Results tagged “bars”

There was no such luck for San Francisco this year, but the Abbey Food & Bar in West Hollywood beat out popular gay spots in Rio, London, Amsterdam, Chicago and Montreal this week in a contest put on by MTV's Logo Channel. Other winners in the TripOutGayTravel awards include New York City (best U.S. destination), the Wynn Las Vegas (best ultimate luxury/hotel resort) and the W Hotels (best hotel chain). Party on, WeHo.

Has it been a year already? The "Eastside's" most loved/hated bar, Stinkers Truck Stop, will celebrate its one-year anniversary this Sunday evening with drink specials and swag including, wait for it, air-fresheners and hats. For those who remember, an LAist post last year about the bar became quite heated in the comments section. One year later, we're curious if this place is still ironic.

For many years, Craby Joe's was known as a divey destination for cheap drinks and somewhat shady dealings. It also held a warm place in many Angeleno hearts, particularly because it was a favorite of local literary icon Charles Bukowski. The bar closed in 2007, but recently plans surfaced involving turning the spot into a more "top-shelf" bar. "Charles Lew, a lawyer and restaurateur, envisioned a new upscale bar in its place called the Haven Lounge. It would have high, wood-beam ceilings and a 200-year-old piece of stained-glass from a church in Germany," explains the LA Times.

Now that the U.S. is picking up steam in the soccer world (especially since a UCLA alumnus is the captain), this city might be getting a little more soccer crazy. Blogger, New York City transplant and soccer fan Max Lance is putting together a map of good places to catch a soccer game and is still updating it, looking for your suggestions. He's looking for places that will show soccer games with the sound on and the above map shows the places that do just that (have more? add them in the comments section below).

DRINKING Bigfoot Lodge is celebrating their 10th Anniversary with a week-long party. They're rolling back the prices, so you can actually party like it's 1999. Help them celebrate by enjoying their "recession busting" special pricing. Heads up: if you really want to relive the glory of '99, check them out all week for other fun events like tomorrow's Knotty Pine Derby, and the return of music to the Bigfoot on Sunday, along with their Bloody Sunday crafty cocktail menu.

LA has a diverse cast of characters. Whether it's the characters with stirring stories or interesting occupations or the people who are just simply characters, this town has them all. In an effort to get to know some of those characters a little better, we've created "Seven Questions with..." If you have a suggestion for a future Seven Questions subject send us an email.

Oof. Not only did The Onion pull their print editions out of our fair city today, so did the free and cheap drink mavens at MyOpenBar.com. In an e-mail sent out this afternoon, they announced a slow down in operations: "Looking for free booze? Oh. Yeah. About that... We had to fire the entire staff after squandering most of the Myopenbar fortune on Cadillacs and Courvosier. Call it an 'MC Hammer,' call it a damn shame, but don't call it a comeback, baby, 'cause we out of this game. Come on, you all knew the party wasn’t gonna last forever." Their New York City portal will stick around for now and they will send occasional Los Angeles blasts when they "hear about something special."

If you still don't know where to get your drink on for Cinco de Mayo, check out the following festive venues. Arriba drink deals!

        

LAist was on hand to check out last week's opening ceremony for the new and improved Conga Room, which was once considered the "premier Latin music nightclub" by the LA Times.

After we learn that music booked by The Fold at Tangier is going on hiatus as possible new owners buy the well-known Los Feliz bar/restaurant, we are also hearing that The Malibu Inn has new owners, which is apparently affecting the music venue. Butch Walker posts this bulletin (not linkable) on MySpace:

Yes, alas Jones Soda isn't doing its special turkey and gravy soda for Thanksgiving this year. But never fear, you'll still be able to drink your mashed potatoes, and in a martini glass at that, or one of the following holiday specialty cocktails. BTW, not all places are open on Thanksgiving so call ahead if you're really counting on that après-dysfunctional-dinner drink.

With the holiday season right around the corner, it's time to start thinking about gatherings, celebrations, indulgences, and treats. Of course, sometimes we get in a holiday rut; the same old-same old cookies, cupcakes, and pies. LAist recently got tuned into a truly delicious alternative, the Los Angeles based Sweet Square, who make really scrumptious squares and bars available by order. We were lucky to sample some of their four-cornered fare, including the Oatmeal Fruit Squares, the S'mores, their fudgy Brownie, and, our favorite of the bunch, the Peanut Butter and Jelly.

With much excitement, the six-week late-night Metro Red Line subway service begins tomorrow. Every Friday and Saturday night until the end of the year, you'll be able to ride the train until 3 a.m.

There's a relatively new local blog on the scene called Blazing Shark. Albeit a bit, ohhhh, NSFW (in words, not photos), it's all about the red headed Westsider's sexually adventurous life (she even flirts on Twitter). Her most recent post reminisces on some successful celebrity stalking earlier this year.

If you love Halloween as much as we do -- candy corn isn't a treat it's a condiment -- you'll most definitely appreciate this list of cocktails where you can actually drink in the spooky holiday around Los Angeles (includes some Halloween night ideas, too).

Malo has created a special drink for this weekend's festival called the Sunset Junction Margarita ($8). Made out of El Jimador, Cointreau, a simple syrup and lime juice, it's got a quite a nice spritzy and refreshing kick to it and soothes your quench for thirst (and alcohol) easily. Additionaly, they have some very good specialty cocktails).

There's a sobriety checkpoint in Hollywood at Gower Street and Hollywood Boulevard from 7:30 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. tonight. Traffic can slow down considerably at these, so if you're in the area, you should avoid it because you are a good citizen that reads LAist and doesn't drink and drive, right? And if you're drunk, taxis can now legally pull over to pick you up in some parts of Hollywood, so take advantage and make sure they don't cost you an arm and a leg by getting into the sobriety checkpoint traffic.

    

A good hangout can be hard to find, so for anyone who finds themselves looking for nightlife in Long Beach, LAist's Photo contributor Michael Zampelli (aka rink_rat on Flickr) suggests The Pike Bar & Fish Grill. He tells us: "The Pike Bar in Long Beach is owned by the original drummer of Social Distortion and you can feel the vibe from the minute you cross the welcome mat with the Social D. skeleton logo and hear the first blast of punk rock from the jukebox. There is free live music nearly every night and the real surprise is the kitchen, which churns out gourmet quality food from mushroom tacos to authentic pasta to the crispiest and most delicate beer-battered fish you've ever tasted." (Check out the menu here.)

Last week's contest for tonight's Rilo Kiley concert at the Greek Theatre was all about what to do in Los Feliz before and after the show (related, we're running a Robert Plant/Allison Krauss contest right now). Many readers responded with food suggestions. So here, we present to you, by you, your quick guide to eating in Los Feliz:

It's 6:30pm and you wanna hit the last bit of happy hour before it's over, but you still have a ton of emails you need to send out. What's a drink-happy working stiff to do? Or what if you wanted to use your iPhone to look up the next bar on your barhopping itinerary? Or liveblog while tying one on?

LAist absolutely loves the Redwood Bar & Grill, a pirate-themed hangout close to Disney Hall and the Civic Center downtown -- not only is it a lovely place to wander into on a cold and lonely winter night, but it serves our Editor's Choice for Best Mac N' Cheese in the city. I know, right! So you'll be thrilled to hear that the Redwood is now open for brunch!

     

After all was said and done, yesterday morning's fire in Hollywood severely damaged Basque nightclub and the Blood Shot tattoo parlor. Two other adjacent occupancies of the building sustained moderate damage -- Sandee's shoe repair and the San Miguel Spa and Salon. Of the 180 firefighters who reported to the 5:31 a.m. fire, there were no injuries.

After just under two and one half hours, the fire at Basque nightclub was knocked down by the Los Angeles Fire Department, save for one flare up on a rooftop hotspot fifteen minutes later. At 5:31 a.m. this morning, a 9-1-1 phone call alerted officials to a fire at the building located on the northwest corner of Hollywood and Vine, which has housed many tenants in the past including a radio station, restaurants, Deep and now Basque. The opening scene of Ocean's Eleven was filmed here.

Update: The fire has been knocked down. Read the update here.

Let’s face it, there are a lot of bar events going on in our city that we hear about every day. When we heard about a new Wednesday night social in Hollywood called Down With the Nerdsters (DWTN), one had to ask, “What the heck is a nerdster?”

Earlier this month, we published a story about the Doheny. Due to some scheduling, Caroline on Crack was not able to meet up with a representative of the club to get a detailed tour. In lieu of that, the Doheny submitted some interesting facts and a "for the record" statement.

Tonight marks the second installment of a new monthly event called Third Wheel Thursday at The Bar in Hollywood. The idea is for couples to bring their single friends, meet some new people and possibly inspire a love connection or two. It’s a great idea that includes music and drink specials with no cover charges. Founded by Rita Wadhwani, Third Wheel Thursday will move from neighborhood to neighborhood in Los Angeles to keep the atmosphere and faces fresh.

Went to Finn McCool's in Santa Monica this afternoon for a "business meeting" and suddenly found myself surrounded by people dressed in green and drinking green beer and slamming Irish car bombs. I guess everyone's getting in their St. Patrick's Day celebration early to avoid the crazy bar crowds on Monday. Smart idea!