Global chain Sushi Samba recently opened a new rooftop destination in West Hollywood’s Design District.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
When it’s sunny outside, there’s nothing better than relaxing on a spacious rooftop overlooking the downtown skyline, Hollywood Hills or the Pacific Coast.
Recently, a spate of alfresco terraces have opened across Los Angeles, giving us new views of neighborhoods we rarely glimpse from on high, like Old Pasadena and the San Gabriel Mountains, Beverly Hills mansions and the Long Beach harbor with the historic Queen Mary glinting under the sun.
With globe-trotting menus, nightly DJs and sippable cocktails that beg one more round, these seven new L.A. rooftops are all vying for a spot in your summer rotation.
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Blondie
West Hollywood Cocktails American $$
(Danielle A. Adams)
When one door closes, a window opens. While famed West Hollywood rooftop E.P. and L.P. recently shut its doors for good, on the other side of La Cienega, a second-story terrace destination is now welcoming diners onto its sprawling indoor-outdoor patio with swaying string lights, climbing ivy and sunset views. The menu at Blondie is the kind that you can spend hours working your way through — starting with French onion dip and lemon-pepper-coated Marcona almonds, followed by prawn toast and fried baby artichokes, and finishing with a flame-kissed spicy mezcal pasta or burger with sinus-clearing horseradish onions. Oh and don’t forget the eponymous Blondie bar that’s sticky with caramel and topped with a thick layer of vanilla cream. Hoping to stand out among West Hollywood’s fine dining restaurants, the relaxed rooftop prices cocktails between $14 and $16 and bottles of natural wine for just $55 each, with wine by the glass for $15. Look for live DJs on the weekends as the brand-new bar hits its groove.
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Gemma
Beverly Hills Pan Asian $$$
(Danielle Dorsey/Los Angeles Times)
On the 12th floor of the Waldorf Astoria in Beverly Hills, Gemma is a spacious new rooftop with a marble-clad bar, plush olive booths, which can be optionally partitioned off with long terracotta drapes, and expansive views of the surrounding neighborhood. The pan-Asian menu from executive chef Pelen Miron features sashimi, sushi, crispy rice topped with tuna or Wagyu, a variety of dim sum including lobster wontons and shrimp har gow, large plates such as beef stir fry and Maine lobster over Singaporean curry noodles and orange chicken, plus weekend brunch plates that make the airy rooftop an anytime destination. The cocktails lean tropical and refreshing, such as Watermelon Mirage with rum, aloe, watermelon, mint and lime and a scorpion bowl meant for sharing with two types of rum, cognac, gin and passion fruit.
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Halo
Long Beach Cocktails $$
(Fairmont Breakers Long Beach)
Just blocks from the beach on the 14th floor of the Fairmont Breakers hotel is Halo, the highest rooftop in Long Beach, with jade tiles, arched entryways and vibrant, jungle-inspired wallpaper on the interior and a sun-drenched, glass-walled terrace with views of the nearby harbor. The cocktail menu is short and sweet with playful renditions of classic drinks, like mezcal and banana bread old-fashioneds and a pisco sour garnished with Luxardo cherries. If you get hungry, you can head to Nettuno on the lobby floor for seafood-driven Italian dishes, or make a reservation for the Sky Room, a historic fine-dining restaurant just one floor down from the rooftop that first opened in 1938.
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1st Street Station
Inanna Bar
Downtown L.A. Mediterranean $$
(Danielle Dorsey/Los Angeles Times)
Taking over a section of the former Cabra space on the 10th-floor rooftop of the Hoxton hotel in downtown L.A. is this Mediterranean-inflected lounge with comfortable seating and high-rise views. The compact dinner menu features crowd-pleasing items such as grilled prawns doused in a harissa butter sauce, sumac wings sticky with Aleppo honey and steak frites with roasted garlic yogurt, while drinks take a light, refreshing approach, including the Sultan’s Emerald, a gin cocktail that glows gem green with kiwi puree, Persian cucumber and dill.
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Pico Station
Osa Rooftop
Pasadena Californian Cocktails $$
(Osa Rooftop)
Pasadena’s only rooftop restaurant on the sixth floor of the AC Hotel, with sweeping views of Old Town and the San Gabriel mountains, is Osa Rooftop. Sushi by Scratch and Rokusho vet Carlos Couts heads a global menu that spotlights local ingredients, including charred strawberry gazpacho with goat cheese mousse, chorizo- and queso Oaxaca-stuffed arancini and grilled swordfish served over creamy Brentwood yellow corn, with gelato for dessert. Cocktails take similar inspiration, including a cucumber vesper with California and French vermouths and Drop the Beet, a tart, garden-forward tequila drink with beets, raspberry and lime. An olive tree with wraparound seating anchors the patio, while an interior bar with hanging plants offers TVs that screen live sports.
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Memorial Park Station
Poza
Beverly Hills Californian Cocktails $$$
(Danielle Dorsey/Los Angeles Times)
Tucked on the eighth floor rooftop of the L’Ermitage Beverly Hills hotel is Poza, a low-key restaurant with power lunch potential and panoramic views across the city. The menu spans gochujang-glazed wings, a Maine lobster cobb salad with Boursin lemon-tarragon dressing, a blue fin tuna poke bowl and rotating popsicles for warding off the summer heat. Cocktails are fruity and light, including an espresso martini take with coconut cream and the nonalcoholic Love in the Clouds that combines strawberry, lychee, pink grapefruit and rosemary.
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Sushi Samba
West Hollywood Brazilian Japanese Peruvian $$$
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
The esteemed international chain recently landed in a 4-story rooftop space in West Hollywood’s Design District with an intimate chef’s counter, a chic open-air dining room to see and be seen and a bar with lounge seating for whiling away the night with live DJ performances. The encyclopedic menu blends Japanese, Peruvian and Brazilian influences in ceviches, tiraditos, robata-grilled meats and creative sushi rolls, plus a large-format churrasco with ribeye, linguiça and Wagyu picahna, and a moqueca bobbing with shrimp, squid, sea bass and mussels. The beverage program for the brand’s first West Coast location is dialed in with signature cocktails that layer house-made ingredients such as mint wine, Kobe-fat-washed whiskey and hibiscus-infused mezcal. Weekend brunch invites guests to mix and match three courses, with highlights such as pao de queijo, yuzu blueberry pancakes and a salmon maki roll inspired by a lox everything bagel, with daytime appropriate Bloody Marys and a cachaça-spiked carajillo.
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