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Below you will find a number of excellent bars or restaurants
that have nice bars. Remember DON'T
DRINK AND DRIVE. Unless you are
staying at a hotel within walking distance - do as I do and
enjoy the ambiance and conversation while drinking an O' Doul's
or a Perrier. It's not worth risking your life or the lives of
others! A few places listed are complete dives.
I make no representations whatsoever about
the safety of any place on this site.
You need to check around before going into
any bar (especially women) - look at reviews on the internet and
talk to people who have previously gone there. I have visited
everyplace on the site, but I often go at times early in the
morning when there is no one there. Just because I had a good
experience does not mean you will!
| Molly Malone's
Pub, 575 South Fairfax Ave,
Los Angeles, CA 90036 323-935-1577 since
1970 T T
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This bar marks
the outer limit of time machines date wise - 1970. This
bar appears in "Patriot Games" and "Leaving Las Vegas".
What makes this place unique among other things are
scores of paintings of regulars from an earlier era by
an artist, Neil Boyle, who I believe, in my humble
opinion, was quite talented. Previously in this
location was an older bar, Club 575.
Not far from Canter's Deli and Tom Bergin's bar and
restaurant, the Farmer's Market and Dupar's restaurant.
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| Quon Bros. Grand
Star Jazz Club, 943 N.
Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90012 since
1946 T T
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I can't tell you
much about this place because I visited on a Monday
night when nothing much was happening. Nice ambiance
although somewhat remodeled. Interesting locale to hear
Jazz. Not far from the site of
the former Little Joe's Italian Restaurant and Philippe
the Original French Dipped Sandwiches Restaurant.
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| Monty's Steak
House, 592 S. Fair Oaks
Ave., Pasadena, CA 626-792-7776
T T T T
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I discovered
this restaurant and bar in trying to reach the 110 from
the 210. I could tell from the old neon sign out front
it was going to be a good place. Well preserved. The
bartender, when I was there, had been working at Monty's
Steakhouse for over 50 years. He has served drinks there
to J. Edgar Hoover and Howard Hughes. Seemed to have a
nice group of regulars. Nice red semicircular
booths. This place was first called Perry's and in 1947
changed to Monty's Steak House. See restaurants for more
information. UPDATE:
This fantastic place is
adios. A big loss for Pasadena. I believe there is one
remaining newer branch in the Valley. See my
restaurant page.
Check out Gus's Bar-B-Q restaurant,
Pie 'n Burger restaurant, Freddie's 35er bar, the Rialto
Movie Palace and the Fair Oaks Pharmacy while you are
out here.
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| Musso and Frank
Grill, 6667 Hollywood Blvd.
323-467-7788. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 am to 11 pm
since 1919
T T T T T
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Interior wise,
Musso and Frank's may be the best time machine in
Southern California (see the
restaurant page (M) for much
more detail and pictures) The owners of Musso and
Frank's have wisely not changed a single thing. Opened
in 1919. The famous "back room", closed since the 1950s,
was where great writers like F. Scott Fitzgerald,
Raymond Chandler, Nathanael West, William Saroyan and
Dorothy Parker hung out. The food is excellent. Parking
in the back is reasonable with validation. While the
place can be expensive if you order carelessly, you can
almost fill up on the free sourdough bread. If you order
a la carte things like the incredible hot turkey
sandwich – it’s quite affordable. Charlie Chaplin’s
favorite table was the first one when walking in the old
room from Hollywood Boulevard. Not always the best place
to strike up conversations with people, but if you do
manage to talk to someone who is not with a group of
friends, there are likely to be more interesting than
the denizens of average bars. Someone should really
write a book about this place.
Not far from Miceli's Italian Restaurant, Boardner's,
the Frolic Room bar, the Power House bar, the Hollywood
Roosevelt Hotel and Grauman's Chinese and Egyptian
Theaters. I occasionally call the Musso and Frank
Grill - Musso and Frank's - just to catch the search
engines for people who refer to it that way. I generally
don't like to call it Musso's, if for no reason than
that's the popular way of referring to it.
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| Old Tony's On
The Pier, 210-212
Fisherman's Wharf, Redondo Beach, (310) 374-1442
T T
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Nice old bar and restaurant with a
tower like bar giving you a 360 degree view of Redondo
Beach. Very relaxing! Dates from the 1950s. Generally
has a talented guitarist playing here. |
| The Polo Lounge,
Beverly Hills Hotel, 9641 Sunset Blvd. Beverly Hills,
310-887-2777.
(building since
1912)
T
T
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Of course, the
Beverly Hills Hotel underwent a two year remodel, but
many nice original elements remain. I do not know if the
Polo lounge remains the "power" spot it once was, but
what astonished me was what a bargain some of the drinks
were. They had frozen non-alcoholic coffee drinks for
$6 that were bigger and better than Starbucks and they
served it with this monster plate of chips and three
very excellent dips (one being real guacamole which
would normally cost six dollars in a nice Mexican
restaurant alone) Although we
were definitely not big spenders that night, the service
could not have been better or friendlier. And the self
parking was free on top of that. As to the attitude in
the Beverly Hills Hotel - see my Hotel page - quite
surprising to a confirmed Bohemian like myself.
UPDATE: On a recent return with
my parents and sister, we once again had a wonderful
experience. The snacks were not quite as abundant as
before, but still good. We had an incredible bartender
who regaled us with wonderful stories of growing up in
Beverly Hills or there about. Wish I had written
down his name. In any event, this place is one of
Los Angeles Metro's best kept secrets (at least for the
hipster crowd that tends to shy away from Beverly
Hills). Once again, at least for the price of a
drink, I think the ambiance and history here make the
place an incredible bargain.
Not far from the Rainbow Bar & Grill,
Duke's Coffee shop, Mel's Drive-In and the Chateau
Marmont.
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| The Prince
(the Windsor), 3198 W. 7th
St., Los Angeles (213) 389-1586, (interior since
1942) T T T
T T
The place is
much darker than this photo.
The Chinatown
Booth where Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway sat.
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This is probably
my favorite restaurant and bar in the Los Angeles metro
area, along with Musso's (see the restaurant page for
more detail). Once one of the top ten most elegant
restaurants in Los Angeles in the 1950s called the
Windsor, the new owners (Korean) have wisely changed
nothing (other than perhaps the oil paintings on the
walls). Once owned by Ben Dimsdale, who owned the
nearby Secret Harbor (HMS Bounty). Beside the great
interior, the juxtaposition of Korean culture, food and
music on the 1940s American ambiance makes this a
fascinating restaurant. Very friendly staff and
reasonably good food (most dishes are so large they
should be shared), I highly recommend this place. Be
sure to use the valet parking as this is not the best
area of Koreatown. This place mysteriously closed for a
month or so recently, but magically reopened unchanged.
NEWSFLASH:
For years I wondered where the scene in Chinatown was
filmed were Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway are sitting
in a restaurant that is supposed to be the Brown Derby.
I just discovered it was here at the Prince (then the
Windsor). Somewhat ironic that Chinatown was filmed in
part in Koreatown. See my comments on the restaurant
page. One more reason to love this place!
Not far from the Brass Monkey bar, HMS
Bounty bar and restaurant, and Frank 'n Hanks bar, the
remains of the Brown Derby Hat and Langer's Deli.
UPDATE:
There are unsubstantiated rumors that there might be big
changes in store for the Prince Restaurant one year or
so down the road. Given the great historic importance of
this restaurant, I hope people will check this out and
let the restaurant and apartment owners know how
important the Prince is to you and Los Angeles in
general. For a more extensive history of the
WIndsor Apartments and the Windsor and Prince
Restaurants, click
here.
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| The Power House, 1714
Highland Ave., Hollywood (323) 463-9438 (since
1947 or 1952
depending on the source)
T T T
(extremely austere)
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I don't know how
old this bar is but it's obviously pre-70s. If you look
up the word "dive" in the Webster's dictionary - you'll
see a picture of the Power House. But I'm using dive in
the good sense of the word, and millions of people love
dives (I'm lukewarm). No complaints about remodeling
here. In the afternoon the bartender and patrons were
quite friendly. Great location a block off Hollywood
Boulevard. I'm a bit wary of Hollywood Boulevard at
night other than the "Golden Triangle" of Musso and
Frank Grill, Miceli's (Micheli's) and Boardner's
(although you should still be quite careful and not walk
alone at night). There are so many clubs now in the area
that you are rarely alone, even late at night. You might
even run into Lauren and Heidi if they are not fighting!
Not far from the El Capitan Theater, the Chinese
Theater, the Egyptian Theater, Miceli's (Micheli's)
restaurant, Musso and Frank Grill, Boardner's bar and
the Frolic Room bar.
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