Just like L.A. itself, the top drinks are widely spread out across the city. Here are a few hotspots in diverse ’hoods, for epic coastal bar-crawling.
Hollywood and West Hollywood
A retro, neon-signed cocktail hideaway on the Sunset Strip that used to be a talent agency office representing Marilyn Monroe and other legends is now Bar Next Door. Vintage décor (including a reel-to-reel projector) and carefully crafted classic cocktails create laid-back sipping vibes that are a welcome respite from the Hollywood hustle. Order a thick, gooey slice of cup-and-burn pepperoni from Prince Street Pizza next door and a majestic Olive Drive cocktail, which Esquire called one of the best Martinis in America.
It’s hard to miss the Tail o’ the Pup hot dog stand: just look for the big weiner on Santa Monica Boulevard. Then spot the red door on the patio, and seek out the intercom button on the nearby barrel. You’ll be buzzed up to the tropical paradise of The Lucky Tiki, where flashy (literally: it’s a neon King!) drinks like Elvis in Hawaii celebrate twisted flavour combos like banana liqueur and peanut butter whiskey with a red-wine float.
If an elite membership lounge where you pay $5,000 to store your own rare booze in a private liquor locker sounds like your speed, the slinky Mars might be for you. Behind the hot Italian resto Mother Wolf in the Hollywood hills, it clubs out on Champagne and bottle service for hard-partying members but also offers limited public reservations for late-night cocktails.
At the opposite end of the affordability scale, head to a Taco Bell Cantina (there’s one in Hollywood, and another downtown) which has all the fast Mexi-food you expect, plus a row of slush machines offering boozy, frozen versions of the chain’s glowing Baja Blast plus very credible margaritas, both classic and watermelon. You can even order the boozy slushes in towering yard-long, Vegas-style glasses.
Los Feliz/Echo Park
Look for the neon glow of the MEZCAL sign and ascend to Mirate, a courtyard-style Mexican restaurant with a moody, cozy indoor bar and drinks so good it landed at #46 on North America’s Best Bars. It not only has house pulque (a fermented agave “beer”) on tap, it turns a pulque distillate into a lethal, Gibson-like El Pulquero that comes in a chilled sidecar on ice. Ingredients from chiles to chamoy, and spirts from bacanora to mezcal, make modern fodder for very inventive regional cocktails.
Think of Echo Park’s Thunderbolt as the neighbourhood bar of your dreams. This #8 entry on North America’s Best Bars and the Best Bar in the West USA 2023 is beside a barbecue joint and looks like one, with its metal stools, plywood bar and casual get-your-own-water set-up. An elaborate drinks menu offers no-pretension explanations of techniques and ingredients in everything from culinary-style savory drinks (like the mushroom-infused Woodwide Web) and house-carbonated canned cocktails (like the Echo Park Trash Can #2 which raises funds for a local community group). A big, fluffy gluten-free biscuit is the ultimate bar snack.
Downtown
With chic drinking options in the Ace, Hoxton, Freehand and other hotels clustered downtown, there’s a walkable cocktail circuit and wonderfully restored vintage architecture to balance out downtown’s sketchier side. On a sunny afternoon, elevator up to the top of Hotel Per La to poolside hotspot Bar Clara. Weekday 12–3 p.m. happy hour features $6 beer, $9 house wine and some $12 signature drinks, plus 25 per cent off appies.
The Arts District offshoot of New York’s Death & Co. is a dark and moody spot for super-premium cocktails like a Honshu Underground with premium Japanese and Scotch whiskies, yuzu, pineapple and sandalwood. A back bar of rare bottles, a smart wine and beer list plus inventive non-alc drinks like a Zero/Zero Martini. (In West Hollywood, you’ll also find an L.A. offshoot of New York’s famed Employees Only, too.)
Proper Happy Hour happens from 3–6 p.m. at the Downtown L.A. Proper Hotel in the bright and spacious Caldo Verde, with $5 beer, $12 wine and bargain bar bites. Elevated cocktails, like a milk-punch style Soju Boy are on special, too. A dark, stylist enclave off to the side, Dahlia is the hotel’s real cocktail den, with a deep agave spirits and Japanese whisky menu, plus unique bottles like Bayab African gin. The smoked cherries served with the OF and Ultima Palabra are a wickedly good garnish.
—by Charlene Rooke
