LA Bars? Clubs? Lounges? Waterin Holes?

[fiopadp7791]

On the basis of 4 Ohioans wanting suggestions on where to eat- what about bars, clubs, lounges to hit up on a Tue or Wed night in the LA area? I know this has been discussed briefly in the LA thread, but any suggestions from dive bars to swank spots would be cool. Thanks.

[chingonlou]

The Tiki Ti is awesome! just be sure to get there early because it's ridiculously tiny

[whynotsmile99]

i'll meet ya there

[TheScenestar]

[tessalasset]

I'd suggest a bar in Santa Monica on Wilshire called Renee's. It's one of my favorite bars on the west side during the week. On the weekends it gets jam packed with guys, which is great for me but not for you (I assume you are a dude for some reason). It has a super cute spanish mission style outdoor courtyard with white christmas lights up all year round. Decently priced alcohol for Santa Monica.

I also suggest The Gaslite just up the street for a karaoke place. On the weekends it's horrendous and so packed with the greek system that you can't even cross the room, but during the week it's pretty chill.

One of the cheapest dive bars I've been to on the west side is Backstage in Culver City right next to the Sony lot. On Tuesdays they have $2 well drinks & domestic beers. They used to have a Rock Band contest on Mondays but they don't have it up on their website anymore so I don't know if that changed.

A pretty good club I just went to on Saturday was called the V Lounge, which is actually right next door to the Gaslite. So you could hit up both if you wanted. Get a good buzz going at Gaslite and then roll into V Lounge for some dancing cause their drinks are way overpriced. It didn't get busy til about 10:30 or 11 on Saturday, but it was a great mix of people and it felt very comfortable. There was a decent mash up DJ...sort of a Z Trip-lite, if you will.

There's also a slew of bars within walking distance of each other on Main Street in Santa Monica. Finn McCool's, O'Briens, Rick's Tavern, and Library Alehouse.

Oh I will also suggest The Speak Easy on Pico up by Santa Monica College. It's super divey, but not in the cool hipster way. You'll probably be the youngest person there.

[bmack86]

Wurstkuche's always a good time in downtown, they have a good belgian beer selection and fantastic sausages. I've heard Golden Gopher in downtown is supposed to be really good as well. I've been to 7 Grand, and they mix some fantastic whiskey based cocktails and have a good jukebox, so if that sort of stuff tickles your fancy, it's fun. A little more high brow than the dives I tend to prefer, but it didn't seem pretentious to me when I went.

[roscoemule]

Are you looking for loungy hip? Or something more on the dive side? What part of town are you staying in?
L.A. "scenes": The Mondrian Hotel pool bar (Skybar) $$$$; The Standard Hotel on Sunset or their rooftop downtown $$$; The Viceroy in Santa Monica; Bar Marmount on Sunset; Mixville Bar in Silverlake!!
Old School LA Bars: The Formosa; The Dresden; Cat & Fiddle (English Pub meets LA chic amazing patio); El Carmen (good, fun tequila bar)
Dives: The Brig (Abbot/Kinney); The Frolic Room (Hollywood)

[tessalasset]

I second the Standard downtown if you've never been. Their rooftop deck is amazing. Right in the middle of all the sky scrapers.



also second the Viceroy if you can snag a cabana by the pool. it's a couple blocks from the beach in santa monica.



and i second the Cat & Fiddle. that was the first bar i'd ever been to in la and i was 19 at the time so they don't always card cause it's a restaurant too.





and here are some pics of the ones i mentioned earlier. i like visuals.

Renee's during the day:


The Gaslite (it's tiny)


Backstage


V Lounge


Finn McCool's


O'Brien's


Rick's


Library Alehouse

[Dr. Lufs-al-ot]

Blue Room
916 South San Fernando Boulevard
Burbank, CA 91502
(323) 849-2779

[whynotsmile99]

The Corner Bar (right next to The Blue Room) has or at least used to have really good Chinese Food

[Drinkey McDrinkerstein]

Blue Room
916 South San Fernando Boulevard
Burbank, CA 91502
(323) 849-2779

I would actually recommend that people stay far away from this place

[fiopadp7791]

i'll meet ya there

Done. How does Tuesday night sound? I'll PM ya. If anyone else wants to meet for a drink or 10 before heading out to Indio early Thursday lemme know.

Guys, thanks for all the suggestions. Feel free to keep them coming. Very helpful.

[hendrixfan143]

Wurstkuche's always a good time in downtown, they have a good belgian beer selection and fantastic sausages. I've heard Golden Gopher in downtown is supposed to be really good as well. I've been to 7 Grand, and they mix some fantastic whiskey based cocktails and have a good jukebox, so if that sort of stuff tickles your fancy, it's fun. A little more high brow than the dives I tend to prefer, but it didn't seem pretentious to me when I went.

wurstkuche is absolutely the shit. go there

[roscoemule]

Bigfoot Lodge & Bigfoot Lodge West


Beauty Bar



Bar Marmont


Formosa

[tessalasset]

Bigfoot West is badass.
Which Beauty Bar is that?

[roscoemule]

Good eye. NYC...Thought it was the one on N. Cahuenga. Here's the LA one...

[tessalasset]

Oh funny. I knew it wasn't the Cahuenga one but for some reason I thought there was more than one in LA.

[roscoemule]

I'm a sucker for the photo booth with the different haircuts.

[Theijuiel]

The Edison. This place also has a number of Absinthe brands and a great meat and cheese tray.

The Varnish.

The Library Bar.

The Library Bar has some great fries fried in pork fat, and they also have bone marrow *takes about 40 minutes to cook*.

[Drinkey McDrinkerstein]

I thought the Beauty Bar on Cahuenga closed down over a year ago...am i wrong?

EDIT: NEEEEVER MIND, I was thinking about Star Shoes.

[donkey sex]

normally the main focus is the drink itself and nothing else, but have been meaning to go to the Jorge Pardo designed ‘Mountain Bar’ in Chinatown for chunks of floating lava:

[ThomThom]

The Edison. This place also has a number of Absinthe brands and a great meat and cheese tray.

The Varnish.

The Library Bar.

The Library Bar has some great fries fried in pork fat, and they also have bone marrow *takes about 40 minutes to cook*.

I have three more really great bars in LA to accompany Theijuiel's fantastic recommendations...

The Roger Room - http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-roger-room-los-angeles





The Tar Pit - http://www.tarpitbar.com/




Bar Lubitsch - http://www.yelp.com/biz/bar-lubitsch-west-hollywood

[Duvel]

Library Alehouse is great

[seanyb]

Hey
just a question, what's the dress code for bars in LA/other places?
I'm planning on back packing around so don't really want to have to dress up/wear non-sneakers

[Ardentbiscuit]

Hey
just a question, what's the dress code for bars in LA/other places?
I'm planning on back packing around so don't really want to have to dress up/wear non-sneakers

It varies from place to place. From a couple above.

Red Lion and the such don't have dress codes.

But the Standard definitely has a dress code and they tend let in more women than men (you'll find that with the trendier spots).

You should definitely check ahead so you don't get to the door and meet an obnoxious bouncer who ruins your night.

Honestly, I don't like Jumbo's Clown Room. It's a kind of strip bar where the girls wear pasties. The bar tender doesn't bar tend they use one those annoying robo vend machines. The crowd is full of hipsters. I guess it's fine if you like hipsters.

Of the trendier bars I love the Edison..very cool inside..who doesn't love a place with awesome decor and on certain nights they girls dressed as fairies selling Absinthe. The Absinthe Champagne cocktail is very nice!

http://www.edisondowntown.com/

Of the more mellow places, I love the Redwood, who doesn't love a pirate themed bar?

http://www.theredwoodbar.com/site08/homewiframe.htm

[ShyGuy75]

some god awful rec's on this thread.

dive bar: Coach and Horses on Sunset and Curson.

dark bar w/ great food serving till 1am: Jones on Santa Monica and Formosa

both listed have great jukeboxes

[Ardentbiscuit]

Jones and Formosa are cool!

When No Life records use to be down by Jones I popped in and Thurston Moore was having cocktails with Mike D. Ad Rock and MCA. Pretty epic!

One of my co-workers got beaten up at Coach and Horses by some guys who said he looked gay because he wore a one of those frilly shirts. What do you want? He's from England, he's stylish.

[algunz]

The Lava Room on La Brea and Sunset is fun.

[fiopadp7791]

Guys,

Thanks for all the awesome suggestions... keep em comin

[natureboy]

I'm bringing a friend to Barney's Beanery on Wednesday night. Old (West) Hollywood "dive" that used to be Jim Morrison & Janis Jopplin's hang out. Warning, there will be Karaoke on Weds night. Cool stop to check out in the day too. Bar food, nothing special. Don't be fooled by the imitation ones in Santa Monica, Burbank, or Pasadena.









Barney's Beanery
Categories: Sports Bars, American (Traditional)
Neighborhood: West Hollywood
8447 Santa Monica Blvd
West Hollywood, CA 90069
(323) 654-2287
www.barneysbeanery.com/