"A world famous "biker" bar turns snitch!
During the recent Hollister Rally a couple of infamous club members walked in and smacked and kicked a patron and left. The cops came and left after the owner offered the cops a surveillance video. A week later the owner got up before the Hollister City Council and the Chief of Police and publicly announced she had more video if it was needed!
JOHNNY'S Â will forever be known as a "snitch bar". Be forewarned!
We stopped in here and were treated rudely when she got around to serving us. Â Drinks were thin and expensive - yes we are caucasion tourists. Â The locals at the bar acted like we were somehow invading their space, or taking up one of their stools. Â It was disappointing. Â We left and went around the corner to an awsome hispanic based bike bar / pool hall where we spent the evening having a great time with locals and people watching.
Review Source:This place is pretty much the embodiment of small town USA (Hollister, CA). Johnny's is an alright place if you have absolutely no expectations of a night out. The patrons are all very old & seem to be drinking their sorrows away. Cheap drinks on the plus side. On the minus side, no young crowd & music is on the lame side. It's not so much the establishment that keeps me away, it's more the people of this sorry one horse town that make me prefer to drink a cold one at home.
Review Source:Been going to Friday night karaoke for few years now.  It's always fun.  Kat, the bartender is  nice, and is always ready with my soda.  It's always fun to see who shows up.  Love going to karaoke for Halloween especially.  Karaoke is also on Thursday, but since I work on Friday mornings, Friday is my only option.  I show up as often as I choose and it always proves to be fun, no matter how often I go.  Overall, It's always fun on karaoke night.
Review Source:It's a good place to grab a drink with friends. I believe bars should be open until 2:00 am but this bar seems to close early (like 10 pm early) every once in a while. I prefer to sit in the back patio where it isn't as crowded as inside. Overall, for Hollister, this is as good as it gets but that's not saying much.
Review Source:Spent Halloween here. Â It was karaoke night and our group pretty much took over the place. Â The karaoke MC/DJ had the most amazing voice, he apparently is there every Thursday.
The drinks were cheap, the bartenders nice, it was a really fun night! Â We even won 3rd place in the Karaoke Costume contest! Â $15 for drinks - which bought us 3. Â Ha! Â The crowd here tends to be older, maybe 40s or 50s, I think it's originally a biker bar - there was definitely a wide and varied mix of people that night. Â But we all got along, sang to each others' songs, danced with each other, drank together. Â It was awesome. Â Shout outs to Stella and her friend, the Senior Center dance instructor, the guy who has a wife and kids at home, and the cougar who danced with Joe!
I've only been for Karaoke, so I can't speak to the rest.
My friends and I are a bunch of 20-something ruffians who will inevitably do the Violent Femmes at least once over the course of the evening.
However, we get along just great with the girls who like to belt country songs and the old timers who do Johnny Cash.
Actually, we all like Johnny Cash.
Hollister is a cowtown, no bones about it. But our cowtown roots are so much more interesting than the bland suburban strip mall we're in danger of becoming (See: Gilroy).
I love that generations and musical genres mix here. It's a nice atmosphere. I think at first glance it might even seem cliquey because there are so many regulars. But if you come regularly, you'll be a regular too.
OK Food but the place is a freaking DIVE! Better wear a flea collar before you go here, I can't understand why everyone gave it such a good review.
Last time I went there they served me a NY steak sandwich slathered in MAYONAISE! Â WTF? Â When I complained the waitress got rude..... Never again.
This place is awesome!!! We came here while in Hollister looking for a place to watch the Vikings game and relax, eat and drink. My husband saw the sign from the street and we walked in.
We were immediately greeted by locals with lots of love! They came over to introduce themselves, get us involved in the football poll going on and buying us drinks! They even gave us a slice of pizza that someone had ordered. It was a very welcoming and a place I would come to often if I lived in Hollister.
This place also does lots of charity events to raise money for charities and people in need. On their website they post events and are actively involved in the city of Hollister.
This place is not your typical bar....it is a place where as cliche as it sounds "Where everybody knows your name, and they're always glad you came."
I definitely will be back....love love love the people here!
*Updated PG-13 Version* So a bunch of my homies are Boozefighters and one of the first things they introduced me to as a new buddy was Johnny's a while back. HOLY POOP!!! I never knew you could have such a friggin great time in Hollister, and it helped that one of my cohorts lives down the street so no DUI and a place to sleep it off, hell yeah!! Kat and Johnny(bouncer, not named after him) are friggin killer. I cant count how many times ive been here now, St Patty parties, BFMC 4th of July, criminy, just to drink and forget and this place never gets old, im sure the company has something to do with it too but hey...
If you're in Hollister have a drink here, if anything for the nostalgic aspect of it, this is a living legend, and by all means try the food, it is outstanding!
So I might be a bit bias being that I was raised in Hollister and both my dad & bf are Boozefighters but I will say that Johnny's is my favorite neighborhood bar.
I have been going to Johnny's for many years and it's always a good time. Â Of course nothing does compare to the 4th of July weekend! Â But big or small crowd we have fun! Â We love going there on Friday nights and listening to tone deaf people (yours truly included) Â belt out all different types of music. Â Cat the bartender is a kickass kinda women and mixes a mean drink. Â The drinks are reasonably priced and the people watching is a blast.
This is literally ground-zero for just about all that is modern Americana.
On July 4th, 1947 the AMA sponsored a motorcycle "gypsy" rally and  race. Motorcycle clubs from all over the state converged on this sleepy little farm town. When the event sold out to capacity, many of the riders, including the Boozefighters Motorcycle Club made their way to Main Street. The local sheriff, in a move to keep the crowd under control, cordoned off the street, so the bikers could race and do stunts without any harm to the local population.  In one case, Boozefighter, at the urging of other club members, rode his Indian into Johnny's bar, where he was told he could park it against the wall by the owner.
Later on, acting on a tip, a Life magazine photographer and San Francisco newspaper reporter arrived a day late. Not wanting to leave without something, an article was fabricated, and an infamous phototo was stage, which both later on went on to inspire the movie 'The Wild One.'
The rest, as they say, is history.
Jumping to modern times, there's a lot of reasons to stop into Johnny's. First, the drink prices are quite reasonable- depending on what is ordered- year round. Secondly, the food is not too bad- especially when one keep in mind that it is being ordered in a bar. The one and only drawback, is that the week/weekend of July 4th, it is nearly impossible to get in or get a drink- unless you happen to be a Boozefighter (or you show up at 6AM). So stop in, order a beer and a burger, and give a toast to Boozefighter Wino Willie Forkner's ashes (which are displayed on the wall), and soak up the history and mystic of the place where so much of American life started.