West Hollywood & Mid-City
It's been called the best gay bar in the world, and who are we to argue? Once a humble coffeehouse, the Abbey has expanded into the bar/club/restaurant of…
Must-see nightlife in Southern California
Downtown Los Angeles & Boyle Heights
On the roof of the Intercontinental Hotel, Spire 73 proclaims to be the tallest rooftop bar in the western hemisphere. From its spot on the 73rd story,…
Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Brentwood & Westwood
For a classic LA experience, dress up and swill martinis in the Beverly Hills Hotel's legendary bar. Charlie Chaplin had a standing lunch reservation at…
Downtown Los Angeles & Boyle Heights
This cool, influential Copenhagen import puts a contemporary spin on the old beer hall. Fitted out with booths, communal bar tables and cartoon artwork by…
Long Beach & San Pedro
Adjacent to Retro Row, this nautical-themed dive bar, owned by Chris Reece of the band Social Distortion, brings in the cool kids for live-music acts…
Downtown Los Angeles & Boyle Heights
Opened in 1935 and back after a $10-million renovation, multilevel, mixed-crowd Clifton's defies description. Order drinks from a Gothic church altar amid…
Downtown Los Angeles & Boyle Heights
Cocktails, pinball machines and arcade games makes for oh-so-retro good times at this graffiti-soaked warehouse bar. Named for 1982 (the height of the …
Downtown Los Angeles & Boyle Heights
Accessed through easy-to-miss Harlem Pl alleyway, this extraordinary basement lounge sits in a century-old power plant. It's like a dimly lit, steampunk…
Downtown Los Angeles & Boyle Heights
Don't be fooled by the unceremonious grey exterior. Behind that wall lies a hopping Arts District hangout, with a buzzy, bulb-strung outdoor patio. The…
Santa Barbara
Grab a cocktail at the beautiful, blue-tiled bar, then grab a book from the shelves and settle into a leather banquette in this petite place that has a…
Venice, Marina Del Rey & Playa del Rey
Venice's only rooftop bar is quite an experience, with 360-degree views from the shore to the Santa Monica Mountains – if you can take your eyes off the…
Silver Lake & Echo Park
An atmospheric, vintage-styled neighborhood hangout serving quality cocktails to local hipsters and arty types. A stocked calendar of entertainment…
Hollywood
This tastefully frayed, reservations-only rum and cigar lounge is a revelation. Behind the marble bar sit more than 100 types of rum from Haiti, Guyana,…
Newport Beach
Hidden on a side street, this cozy coffeehouse in a beach bungalow with a covered patio lures locals with live music and poetry readings, art on the brick…
Greater Palm Springs
If you worship at the altar of Bacchus (the Roman god of wine), you'll be singing his praises in this dimly lit clandestine boite at the Parker Palm…
Santa Monica
A creative speakeasy, housed in the basement of the Victorian, and our favorite well in Santa Monica. We love it for its craft cocktails, cozy booths,…
Los Angeles
Step out the back door of restaurant Cafe Birdie and you'll find this red-brick speakeasy. A neighborly oasis of tealights, leather booths and competent…
Santa Barbara
Father and son brewers have brought their gold-medal-winning hoppy IPA, Danish red lager and potent stout from Santa Barbara's Wine Country to the Funk…
San Diego
With a French-bistro feel and plenty of old-world charm, Polite Provisions' hip clientele sip cocktails at the marble bar, under a glass ceiling, and in a…
Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Lounge
Disneyland Resort
It's tiki to the max and good, clean fun inside this faux-grass shack by the Disneyland Hotel's pool. Look for strong, sweet cocktails like the Shrunken…
Los Feliz & Griffith Park
Marty and Elayne have been a Los Feliz fixture since 1982 when they first brought their quirky Sinatra style to the Dresden’s mid-century lounge. He…
Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Brentwood & Westwood
You'll be clinking crystal at the Hotel Bel-Air's dark, intimate hideaway, a deco-inspired bar-lounge graced with white-marble fireplace and blown-up…
Hollywood
Less a hotel rooftop bar and more lush, tropical-like oasis with killer views of the Hollywood sign and LA skyline, multicolored daybeds and tongue-in…
Hollywood
With daily rotating craftsman whiskey, bourbon and cocktail specials, Harvard & Stone lures peeps with its live bands, solid DJs and burlesque troops…
Newport Beach
At upscale, upbeat, much-admired Muldoon’s, choose from indoor, outdoor (under a leafy tree) and bar seating and enjoy decent, if pricey, Irish pub grub,…
San Diego
This Gaslamp hot spot serves sushi and Asian bites five nights a week and turns into a steamy dance club (EDM, minimal, deep house) on Fridays and…
Downtown Los Angeles & Boyle Heights
What's not to love about a rooftop bar with knockout Downtown views, powerful cocktails and a luxe, safari-inspired fit out? Perched on the 14th floor of…
Los Angeles
Clippers and cocktails conspire at this winning speakeasy. The front section is an actual barbershop, complete with vintage barber chairs and inked…
Hollywood
If you prefer your cocktail sessions with plenty of wow factor, make a reservation online, style up (no sportswear, shorts or logos) and head to this old…
Los Angeles
One of the city's top cocktail dens, intimate ETA serves innovative, complex libations such as its famous Penultimate Word, an out-of-the-box mix of gin,…
Westlake & Koreatown
In the movie Chinatown, Faye Dunaway meets with Jack Nicholson at this snug, retro warren of semicircular booths, quirky lamps and, these days, Gen-Y…
Hollywood
You'll be pining for the bayou at the hospitable Sassafras Saloon, where hanging moss and life-size facades evoke sultry Savannah. Cocktails include a…
San Diego
Dozens of classic arcade games – pinball to Mortal Kombat, Pac-Man and Big Buck Safari to Master Beer Bong – line the walls of this hipster bar in North…
Downtown Los Angeles & Boyle Heights
Behind Villains Tavern is restaurateur and interior designer Dana Hollister, who turned a run-down Arts District deli into this dark-wood and iron den of…
Huntington Beach
This Santa Monica landmark of cool has opened a second location here in Pacific City, and with its combination of lounge spaces, outdoor patio, cozy,…
Santa Monica
A Brent Bolthouse nightspot, the indoor-outdoor lounge at the Fairmont Miramar was one of the hottest nights out in LA when it burst onto the scene a…
Santa Barbara
Dave, the owner of Municipal Winemakers, studied the vine arts in Australia and France before applying his knowledge in this industrially decorated…
Silver Lake & Echo Park
Eastside stylists, bloggers and musicians flock to this cool, whitewashed coffee shop to talk gigs, browse niche journals and sip superlative, Portland…
Huntington Beach
This been-there-forever, seriously kitschy tiki bar spreads over numerous rooms for dining, dancing, drinking or all three. The Vicious Virgin and…
Pappy & Harriet's Pioneertown Palace
Joshua Tree National Park
For local color, toothsome BBQ, cheap beer and kick-ass live music, drop in at this textbook honky-tonk in Pioneertown, a movie set turned living town…
