Short Stop Bar History: Cop Corruption, Murder & A Girl Gang (VIDEO)

LOS ANGELES - The Short Stop is a popular hipster dive bar in LA's Echo Park neighborhood. Down the street from Dodger Stadium, it's also a hoppin' stop before a ballgame (hence the name).

But it's no newcomer to the area, which has been quickly gentrified in the last ten years. In his short documentary above, Rory Mitchell reveals the bar's seedy history of murder, corruption and even a fur-stealing girl gang.

The bar first rose to notoriety as the LAPD cop bar "where bad cops go to be bad," as blog LA, I'm Yours put it. In particular, LAPD Rafael Perez used to have his sips there. Perez was at the center of the LAPD Rampart scandal and was implicated in the assassination of rapper Biggie Smalls.

But in-the-know Angelenos all know how this story ends. The joint went from being a fur and taxidermy store to a laundromat to what's now the best soul dance party in town.