been weird because I fancy myself a businessperson,’ she revealed of the reaction from impressed fans. ‘So, when all of a sudden, people are coming and asking if they can get their picture taken with you or your autograph… It’s still, to this day, weird for me.
‘I’ve had to tweak that and realize this made a big impact on their lives, they love the movie. So I have to tell myself, I have a responsibility to make sure people are having a good time. I’m proud that they love Coyote Ugly, but it was weird for me.’
Just before the film was released, Lil actually considered opening her very own organic, healthy food chain, with the hopes of turning it into a franchise – but switched gears at the perfect time, focusing on opening Coyote chains around the country, with locations in Tampa, Daytona, Las Vegas, Nashville and more.
She also took steps to make her brand international, opening up bars in the UK, Russia and Germany so far – not to mention a reality TV show, merchandise and alcohol.
The businesswoman is showing no signs of backing down now that her first bar has hit the 30-year mark, and is hoping to branch out into hotels and more products, with more of a focus on charity work.
There is no doubt in her mind that, with ‘a good business plan and good marketing strategy’ the bar would still be a raving success if it launched today.
One of the things she credits for the accomplishments is the familial ‘culture’ that she has implemented from the second people walk through the doors.
‘Between the staff and the regulars, we create these little environments that are like home,’ she said, sharing that they would host huge Easter and Thanksgiving meals for everyone around before the workday would begin.
Nights at the real Coyote Ugly bar can get wild (Picture: Spencer Platt/Newsmakers)
‘We always created a family environment. To this day, if somebody doesn’t have somewhere to go for Thanksgiving, we would bring in turkeys and stuff so that everybody felt like they weren’t alone. So those are some of my favorite memories, just how these people become like family to you.
That’s not to say that things haven’t been raunchy, as she laughed: ‘I’ve got a lot of wild stories. I’ve had a lot of sex in my bars.
‘Last night, I actually took some of my newer, corporate staff to visit one of my original bartenders. I’ve known her for 35 years and she had us over for dinner last night, so she was telling some stories. Again, it involved a lot of sex with me – not her and me but me and guys! I was telling my new corporate staff, “See! I got laid a LOT those early years!”’
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However, the most important aspect for Lil is that everyone simply just enjoys themselves.
She added: ‘The biggest thing for me is that everybody has a good time at Coyote Ugly, I don’t care what walk of life you’re in. It always made me proud that it doesn’t matter. You can come in by yourself and stay for four hours, and have a ball and meet people.
‘I love that it’s wild, but still like Cheers, too!’
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