(David Mitchell / Pasadena Hotel & Pool)
14 classic L.A. hotel bars for out-of-towners and locals alike
Los Angeles happens to be home to some of the finest classic hotel bars in America, a sort of living history of the 20th century, drenched in storied libations and the ghosts of a thousand revelers and dealmakers. Imagine: Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor exchanging glances at the Sunset Tower. Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn hiding out in a booth at the Polo Lounge. Dorothy Parker, Duke Ellington and Hunter S. Thompson sharing drafts over a round of drinks at the bar at Chateau Marmont. If these walls could talk ... .
But happily the city also boasts a roaring culture of newer joints with something fresh to say about what the hotel bar means in the 21st century — contemporary takes on an undeniably classic form.
Sip on sake, craft beer, natural wines or agave spirits or try a soothing tea or uplifting coffee drink at one of our critic’s favorite places to drink in Los Angeles.
Seeking retro comforts? In search of outstanding cocktails? In the right hands these bars can be an oasis of calm amid the stress of travel, or the prelude to a memorable evening wherever you happen to call home. Short-term rental apps don’t offer this kind of respite, and neither do bland corporate hotel chains. The hotel bar maintains a sense of cultural urgency and undeniable conviviality in today’s world, and the time is now for a re-embrace of hotels as tangible hubs of cultural significance. The glories and grandeurs of the hotel bar experience are here to light the way.
There’s something for everyone on the L.A. hotel bar scene, with options stretching across the area. Some of these rooms have drawn Angelenos for a hundred years or more; others do a damn good job of providing a landing pad for folks from out of town. Far more than just a place to stay, something compelling and quintessential about Los Angeles itself is being expressed in these hotel barrooms, each with its own perspective and history. Whether you’re new to it all or rediscovering these pleasures, the hotel bar has something to offer for everyone.
Showing Places
(Jordan Michelman / For The Times)
Bar & Lounge at the Hotel Bel-Air
Bel-Air Cocktails
Within the canyons of perception, behind a wall of money, high among the grand estates sits the Hotel Bel-Air. The bar here oozes Art Deco, all black and gold, with low-slung tables lit moodily by a single lamp each. A Monkey 47 Deluxe Martini costs $30 and tastes like it. But each guest, be they pauper or prince, is served an architecturally daring snack tray with popcorn, olives and mixed nuts.
Incredible old rock ’n’ roll photographs hang on the wall, shot by Norman Seeff; real live swimming swans grace a little lake at the front of the property (it is called, no joke, “Swan Lake”); and there is Chateau d’Yquem and Krug by the glass ($125 and $80, respectively).
The sum total effect is rather like a parlor trick: For $40 (including tax and tip) you can sit in this room for an hour and forget about the rest of the world, breathe in that canyon air and pretend that you belong at a hotel whose rooms begin at $1,000 a night. It’s luxurious escapism, a bit of camp and a touch of suspended reality.
Incredible old rock ’n’ roll photographs hang on the wall, shot by Norman Seeff; real live swimming swans grace a little lake at the front of the property (it is called, no joke, “Swan Lake”); and there is Chateau d’Yquem and Krug by the glass ($125 and $80, respectively).
The sum total effect is rather like a parlor trick: For $40 (including tax and tip) you can sit in this room for an hour and forget about the rest of the world, breathe in that canyon air and pretend that you belong at a hotel whose rooms begin at $1,000 a night. It’s luxurious escapism, a bit of camp and a touch of suspended reality.
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(Jordan Michelman / For The Times)
Bar Covell at Hotel Covell
Los Angeles Cocktails
Dustin Lancaster opened Bar Covell in 2010, and in the years since this bar has played a role in making wine in Los Angeles urgently cool to a new generation of drinkers. The space — dark, clubby, vaguely expat, as though you’re drinking in some Barcelona bar hall — hasn’t changed much over the last decade, which produces a welcome déjà vu upon entry, particularly if you once spent a rowdy night or two there some years ago. (No names, please.)
Bar Covell is unique in that it actually predates the hotel that sits above it. Hotel Covell opened in 2015 after the success of the bar project. While there is a smart selection of beer and a bit of sake available, the correct order here is a glass of wine. Covell has always had a focus on imported wines — on one recent visit they were pouring glasses from the Canary Islands, Argentina and the Languedoc, each for around $15, with half-pours available — and these sit nicely alongside warm-weather Euro snacks like dates and chorizo, manchego cheese and tortilla española. Millennial Angelenos approaching a certain age probably have many happy core memories here, but allow me to report the bar is still great, welcoming and pouring cool stuff in 2023.
Bar Covell is unique in that it actually predates the hotel that sits above it. Hotel Covell opened in 2015 after the success of the bar project. While there is a smart selection of beer and a bit of sake available, the correct order here is a glass of wine. Covell has always had a focus on imported wines — on one recent visit they were pouring glasses from the Canary Islands, Argentina and the Languedoc, each for around $15, with half-pours available — and these sit nicely alongside warm-weather Euro snacks like dates and chorizo, manchego cheese and tortilla española. Millennial Angelenos approaching a certain age probably have many happy core memories here, but allow me to report the bar is still great, welcoming and pouring cool stuff in 2023.
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(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
Cara Cara at Proper Hotel Downtown L.A.
Downtown L.A. Cocktails
A new generation of rooftop bars has sprung up over the last decade in downtown Los Angeles, each with its own distinct offering and point of view. And what a view it is, set high amid the twinkling lights, looming mountains and towering architecture of urban L.A.
Cara Cara at the Proper Hotel argues compellingly for its place at the head of the downtown rooftop bar class. Perched above the southern end of Broadway, the bar’s view is enough to stop conversations dead, as every five minutes or so you or your companions are distracted to the point of silence by the beauty of the city.
Cocktails here focus on agave spirits, with drinks like the Rosa Paloma and the Reposado & Relaxation, blending tequila, mezcal, fresh fruit juices and edible flowers. Wines come from California, Spain and Portugal, with around a dozen offerings available by the glass. For snacks try the chipotle carrot tacos or spicy mini lobster rolls with piri piri. I think there’s something bigger than the sum of the parts happening here: The drinks, the view, the design all meld together into a smart, elegant execution of the modern hotel rooftop bar.
Cara Cara at the Proper Hotel argues compellingly for its place at the head of the downtown rooftop bar class. Perched above the southern end of Broadway, the bar’s view is enough to stop conversations dead, as every five minutes or so you or your companions are distracted to the point of silence by the beauty of the city.
Cocktails here focus on agave spirits, with drinks like the Rosa Paloma and the Reposado & Relaxation, blending tequila, mezcal, fresh fruit juices and edible flowers. Wines come from California, Spain and Portugal, with around a dozen offerings available by the glass. For snacks try the chipotle carrot tacos or spicy mini lobster rolls with piri piri. I think there’s something bigger than the sum of the parts happening here: The drinks, the view, the design all meld together into a smart, elegant execution of the modern hotel rooftop bar.
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(Pasadena Hotel & Pool)
The Comet Club at Pasadena Hotel & Pool
Pasadena Cocktails
This historic hotel on the corner of Colorado and South Mentor is fast approaching its 100th anniversary. Originally opened in 1926, today its collection of updated guest rooms and suites sits perched above the real scene: a lush, palm-tree oasis of a pool deck, offering views of the San Gabriel Mountains and day passes for those looking to get away from it all for the afternoon.
Bar service here is anchored by the Comet Club, whose astronomy motif nods to the nearby Mt. Wilson Observatory and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab. Drink a White Winged Dove (that’s tequila, grapefruit and lime) or a negroni made with Scottish gin, and tuck into a bowl of French fries with spicy mayo or pretzel bites with cheese dip. The bar scene is fun and convivial, but the real action is out by the pool, particularly at night, when the cool blue waters glow iridescent and the dimly twinkling stars come out above. Order up a round of drinks and let your eyes wander.
Bar service here is anchored by the Comet Club, whose astronomy motif nods to the nearby Mt. Wilson Observatory and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab. Drink a White Winged Dove (that’s tequila, grapefruit and lime) or a negroni made with Scottish gin, and tuck into a bowl of French fries with spicy mayo or pretzel bites with cheese dip. The bar scene is fun and convivial, but the real action is out by the pool, particularly at night, when the cool blue waters glow iridescent and the dimly twinkling stars come out above. Order up a round of drinks and let your eyes wander.
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(Giada Paoloni / Dante)
Dante at the Maybourne Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills Cocktails
Dante’s arrival via New York City has made for one of this year’s buzziest openings, perched on the top floor of the Maybourne Hotel with an enviable view of the Hollywood Hills. With plush blue booths, an Italian-inspired fresco ceiling, snuggly patio couches and a signature bone-white Steinway piano, it’s stylish and smart and feels utterly Beverly Hills.
The drinks menu at Dante Beverly Hills is extensive. There are “fluffy” Garibaldis and margaritas made with freshly whipped juice, more than a dozen Negroni and martini variations, a pressed vegetable Bloody Mary, and one very serious old-fashioned with Glenfiddich 14-year Scotch and smoked raisin syrup. For me, no visit to Dante — here or in New York — is complete without ordering the bar’s platonic dream ideal of a grasshopper, which shows up the most astonishingly appealing shade of creamy green, topped with shaved chocolate. First you order yours, then you watch as tables all around you put in orders for theirs, a symphony of mint drinks in staccato succession.
Do not skip ordering food here. Wood-fired pizzas with squash blossom and pesto, chilled broccoli salad with Calabrian chiles and Meyer lemon jam, or weepingly fragrant saffron arancini all make ready foils for whatever you happen to be drinking. Unlike many hotel bars, this place is decidedly kid-friendly (there’s even a children’s menu) and sneakily affordable (a $10 martini hour is offered from 3 to 5 p.m. daily).
The drinks menu at Dante Beverly Hills is extensive. There are “fluffy” Garibaldis and margaritas made with freshly whipped juice, more than a dozen Negroni and martini variations, a pressed vegetable Bloody Mary, and one very serious old-fashioned with Glenfiddich 14-year Scotch and smoked raisin syrup. For me, no visit to Dante — here or in New York — is complete without ordering the bar’s platonic dream ideal of a grasshopper, which shows up the most astonishingly appealing shade of creamy green, topped with shaved chocolate. First you order yours, then you watch as tables all around you put in orders for theirs, a symphony of mint drinks in staccato succession.
Do not skip ordering food here. Wood-fired pizzas with squash blossom and pesto, chilled broccoli salad with Calabrian chiles and Meyer lemon jam, or weepingly fragrant saffron arancini all make ready foils for whatever you happen to be drinking. Unlike many hotel bars, this place is decidedly kid-friendly (there’s even a children’s menu) and sneakily affordable (a $10 martini hour is offered from 3 to 5 p.m. daily).
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(Shutters on the Beach)
Living Room at Shutters on the Beach
Santa Monica Cocktails
Shutters is home to three dining establishments, including a beachside restaurant called Coast and a more formal dining room, 1 Pico. But my favorite is the patio at Living Room & Terrace, which offers a vaunted 180-degree vista of the beach, the pier and the roaring Pacific Ocean. There are about a dozen seats on the patio, which can get competitive, and the sun is mighty strong in the afternoon, glinting off the roller coaster at Santa Monica Pier, but here you can actually hear the waves crashing and take in the multimillion-dollar view.
The offering on the terrace is broad, from Little West juices (Green Detox, Ginger Snap) to imported bottled beers to a $55 California whiskey flight. Each guest is served a little dish of chips, a treat best paired with the Sage Advice, the bar’s house flip cocktail with Amass gin, egg white, lemon and California sage, or a Banana Bread Spritz with walnut crème de banana and Prosecco. There are snacks available too, pretty much in the style you’d expect, including ceviche, shrimp cocktail and a chicken club sandwich.
On my last visit I ordered a very well-made shot of La Colombe espresso, pulled on a La Marzocco Italian espresso machine and served in subtle English ceramics. This — with the sunset and the waves — was a moment of accessible luxury.
The offering on the terrace is broad, from Little West juices (Green Detox, Ginger Snap) to imported bottled beers to a $55 California whiskey flight. Each guest is served a little dish of chips, a treat best paired with the Sage Advice, the bar’s house flip cocktail with Amass gin, egg white, lemon and California sage, or a Banana Bread Spritz with walnut crème de banana and Prosecco. There are snacks available too, pretty much in the style you’d expect, including ceviche, shrimp cocktail and a chicken club sandwich.
On my last visit I ordered a very well-made shot of La Colombe espresso, pulled on a La Marzocco Italian espresso machine and served in subtle English ceramics. This — with the sunset and the waves — was a moment of accessible luxury.
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(Jordan Michelman / For The Times)
The Lobby at the Beverly Garland Hotel
Studio City Cocktails
The 1970s are alive and well at the Garland, a sprawling hotel and events property celebrating 50 years in North Hollywood. The hotel is named for its original owner, Beverly Garland, star of “My Three Sons” (and later, “7th Heaven”). Today it’s still owned by her son, James Crank, and his husband, Scott Elliott. Under this second generation of ownership the property has flourished, home to 7 acres of grounds, gardens, a charming pool deck and multiple dining options, all conveniently located near Universal Studios.
Kitschy but classy, the hotel lets guests chill and drink poolside next to an enormous outdoor fireplace. The lobby bar displays a tiki influence, with spiked snow cones (like the boozy Chi Chi with vodka and coconut) as well as a drink named for the hotel itself, the Garland 1972, a mega-Mai Tai with Plantation rum, aperol, lime and a swizzle stick emblazoned with the phrase “Keep the Good Times Going!”
The hotel’s restaurant, the Front Yard, also has a bustling bar, dripping in late midcentury modalities, from Bob Dylan posters to Mexican conceptual sculptures to glass bubble cage sconces. The Holy Smokes, made with mezcal infused with Madagascar vanilla and Thai chiles, is a vignette of the valley in a glass. Listen in on the buzz and you might hear two friends debating 1980s Filipino politics, New York City fashion designer gossip, or tales of the gay bar scene in Berlin — from North Hollywood to the world, this is a superlative bar in which to be a fly on the wall.
Kitschy but classy, the hotel lets guests chill and drink poolside next to an enormous outdoor fireplace. The lobby bar displays a tiki influence, with spiked snow cones (like the boozy Chi Chi with vodka and coconut) as well as a drink named for the hotel itself, the Garland 1972, a mega-Mai Tai with Plantation rum, aperol, lime and a swizzle stick emblazoned with the phrase “Keep the Good Times Going!”
The hotel’s restaurant, the Front Yard, also has a bustling bar, dripping in late midcentury modalities, from Bob Dylan posters to Mexican conceptual sculptures to glass bubble cage sconces. The Holy Smokes, made with mezcal infused with Madagascar vanilla and Thai chiles, is a vignette of the valley in a glass. Listen in on the buzz and you might hear two friends debating 1980s Filipino politics, New York City fashion designer gossip, or tales of the gay bar scene in Berlin — from North Hollywood to the world, this is a superlative bar in which to be a fly on the wall.
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(Chateau Marmont)
Lobby Bar at Chateau Marmont
Hollywood Cocktails
Mention to friends that you’re working on an L.A. hotel bar piece, and inevitably the question is broached: “What about the Marmont?” Though it was widely reported as such at the start of the pandemic, the Marmont is not today functioning as a private members club, and is very much open to the public for both hotel stays and visits to the lobby bar and patio restaurant. The hotel was infamously rocked by allegations of sexual harassment and labor violations in late 2020, resulting in multiple lawsuits being filed in early 2021 and an active labor dispute that spilled into 2022. At least one of the harassment claimants has settled via arbitration, and late last year workers at the hotel won a union contract.
For all the preamble, all the history and infamy, today the Marmont operates much as it has for decades. The bar and restaurant are available to the public with a reservation — walk-ins and looky-loos are discouraged. The outdoor patio has its devotees, but I really enjoy the Marmont’s small, cozy lobby bar. They project old films on the wall here each night (I caught the California classic “The Maltese Falcon” on my last visit), and though the bar itself offers just a handful of seats, it’s a pleasant little nook to enjoy the house Vesper, the icy cold spirits pairing neatly with a little cone of good French fries.
I do wonder if the hubbub around the Marmont has been a bit defanged here in 2023: This place used to really swing, for better or worse. Today it more gently rocks.
For all the preamble, all the history and infamy, today the Marmont operates much as it has for decades. The bar and restaurant are available to the public with a reservation — walk-ins and looky-loos are discouraged. The outdoor patio has its devotees, but I really enjoy the Marmont’s small, cozy lobby bar. They project old films on the wall here each night (I caught the California classic “The Maltese Falcon” on my last visit), and though the bar itself offers just a handful of seats, it’s a pleasant little nook to enjoy the house Vesper, the icy cold spirits pairing neatly with a little cone of good French fries.
I do wonder if the hubbub around the Marmont has been a bit defanged here in 2023: This place used to really swing, for better or worse. Today it more gently rocks.
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(Jordan Michelman / For The Times)
Marco Polo at Silver Lake Pool & Inn
Silver Lake Cocktails
If we’re talkin’ ’bout my generation, for all the growth that’s rushed into Silver Lake over the last 20 years, the neighborhood has lacked a truly great hotel, and thus a great hotel bar. (All apologies to the Comfort Inn.) In 2019, boutique hotel group Palisociety acquired a former motor inn on Santa Monica Boulevard, just off Sunset Junction, and opened the Silver Lake Pool & Inn, a lushly Mediterranean-inspired property with 54 rooms, a charming private pool and Marco Polo, a sun-drenched Southern Italy-inspired trattoria and bar.
Amid the cactus palms and water features, Marco Polo is notable for its fabulous happy hour (including $10 burgers and $4 bottled Peroni), as well as a brunch menu with spritz cocktails, coconut French toast and Italian wines by the glass. Much of this can be enjoyed poolside, which adds to the glamour, but in a Silver Lake sort of way — none too fussy for the younger crowd. Some hotel bars beckon as destinations from across the city, or across the country, but this place feels like exactly the sort of bar you’d be eminently grateful to hide out in after checking in to your hotel.
Amid the cactus palms and water features, Marco Polo is notable for its fabulous happy hour (including $10 burgers and $4 bottled Peroni), as well as a brunch menu with spritz cocktails, coconut French toast and Italian wines by the glass. Much of this can be enjoyed poolside, which adds to the glamour, but in a Silver Lake sort of way — none too fussy for the younger crowd. Some hotel bars beckon as destinations from across the city, or across the country, but this place feels like exactly the sort of bar you’d be eminently grateful to hide out in after checking in to your hotel.
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(Jordan Michelman / For The Times)
The Maybourne Bar at the Maybourne Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills Cocktails
As ambitious and destination-worthy as Dante is upstairs, the Maybourne Bar on the hotel’s main floor is not to be overlooked. This place is deceptively unassuming. There are just 10 tables and six bar seats, making for an intimate scene framed by a glowing marble bar and terrazzo floor. The menu is themed around the concept of “Symphony,” with four distinct sections: Harmony, Melody, Counterpoint and Embellishment. In practice this means a ripping good Bond-inspired martini called Skyfall, made with Grey Goose, Scottish gin and heather, or the deliciously fun canned Royal Highball , made with Suntory Toki whisky, clarified milk soda and oolong tea, served with a carved obelisk spear of ice that melts just so across the drinking experience.
Things get riskier and more esoteric from there: a salted caramel sour floated with “Beijing meringue” over Remy Martin 1738, an impressively plussed-up Cadillac margarita riff with Empirical Ayuuk spirit and top-shelf Grand Marnier Louis Alexandre, another canned cocktail with Aperol, clarified watermelon and sakura blossoms.
This place happens to be a hotel bar — and looks and feels like a hotel bar — but it’s also one of the most interesting cocktail programs in the city right now. Taken alongside the service upstairs at Dante, the outstanding on-premises espresso bar Maru and the garden lawn scene at the Terrace (with its outstanding wine list), the Maybourne boasts what might be the finest beverage offering of any hotel in America today.
Things get riskier and more esoteric from there: a salted caramel sour floated with “Beijing meringue” over Remy Martin 1738, an impressively plussed-up Cadillac margarita riff with Empirical Ayuuk spirit and top-shelf Grand Marnier Louis Alexandre, another canned cocktail with Aperol, clarified watermelon and sakura blossoms.
This place happens to be a hotel bar — and looks and feels like a hotel bar — but it’s also one of the most interesting cocktail programs in the city right now. Taken alongside the service upstairs at Dante, the outstanding on-premises espresso bar Maru and the garden lawn scene at the Terrace (with its outstanding wine list), the Maybourne boasts what might be the finest beverage offering of any hotel in America today.
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(The Normandie Club)
The Normandie Club at Hotel Normandie
Koreatown Cocktails
The Normandie Club is a dark, preternaturally charming neo-speakeasy, long considered one of L.A.’s top cocktail bars. It sits in the shadow of the iconic Hotel Normandie, and offers a ready throwback to earlier waves of cocktail retro, though it is not technically operated by the hotel group upstairs.
This bar is dangerously comfortable, all brass lighting fixtures, comfy leather stools, a graciously curved bar and a white brick back wall covered in bartender graffiti — notes and inside jokes left in permanent marker by the bar’s staff over the last decade. There are a couple of must-orders here, including the TNC Old-Fashioned, built on coconut washed rum and apple brandy, as well as the bar’s highly unusual Collins, which they make with mezcal, grapefruit and Yakult, then clarify to remove the lactose. On my last visit I ordered an exemplary smoky-sour Penicillin cocktail — a personal favorite — made with good Aberfeldy scotch and a chunk of spicy candied ginger. This is like medicine after a long flight (or a few laps looking for K-town parking).
This bar is dangerously comfortable, all brass lighting fixtures, comfy leather stools, a graciously curved bar and a white brick back wall covered in bartender graffiti — notes and inside jokes left in permanent marker by the bar’s staff over the last decade. There are a couple of must-orders here, including the TNC Old-Fashioned, built on coconut washed rum and apple brandy, as well as the bar’s highly unusual Collins, which they make with mezcal, grapefruit and Yakult, then clarify to remove the lactose. On my last visit I ordered an exemplary smoky-sour Penicillin cocktail — a personal favorite — made with good Aberfeldy scotch and a chunk of spicy candied ginger. This is like medicine after a long flight (or a few laps looking for K-town parking).
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(Jordan Michelman / For The Times)
Polanco at the Ayres Hotel Manhattan Beach
Hawthorne Cocktails
It’s the most unexpected thing, pulling up to the Ayres Hotel in Manhattan Beach. You’re in the shadow of a very large Costco and an equally Brobdingnagian Home Depot. But you would never know it. With sweeping lobby staircases, Spanish Colonial flourishes and a network of open courtyards and lush hallways, there’s something transportive about this place, hidden as it is beside the rushing whir of the 405 freeway. To really anchor the effect one must visit Polanco, the luxury Mexican restaurant in the hotel’s lobby.
The restaurant’s focus is on prime cuts — including a 48-ounce tomahawk and 21-day dry-aged porterhouse — but at the bar you can dig into a sophisticated cocktail menu, like a Paloma riff made with grapefruit liqueur, or an unusual all-black margarita with activated charcoal and mezcal espadin. The bar also offers a set of tableside cocktails, including a dramatic Carajillo featuring coffee from Oaxaca and a New-Fashioned that features house-made piloncillo syrup. You’ll also find an impressive selection of tequilas and mezcals.
The restaurant’s focus is on prime cuts — including a 48-ounce tomahawk and 21-day dry-aged porterhouse — but at the bar you can dig into a sophisticated cocktail menu, like a Paloma riff made with grapefruit liqueur, or an unusual all-black margarita with activated charcoal and mezcal espadin. The bar also offers a set of tableside cocktails, including a dramatic Carajillo featuring coffee from Oaxaca and a New-Fashioned that features house-made piloncillo syrup. You’ll also find an impressive selection of tequilas and mezcals.
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(Jordan Michelman / For The Times)
The Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel
Beverly Hills Cocktails
Fun is on the menu at the Polo Lounge, and it’s hard not to adore this room. Like other classic L.A. hotel bars it drips with living history, but there is also a contemporary conviviality. People actually talk to each other here — I’ve seen it happen with my own eyes, multiple times! — strangers chatting up strangers, everyone humming along with the magic of this old hotel, first opened in 1912 but redesigned in the 1940s by Paul R. Williams, one of America’s most important 20th century architects.
The negroni at the Polo Lounge is molecularly perfect, served utterly cold atop a single large rock etched with the bar’s logo. Someone next to me insists that this is the city’s best bread basket; her tablemate swears no one in L.A. makes a finer club sandwich. For me the must-get is chicken parm; once you accept the fact that it costs $52, you are presented with an elegantly bada-bing rendition. I literally have dreams about it.
They’re also pouring smart wine by the glass (with an emphasis on California and France) and good whiskey (Glenmorangie scotch, Pappy Van Winkle bourbon). It’s the Beverly Hills Hotel, so there’s always someone celebrating something. A good hotel bar like this sweeps you up in it, as though you’re helping it continue to make history.
Be sure also to poke your head into Bar Nineteen12, another hotel bar on the main floor. The bar is home to a noteworthy exhibition of Andy Warhol original black-and-white photography shot in the 1970s, including portraits of Halston, Elizabeth Taylor, Jane Fonda and Tina Turner and a series of funny and revealing self-portraits.
The negroni at the Polo Lounge is molecularly perfect, served utterly cold atop a single large rock etched with the bar’s logo. Someone next to me insists that this is the city’s best bread basket; her tablemate swears no one in L.A. makes a finer club sandwich. For me the must-get is chicken parm; once you accept the fact that it costs $52, you are presented with an elegantly bada-bing rendition. I literally have dreams about it.
They’re also pouring smart wine by the glass (with an emphasis on California and France) and good whiskey (Glenmorangie scotch, Pappy Van Winkle bourbon). It’s the Beverly Hills Hotel, so there’s always someone celebrating something. A good hotel bar like this sweeps you up in it, as though you’re helping it continue to make history.
Be sure also to poke your head into Bar Nineteen12, another hotel bar on the main floor. The bar is home to a noteworthy exhibition of Andy Warhol original black-and-white photography shot in the 1970s, including portraits of Halston, Elizabeth Taylor, Jane Fonda and Tina Turner and a series of funny and revealing self-portraits.
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(Courtesy of Sunset Tower Hotel)
The Tower Bar at Sunset Tower Hotel
West Hollywood Cocktails
The Sunset Tower Hotel needs no introduction: It is enough to say that Leland Bryant’s Art Deco triumph, originally opened in 1929, still has Hollywood icon status here in the 21st century. This is due in no small part to the success of the Tower Bar, which at this point feels like it’s been there for a century, but actually opened in 2005, part of hotelier Jeff Klein and designer Paul Fortune’s elegant aughts-era revamp of the property.
Inside, the scene is dark and plush, clubbily sumptuous, with white-coated waiters framed by a roaring black marble fireplace and a seemingly ancient wood bar.
The bar’s menu has some nice wines by the glass — including good Champagne under $40, a rarity in L.A.’s hotel bar scene — but cocktails feel inevitable in a room like this. Order the Geshie, a spicy tequila and cucumber rocks riff named for Tower Bar’s maitre d’, Geshie Wilmot. (This is the sort of bar where the maitre d’ matters.) Please note that photographs are politely declined at the Tower Bar. Instead you find yourself surrounded by dozens upon dozens of framed photographs of yesteryear, celebrity images snapped inside the hotel over the last hundred years. One gathers enough photos have been taken on this property to last a lifetime.
Inside, the scene is dark and plush, clubbily sumptuous, with white-coated waiters framed by a roaring black marble fireplace and a seemingly ancient wood bar.
The bar’s menu has some nice wines by the glass — including good Champagne under $40, a rarity in L.A.’s hotel bar scene — but cocktails feel inevitable in a room like this. Order the Geshie, a spicy tequila and cucumber rocks riff named for Tower Bar’s maitre d’, Geshie Wilmot. (This is the sort of bar where the maitre d’ matters.) Please note that photographs are politely declined at the Tower Bar. Instead you find yourself surrounded by dozens upon dozens of framed photographs of yesteryear, celebrity images snapped inside the hotel over the last hundred years. One gathers enough photos have been taken on this property to last a lifetime.
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