Where to Drink in Los Angeles
Jan 26 '02
The Bottom Line Drink early and often.
Finding a good place to booze in L.A may seem a daunting task. It seems to puzzle our friend Megugirl from SF, at least according to one of her more recent epinions. Even Repulsemonkey, who lives in Hollywood, seemed a bit puzzled. Well, I've been living in Silver Lake for four years now, and I have, I think, a pretty good idea of where to drink, at least there and in the nearby Echo Park, Los Feliz and Hollywood neighborhoods. So join me now as we crawl our way Hollywood and east on this little tour.
Hollywood actually has a number of pretty good bars although it is a scummy place in general. Musso & Franks on Hollywood near Highland is the classic place--I mean Phillip Marllowe used to drink vodka gimlets there. Hard to get a seat, but the martinis are worth it. The food is good but expensive. You can almost always get a table, but you have to spend something like $20 a head on food if you do. The Burgendy Room on Cahuenga is a good place. Sometimes they have a dj playing things like the Damned, but when they don't, they have a good jukebox full of scratchy 45. It's a good mix of a hole in the wall bar and a scenester one, except for the bathroom. The Frolic Room on Hollywood next to the Pantages is a classic dive--don't let the art deco neon sign fool you. Last, if you want to enjoy some exotic dancing along with your suds, Jumbo's Clown Room on Hollywood near Normandy is the place to go, actually being a damn good bar in addition to a (female friendly) gentleman's club, featuring liquor and a good selection of imports at reasonable prices given the type of establishment(eg. Bass on tap for about $4 a pint). The dancers come in a variety of shapes and sizes and you have a pretty good chance of seeing Lemmy at the bar if you go.
The Los Feliz area east of Hollywood has some good bars. My favorite is the Drawing Room on Hilhurst near Franklin, and there is a good bar across the street called Ye Olde Rustic Inn. They both have a good, neighborhood bar kind of feeling; the Drawing Room gets the nod because it tends to be less crowded, less smokey, has a better jukebox and, to quote an ex-girlfriend, a "Boobalicious" bartender. Having said that, the Rustic does have a good & inexpensive kitchen if you can get a table or at least a surface upon which to eat. A lot of people like the Good Luck bar on Hilhurst; I'll grant that it does have a very good juke box, good drinks and Chinese lanterns, but it tends to be too much of a scene for my liking and the door staff tends to get on a Studio 54 trip and arbitrarily lay down rules about who can and can't enter on a given night. I suggest giving it a miss and heading down to Akbar at Sunset and Hyperion. A straight bar that is gay friendly, or a gay bar that is straight friendly? No one seems to know for certain which, but it draws a friendly, mixed crowd, has a good selection of drinks and a killer jukebox ranging from classic soul to Tom Waits, with a lot of real rock and some jazz in between. Best visited Sunday-Thursday; too crowded on the weekends.
This takes us basically into Silver Lake. Silver Lake has several notable establishments. The 4100 Bar at the point where Santa Monica and Sunset Boulevards meet is a relatively new club that has a large circular bar an interesting decor. The Garage, further down Santa Monica towards Hollywood is one of three good rock clubs; the Sunday matinee (& I think the Wednesday night free showcase) also features $1 drafts. The Silverlake Lounge has a really good and diverse selection of national and local bands during most weeknights (I've seen the Handsome Family and the Flying Luttenbachers there, to name two extremes). The rest of the time, the Lounge is basically a latino gay bar, with drag shows on the weekends. I should add that the bartenders are exceptionally friendly, which is always nice. Spaceland, four blocks north on Silver Lake, has a well-stocked bar and live music seven nights a week. The staff is great and I've seen some really great bands there--everything from R.L Burnside to members of CAN, along with all the local bands. The last stop in Silver Lake is past the reservoir about a mile or so, to the right of Silver Lake on Glendale Bl. There we'll find the Red Lion, an authentic German gasthaus and biergarten. Not a good place for vegetarians to eat, but a great place for sausage and draught Spaten. The dirndl-clad and friendly waitstaff is another added attraction.
A little further east in Echo Park on Sunset near Alvarado, we'll find the Taix restaurant and lounge, one of my very favorite places. The first and only place we've surveyed that has a noteworthy wine list, they also have all kinds of exotic booze to drink and a four star menu at a reasonable price. They also have a big screen TV and free food at happy hour in the lounge. I enjoy watching Dodgers baseball there with their very knowledgeable bartender Hector. The Short Stop, about another mile east on Sunset, used to be a big hangout for the notorious cops of the Rampart division. Now it's a scenester bar owned by a small-time ex-rock star (Greg Dulli, ex-Afghan Whig) that is worth stopping by after a Dodger game. (it's two blocks from Elysian Park, the road you take up to the stadium)
This is a quick run-down of where I do most of my hanging out. There are some good bars out of the area, for instance the HMS Bounty, in the Gaylord Hotel in Mid-Wilshire, where I am going tonight for a friend's birthday, but they are going to have to wait for another epinion. I'm kind of sick of this as a colloquialism, but it seems appropriate here: Cheers!
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