As Coyote Ugly celebrates its 25-year anniversary, the founder of the infamous bar lifted the lid on some wild New York nights, and what the classic rom-com got right.
On August 4, 2000, our lives were changed when the movie hit the big screen, following Piper Perabo’s budding songwriter Violet Sanford as she moved to New York with dreams of hitting the big time.
Unfortunately, her plans didn’t quite work out and she stumbled across Coyote Ugly, a popular venue in the Big Apple where she landed a job behind the bar and danced on top of it, to help overcome her stage fright.
Yellowjackets favorite Melanie Lynskey, Tyra Banks, Bridget Moynahan, Maria Bello, Adam Garcia and John Goodman also made up the cast, while LeAnn Rimes made a cameo at the end to belt out her iconic hit, Can’t Fight The Moonlight, from the soundtrack.
What may surprise many to learn is that the venue is actually a real, functioning place where staff and customers can let loose on the bar, and have a ridiculously fun night out.
Liliana ‘Lil’ Lovell opened the doors to the East Village saloon at the age of 25, on January 27, 1993 – 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 locations around the world and a star-studded flick.
She began bartending when she was at university and it wasn’t long before she gained notoriety for her antics behind the bar, which led to her very own venture in NYC, and eventually spawned a string of others around the world – there are five Coyote Ugly locations in the UK alone.
Previously speaking to Metro to celebrate the OG bar’s 30th birthday, she touched on where the idea came from, telling us: ‘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.
‘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.’
The bar hit a level of success when Hollywood came calling, thanks to a GQ article written by former bartender Elizabeth Gilbert, who shed light on her unique experience as a Coyote.
Spilling the beans on the film, the founder – portrayed by Maria Bello – explained that they didn’t get everything quite right in front of the camera.
‘That was a fictionalized script,’ she continued. ‘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!
‘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 said of the reaction from 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.’
It has been 32 years since Lil took a chance on herself and the businesswoman has shown no signs of backing down.
In fact, there are around 20 locations now, and the chain returned to screens recently when the Real Housewives of Atlanta stars got to grips with the bar during a trip to Nashville, in the current season of the Bravo show.
One of the things she credits for her accomplishments so far is the familial ‘culture’ that she implemented from the second people walk through the doors – but 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.’
However, the most important aspect for Lil is that everyone simply just enjoys themselves, as 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!’
This article was originally published on January 29, 2023.
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.