Have you seen the beautifully lit star in the patio garden at Pearl Hour? "Star Light" was built in 1984 by Kevin Hartley, the owner of Monterey’s legendary gay bar, After Dark, located here at 214 Lighthouse Avenue in Monterey, 1975-1999.
Back in the day, the star shone down on everyone from its place on the roof above the doors that go from the upper patio to the inside bar. But the star went dormant during the two ownership changes between After Dark and Pearl Hour. It returned in 2019, when Zeeek lovingly resurrected this beautiful light source and fastened it to the cement wall in preparation for Pearl Hour's first New Year’s Eve party. It has remained there to this day.
In the evenings, when the sky is dark and the patio garden is dimly lit, look at the purple wall, have someone take a close up picture of your face and you’ll see… there are stars in your eyes.
New information: soon after we posted this information from Pearl Hour, the NMBA webmaster received a message from Sal Carbone, former owner of Carbone's Bar, located where Pearl Hour is now.
Sal claims the star was made by DeMaria, who owned the bar back when it was called Stars. Sal found the star on the roof of the back bar when he opened Carbone's, put it back together, plugged it in, and hung it on the roof of the bar for all the airline pilots and flight attendants (who were Carbone's regulars) to see when they flew over New Monterey.
