Where to Drink in Hollywood After Work

Drinking in Hollywood after work means picking the right blocks. Hollywood Boulevard is the tourist strip; the actual bars are south of it, on Sunset, Santa Monica, and Melrose. Here's where locals actually go.

Historic icons

• Musso & Frank Grill (Hollywood Boulevard). 1919, the oldest continuously operating restaurant in Hollywood. Order the martini at the bar.
• The Frolic Room (Hollywood Boulevard). Tiny neon-lit dive next to the Pantages. Bukowski drank here. Cash-only used to be the rule but they take cards now.

Craft cocktail bars

• No Vacancy. Speakeasy-style cocktail bar in a Victorian house, behind an unmarked door. Reservation only. Worth the planning.
• Black Rabbit Rose. Cabaret-style bar with magic shows. Reservation only.
• The Tropicana at the Roosevelt. Rooftop pool bar, Hockney-painted bottom, decent cocktails, perfect light.
• The Spare Room (also at the Roosevelt). Bowling-and-cocktails inside the hotel. Surprisingly fun.

Daytime drinking

• Hollywood Distillery (Santa Monica Boulevard). The only working distillery in Hollywood. Tasting flight of all four house spirits at the end of the sixty-minute tour.
• Yamashiro (Hollywood Hills). Sunset cocktail with a basin view. The move for showing someone Los Angeles.

If you want a different kind of after-work

The distillery tour at Hollywood Distillery runs Thursday through Sunday and is a different shape than the standard "meet for drinks" night out. Sixty minutes, four-spirit tasting flight, $30 per guest, all ages welcome. Pairs naturally with dinner immediately afterward at any of the spots above.

Where to next

Read our guide to Hollywood for adults or craft cocktail bars in Hollywood.