Santa Barbara
Grab a cocktail at the beautiful, blue-tiled bar, then grab a book from the shelves and settle into a leather banquette in this petite place that has a…
Must-see nightlife in Southern California
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Venice, Marina Del Rey & Playa del Rey
Venice's only rooftop bar is quite an experience, with 360-degree views from the shore to the Santa Monica Mountains – if you can take your eyes off the…
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Greater Palm Springs
If you worship at the altar of Bacchus (the Roman god of wine), you'll be singing his praises in this dimly lit clandestine boite at the Parker Palm…
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Los Angeles
Step out the back door of restaurant Cafe Birdie and you'll find this red-brick speakeasy. A neighborly oasis of tealights, leather booths and competent…
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Santa Barbara
Father and son brewers have brought their gold-medal-winning hoppy IPA, Danish red lager and potent stout from Santa Barbara's Wine Country to the Funk…
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San Diego
With a French-bistro feel and plenty of old-world charm, Polite Provisions' hip clientele sip cocktails at the marble bar, under a glass ceiling, and in a…
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San Diego
This Gaslamp hot spot serves sushi and Asian bites five nights a week and turns into a steamy dance club (EDM, minimal, deep house) on Fridays and…
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Los Angeles
Clippers and cocktails conspire at this winning speakeasy. The front section is an actual barbershop, complete with vintage barber chairs and inked…
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Los Angeles
One of the city's top cocktail dens, intimate ETA serves innovative, complex libations such as its famous Penultimate Word, an out-of-the-box mix of gin,…
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San Diego
Dozens of classic arcade games – pinball to Mortal Kombat, Pac-Man and Big Buck Safari to Master Beer Bong – line the walls of this hipster bar in North…
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Santa Barbara
Dave, the owner of Municipal Winemakers, studied the vine arts in Australia and France before applying his knowledge in this industrially decorated…
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Pappy & Harriet's Pioneertown Palace
Joshua Tree National Park
For local color, toothsome BBQ, cheap beer and kick-ass live music, drop in at this textbook honky-tonk in Pioneertown, a movie set turned living town…
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Death Valley National Park
This craft brewery in the middle of nowhere is not a mirage but the pint-sized operation of artist and brewer Jon Zellhoefer in a restored railroad tie…
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Santa Barbara
Large glasses of wine and beer and a great grilled cheese make this cozy place, located up an alley off Anacapa (follow the murals), a worthy detour…
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Greater Palm Springs
Crimson light bathes even pasty-faced hipsters with a healthy glow, as do the pretty crafted cocktails at this teensy tiki bar with blowfish lamps and…
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San Diego
A superb neighborhood pub, with creative decor like beer cans piled floor to ceiling and longboard skateboards attached to the walls. It sells craft ales…
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San Diego
Through a secret doorway, disguised as a refrigerator in the next-door Good Time Poke cafe, you'll step into a lost Hawaiian world with Polynesian wood…
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San Diego
A stack of kegs masquerading as a door inside the Neighborhood restaurant is your key to this 'speakeasy' that is so well known you need to make advance…
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San Diego
Find the unassuming doorway on 5th Ave with 'Eddie O’Hare’s Law Office' on it, then flip the light switch on to alert the door staff, who'll guide you…
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Venice, Marina Del Rey & Playa del Rey
In this hip, industrial, minimalist monument to the coffee gods, perfectionist baristas – who roam the central bar and command more steaming machines than…
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Greater Palm Springs
In the back of the updated steakhouse Mr Lyons hides this furtive libation station named in honor of owner and entertainment lawyer Tara Lazar's dad. The…
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Joshua Tree National Park
Organic and locally roasted, this spotless outfit makes some of the best coffee in JT. It's sold in places around the valley but roasted right here in the…
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Los Angeles
Mission brown is back in vogue at this retro-inspired cocktail bar and eatery, decked out in brown dining booths and drawing a mixed, low-key crowd…
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Venice, Marina Del Rey & Playa del Rey
Matcha (Japanese powdered green tea) finds its way into lattes, Americanos and other traditional coffee drinks at this Japanese-style cafe; we love the…
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Venice, Marina Del Rey & Playa del Rey
You know Toms, which made its name selling fun, slip-on canvas shoes and giving a pair away to underprivileged kids overseas for each pair sold in the…
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Malibu & Pacific Palisades
The place to come for everything from wild honey, organic chocolate, supplements galore to its raison d'être – a fabulous juice bar where ingredients such…
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Los Angeles
Coffee geeks flock to Cognoscenti, a clean, bright, contemporary cafe showcasing a rotating cast of specialty micro-roasters such as San Francisco's…
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Los Angeles
Neighborly, light-soaked Found showcases a rotating cast of mostly Californian specialty coffee roasters, including LA's Demitasse and Peri Coffee,…
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Los Angeles
On Wednesdays, gritty dive bar Airliner hosts Low End Theory, one of the city's top electronica nights, with loud, body-shaking beats spanning dubstep and…
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Los Angeles
This '70s throwback is technically a Mexican restaurant, but the real reason to stop here is for the killer margaritas. Considered by many to be the best…
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Los Angeles
A lofty, minimalist coffee shop with photogenic floor-tiles, Civil peddles a rotating cast of single-origin espresso, cold brew and drip coffees to…
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Venice, Marina Del Rey & Playa del Rey
Old-timers remember this place as a divey pool hall owned by ex-boxer Babe Brandelli (that’s him and his wife on the outside mural). Now it’s a bit…
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Greater Palm Springs
More high energy than chill, but an essential stop on the Arenas 'boys town' strip. Relax at the rectangular bar or on the wraparound patio, and mingle…
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Los Angeles
This storefront across from the water does triple duty: cafe, bakery and possibly California's micro-est brewery. Tiny tanks in the corner dispense brews…
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Greater Palm Springs
The tiki torches and the name are a nod to this perky cafe's earlier incarnation as Don the Beachcomber's founded in 1953 by Ernest Raymond Beaumont Gantt…
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San Diego
Guinness? Check. Corned beef? Check. But what sets this rambling pub apart are its long happy hours (lasting five hours early in the week) and its live…
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Malibu & Pacific Palisades
Right across from the ocean is this low-slung, converted whitewashed beach house with tasty flatbreads and a popular weekend brunch. But we consider it to…
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San Diego
Decorated with hundreds of beer pump handles, which are dangling from the ceiling, this friendly neighborhood spot serves a range of local craft beers…
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San Diego
We’re not sure what it means that this buzzy watering hole has a Día de los Muertos (Mexican Day of the Dead holiday) theme in the flight path of San…
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Santa Barbara
Extending the Funk Zone a little further east is no bad thing, and Waterline's combination of two taprooms (Topa Topa and Lama Dog), a restaurant (the…
