You may not find this cocktail in L.A. but…..
Bored with the same old bar scene? Same old cocktails…same old setup. Inject some fun in your drinking experience. And I’m not talking ordering a drink with an umbrella in it. Check out a theme bar. Forget Geisha House or the Velvet Margarita Cantina. In L.A. there’s so much more. Everything from the standard tiki bar to a hospital theme hot spot.
Beauty Bar–beauty parlor
-
A fun little bar in the middle of the Cahuenga Corridor where you can sip your Prell specialty cocktail (aka grasshopper) while you get a manicure or a henna tattoo. There’s a $10 manicure and martini special on happy hours Thursdays and Fridays. With vintage hairdryers around, you feel like you’re in a 1960s beauty parlor. Yeah, it seems more like a chick bar but surprisingly each time I’ve gone, there have been more men than women, probably with that expectation in mind.
1638 N Cahuenga Blvd
Hollywood, CA 90028
(323) 464-7676
Cross Street: Hollywood Boulevard
Bigfoot Lodge–national forest
-
Step into the Bigfoot Lodge and you feel like you’re in a Yogi Bear cartoon. Smokey the Bear greets you at the door and the interior is comprised of logcabinlike walls and taxidermied decorations. Grab a seat in front of the fireplace in the back and order up a Toasted Marshmallow cocktail (where your marshmallow garnish is flambed by the bartender). Or try the minty Girl Scout Cookie cocktail. Both are really creamy sweet drinks but part of the Bigfoot experience. And as you can probably tell, this Los Feliz spot is dressed-down casual. You’re in the “woods,” frilly frocks won’t cut it here.
3172 Los Feliz Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90039
(323) 662-9227
Cross Street: Glenfeliz Boulevard
Good Hurt–hospital ward
-
Who would have thunk that a hospital-themed bar would work? Even though it doesn’t serve hard liquor (I know, I know), skeptics can soothe their thirst by ordering a Transfusion (a cocktail mixed with soju) from the nurse at the pharmacy bar. You’ll know you’re in the right spot when you see the neon Rx sign hanging overhead. The Good Hurt is a low-key live music venue and the crowd is usually made up of laidback Westsiders.
12249 Venice Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90066
(310) 390-1076
Cross Street: Grand View Boulevard
Good Luck Bar–Chinese opium den
-
Very dark and swank but low-key. Red walls, Chinese motifs and paper lanterns. This Silverlake bar is a cross between an opium den and a Chinese dive bar. Come for the strong Good Luck specialty cocktail, stay for the cool, hip crowd and eclectic jukebox. You can grab a couch in the opium denlike back room and hang out with your friends or snuggle up to your sweetie.
1514 Hillhurst Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90027-5516
(323) 666-3524
Cross Street: Hollywood Boulevard
Little Cave–bat cave
-
Owned by the same folks at the Bigfoot Lodge, Halloween is the theme of this Highland Park bar. Appropriately named, you feel like you’re having drinks in a cave as you’re surrounded by foam rocks and bat-shaped cutouts with red bubble lights casting a warm glow on this eastside scenester neighborhood bar. Specialty drinks include the Bat-tini and Count Choc-ula.
5922 N Figueroa St
Los Angeles, CA 90042
(323) 255-6871
Cross Street: Avenue 59
Tiki Ti–Hawaiian beach shack
-
It wouldn’t be an L.A. theme bar list if I didn’t include this old tiki bar favorite. Small and packed, the best time to go is before 10pm otherwise you’ll end up standing around trying not to spill your Ray’s Mistake specialty cocktail. But do yourself a favor and resist the urge to order a rum drink here. You’ll have more fun ordering a tequila-based drink. The bartender starts pouring the tequila from a bullhead spout and bellows, “Toroooo” inciting the crowd to do the same. Word to the wise: the drinks are very potent but if you get caught in a PDA, you’ll get kicked out.
4427 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90027-6017
(323) 669-9381
Cross Street: Virgil Place
As I’ve said before, Tiki-Ti is a favorite of mine. Here’s the full background on the “Toro!” — not all tequila drinks get that treatment, only one does, the Blood & Sand. Tiki-Ti was founded by legendary Hollywood bartender Ray Buhen in 1961; Buhen had worked at every major tropical lounge that catered to the midcentury celebrity set, save Trader Vic’s — Bob Brooks’ Seven Seas, Don the Beachcomber, Steve Crane’s Luau, Christian’s Hut — the list goes on & on. While Tyrone Power was filming the movie bullfighting movie “Blood & Sand,” he was coming in to the just-opened Dresden Room, where Buhen was bartending. Buhen created a bourbon-based drink for him, and called it the Blood & Sand — you can still get a Blood & Sand at the Dresden Room today. When Buhen opened his own joint, he changed the bourbon to tequila. The chanting of “Toro! Toro!” and the bull’s-head spout are later evolutions, and it’s now become the tradition that you experience today. A photo of Ray can be seen to the right of the bar; the bar is run today by Ray’s son Mike and his grandson, also named Mike. On Wednesdays at about 8:30, the whole bar stops, and everyone pauses to toast to Ray. I would disagree with your dissuading people from ordering rum-based drinks — back in the heyday of tiki bars, rum was the alcohol of choice. In modern days, rum doesn’t get respect (to be fair, Bacardi doesn’t deserve any respect, it’s a trash liquor), but in the hands of masters, it’s divine.
For lovers of Bigfoot Lodge & Little Cave, Bobby Green also owns the new Lucky Tiki in Mission Hills. It seems way the hell out, but it’s actually just off the 405 and the 118, so it’s pretty quick to get to. He’s also opening a new bar on Venice soon, called Saints & Sinners, I think.
Well… you knew I was going to chime in on the tiki, right?
Damn girl! ;) Thanks for the backstory. I always wondered! I was just telling people to order tequila drinks since those incite the “Toro” chant, not the rum drinks, which are of course dee-lish, too.
the good hurt: save yourself and skip the soju – no matter how much they tell you it tastes like vodka. (hellooooo nurse, i know paint thinner when i taste it. and i’m not proud.) and what act were you watching that could be described as low-key?! weren’t you with me that night i got a glimpse of the synthetic french chanteuse dropping costume behind the scrim, only to come out in full-on space cadet punk pop regalia? lord, i wanted to be her gibson.
and R.I.P. beauty bar. gone are the days when you could be one of three guys in the joint. getting in line for a “manicure” wrote its own ticket home. like fish in a barrel, ladies, fish in a barrel…
The clientele was low-key. No 7 Jeans there, just good ol’ Levis.