48 Hours of Drinking in Los Angeles

Bar Bandini draws a steady local crowd in Echo Park. Booking is recommended on weekends. Walk-ins are usually possible early in the evening. Drop bags. Find a hotel-adjacent bar within a five-minute walk. Order something simple to anchor yourself to the city.

E.P. & L.P. draws a steady local crowd in West Hollywood. Booking is recommended on weekends. Walk-ins are usually possible early in the evening. The polished room you'd take a first date to. Sit at the bar. Talk to the bartender. Stay one drink — you're scouting, not committing.

Yard House draws a steady local crowd in Downtown LA. Booking is recommended on weekends. Walk-ins are usually possible early in the evening. Walk into the city's drinking quarter (the heart of the night, not the tourist version). Two drinks, two rooms. Pace yourself — Saturday is the long day.

Bar Jackalope draws a steady local crowd in Downtown LA. Booking is recommended on weekends. Walk-ins are usually possible early in the evening. Sunset. Find a rooftop. Order whatever the house specials around sundown. Take photos but don't lose 90 minutes to your phone.

Bar Marmont draws a steady local crowd in West Hollywood. Booking is recommended on weekends. Walk-ins are usually possible early in the evening. Eat somewhere with serious bartending built in. The right room is one you order both your dinner and your nightcap from.

Stella draws a steady local crowd in Hollywood. Booking is recommended on weekends. Walk-ins are usually possible early in the evening. The bar that made you book the trip. The pre-research one. Reservation-only ideally. Stay until last call.

Big Bar is the Los Feliz neighbourhood cocktail bar inside the Alcove Café — a long covered patio plus an inside cocktail room with one of the city's most-loved Mary, Mimosa, or whatever low-ABV house play the room runs. Eat. Pay. Walk.

Join our newsletter for monthly recommendations, stories from bartenders, and invitations to exclusive events. Find the hotel bar at your departure airport equivalent — somewhere quiet, low-volume, well-staffed. End the trip on a martini and a clean conversation.