Anaheim
This chill, dimly lit, atmospheric speakeasy carves its own ice, makes its own juice, does regularly changing (but always creative) cocktails and has live…
Must-see nightlife in Southern California
Death Valley National Park
This craft brewery in the middle of nowhere is not a mirage but the pint-sized operation of artist and brewer Jon Zellhoefer in a restored railroad tie…
Hollywood
Under a cotton-candy-pink apartment block of no particular import is this funky den of musty odor, low ceilings, exposed pipes and good times. There's…
Santa Barbara
Large glasses of wine and beer and a great grilled cheese make this cozy place, located up an alley off Anacapa (follow the murals), a worthy detour…
Hollywood
When established stars such as the Black Keys, and even movie stars such as Joseph Gordon-Levitt, decide to play secret shows in intimate environs, they…
Greater Palm Springs
Crimson light bathes even pasty-faced hipsters with a healthy glow, as do the pretty crafted cocktails at this teensy tiki bar with blowfish lamps and…
West Hollywood & Mid-City
Elegant, but not stuck up; been around, yet still cherished. With high ceilings, molded walls and terrific martinis, the famous and the wish-they-weres…
Santa Monica
Set in the old Zephyr surf shop headquarters, where skateboarding was invented during a 1970s drought that emptied pools across LA, it brews great coffee…
Hollywood
Evoking an old hunting lodge with its timber panels, Chesterfield sofas and mounted antlers, this handsome hideaway sits off the Roosevelt Hotel's…
Downtown Los Angeles & Boyle Heights
Tucked into the back of Cole's is this cubby-hole-sized speakeasy, an essential downtown bar since it won the Tales of the Cocktail competition in 2012.
Pasadena & the San Gabriel Valley
High tea ($37) at the Rose Garden has been a grand tradition at the Huntington for generations. Try your choice of herbal and fair-trade teas (including…
Long Beach & San Pedro
This converted, historic bank with its weighty granite bar, crystal chandeliers and burly wooden columns offers a good selection of craft beers and booze…
Santa Monica
Santa Monica's only indoor-outdoor roof bar has a swinging-'70s, Studio 54 vibe – brass-plated fireplace, hexagonal ceiling tiles – a bar made of a giant…
Long Beach & San Pedro
If you like your cocktails with a sidecar of history, the main bar on the Queen Mary is the place to be. The ocean liner's one-time 1st-class lounge still…
West Hollywood & Mid-City
A pair of mounted bull heads and lucha libre (Mexican wrestling) masks create an over-the-top, ‘Tijuana North’ look and pull in an industry-heavy crowd at…
Coastal Orange County
This minimalist cool cafe takes fair-trade, shade-grown and organic coffee a little further, with unusual flavor combinations that (mostly) work: Spanish…
Downtown Los Angeles & Boyle Heights
Where suspension cables were once manufactured, craft brews are now made and poured. Located on the edge of the Arts District, this is a popular spot to…
San Fernando Valley
This popular cafe is in a converted, artsy, multi-room (yet somehow still cozy) house; outside, tables crowd leafy, heated patios and the line runs out…
Los Feliz & Griffith Park
Channeling Waikiki since 1961, this tiny tropical tavern packs in everyone from Gen-Y hipsters to grizzled old-timers in 'non-ironic' Hawaiian shirts…
San Diego
A superb neighborhood pub, with creative decor like beer cans piled floor to ceiling and longboard skateboards attached to the walls. It sells craft ales…
San Diego
Through a secret doorway, disguised as a refrigerator in the next-door Good Time Poke cafe, you'll step into a lost Hawaiian world with Polynesian wood…
Silver Lake & Echo Park
Chipped, worn and armed with retro cigarette vending machine, this old-school beer dive has been pouring German suds since 1959. The snug, woody…
West Hollywood & Mid-City
Humans commune with kitties at LA's first cat cafe. The spare, stylish black-box storefront is kitted out with fluffy futons and climbing shelves, and…
West Hollywood & Mid-City
The closest you can get to LACMA's Urban Light with a drink in your hand, this bar on the museum's plaza specializes in draft cocktails and frozen ones…
Huntington Beach
Indoor-outdoor Saint Marc is technically a restaurant, but it's just so darn much fun as a bar: giant beer-pong table, beer bombers, wine on draft,…
Huntington Beach
A step up from the traditional Sunset dives, Brix has more than 20 American and European craft beers on tap, plus West Coast wine flights and New York…
San Diego
A stack of kegs masquerading as a door inside the Neighborhood restaurant is your key to this 'speakeasy' that is so well known you need to make advance…
San Diego
Find the unassuming doorway on 5th Ave with 'Eddie O’Hare’s Law Office' on it, then flip the light switch on to alert the door staff, who'll guide you…
Greater Palm Springs
In the back of the updated steakhouse Mr Lyons hides this furtive libation station named in honor of owner and entertainment lawyer Tara Lazar's dad. The…
Venice, Marina Del Rey & Playa del Rey
In this hip, industrial, minimalist monument to the coffee gods, perfectionist baristas – who roam the central bar and command more steaming machines than…
South Bay Beaches
This holdover from 1952 is as cool as the Redondo Pier gets, with its classic neon sign, 360-degree views from the glass octagonal lounge upstairs and…
Santa Monica
The cocktail menu was created by the talented Vincenzo Marianella – a man who knows his spirits, and has trained his team to concoct addictive cocktails…
Disneyland Resort
This centrally located terrace is a great place for relaxing and regrouping in Disney California Adventure.
Joshua Tree National Park
Organic and locally roasted, this spotless outfit makes some of the best coffee in JT. It's sold in places around the valley but roasted right here in the…
The Deserts
The self-proclaimed 'best five-star hole-in-the-wall' has cheap beers, nightly karaoke and opening hours that might just keep you off the slopes or trail…
Huntington Beach
Boutique California-wine shop with a sleek bar, generous pours and meet-your-(wine)maker nights.
Santa Monica
Climb the pale-pink staircase to this fun, classy spot that's become a hangout for good-looking, mostly younger, professional Westside LGBTs and those who…
South Bay Beaches
Part of the South Bay's Beermuda Triangle, this craft brewery looks like it's in a middle-of-nowhere office park. All that's forgotten once you enter the…
West Hollywood & Mid-City
At this dimly lit, brick-lined bar, the menu goes something this: one page draught beers, one page cocktails, and practically a bible of whiskies (some…
San Fernando Valley
In an industrial area between Glendale and Burbank, this brewery takes up most of a city block, but the pub on the old loading dock is warm and welcoming…
