Source: Press release and  Gay Wired
It is a fight that has raged on nearly as long as the war in Iraq, but the battle in this instance is not against terrorism but to save one of Laguna Beach’s oldest gay watering holes, the landmark Coast Inn and Boom Boom Room which has now been closed for nearly five months.

Thought to have been the oldest continuously operating gay bar in the U.S., the Boom Boom Room began life in the 1920s as a serviceman’s bar before showing its true colors -- and attracting a predominantly LGBT clientele -- in the 1940s.

As reported earlier by GayWired.com, although the bar made headlines in the past for attracting the likes of Rock Hudson, Paul Lynde (Uncle Arthur on Bewitched) and Bette Midler, more recent headlines have trumpeted its owners’ struggles to attract even its bread-and-butter clientele.

The bar closed its doors in September, but efforts to restore it have continued.

The latest twist in the ongoing Southern California melodrama surrounding the once-popular gay bar finds www.savetheboom.com kicking off its 2008 campaign to save the establishment with an appeal to the current owner, Steven Udvar-Hazy, to either donate or sell his property to a buyer who will keep it as a gay establishment.

Udvar-Hazy is the CEO of International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) in Los Angeles, and he was ranked the 83rd richest American on the 2007 Forbes list with a net worth of $3.1 billion. ILFC is a wholly-owned division of American International Group, Inc. , the world's largest Insurance and Financial Services Company.

According to a press release, the Coast Inn and the Boom Boom Room in which it is located was put up for sale by Udvar-Hazy in May 2007. There have been scores of interested buyers in discussions with Udvar-Hazy and his real estate representative, Joe Smith of Monarch Bay Realty, but no sale has taken place.

“Our efforts to save our landmark building have been going on for close to 2 years," says Fred Karger, Founder of SAVE the BOOM!. Karger is a former actor and retired Republication political consultant.

“So, today, we will launch “Operation Post Card,” our post card campaign to Mr. Udvar-Hazy to appeal to his sense of fairness and kindness and generosity to help us save the Boom -- forever,” said Karger.

“Thousands of yellow post cards have been printed and we hope to fill his Los Angeles office with them. We will be getting as many people to sign and mail them to Mr. Udvar-Hazy as we can until this historic property returns to the way it has been for over 60 years,” Karger continued.

The campaign urges Udvar-Hazy to donate the property to the city of Laguna Beach or to a newly created Trust that will administer the property.

The press release notes that Udvar-Hazy is a generous man who donated nearly $70 million dollars to the Smithsonian to create The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of The National Air and Space Museum, near Washington Dulles International Airport.

"The donation of the Coast Inn located at 1401 S. Coast Highway could be an excellent federal and state tax deduction for him. He would be a hero to millions of gays and lesbians across the country who support our cause," said Karger.

Before the bar was closed in September, Karger  placed an ad in Variety pleading with George Clooney and Brad Pitt (who had been rumored to be involved in the property at one point) to get involved in the campaign. “We are appealing to both of you to buy our 60-year-old landmark before it is converted into a boutique hotel,” the ad stated.

"It's melancholy inside those walls," Karger said in the Orange County Register as its staff prepared to shut down the operation last year. "I'm sad this chapter is ending but optimistic that the next chapter we're entering will lead to a happy ending. It's been a landmark for six decades, and we will not rest until it returns as a gay landmark."

Anyone interested in helping Operation Post Card, can email savetheboom@aol.com or call 949-494-4750.

Full article: Steven Udvar-Hazy Asked to Save Gay Bar | CNN Money (press release)
GayWired.com - Efforts to Save Boom Boom Room Roll On
Without Clooney and Pitt, Can Anyone Save the Boom? | Gay Wired
Historic Boom Boom Room Serves its Last Drink | Gay Wired