Liam Gowing
Lists
Top 5 dive bars on the Westside
Far from the glitzy lights of Hollywood and the hip enclaves of Silver Lake and Los Feliz, the Westside used to be a regular Mecca for dive bars. Yet one by one, year by year, these cherished, low-key watering holes have fallen by the wayside or, worse yet, been transformed into something trendy: The Brig on Abbot Kinney? It's a sheet-metal paradise now. The Circle Bar on Santa Monica's Main Street? Decked out in gaudy red and constantly packed. The wonderfully stinky Town House in Venice where Jim Morrison's whiskey-polluted urine once stained the walls? Horror of horrors, it's been rennovated. But take heart, ye fan of cheap drinks, immediate service and a social scene like a funeral. Endangered species that it is, the Westside dive bar endures.
This is it, folks, the Westside's top dive bar: A bar where you can get an economical drink without waiting in line, a bar down the street from a 99-Cents-Only Store and right next to a shady-looking Japanese massage parlor--a bar whose proprietor is named "Marv." Like any respectable dive, the Joker has a checkered linoleum floor, chipped wood-panel walls and a long wooden bar complete with year-round Christmas tree lights and mismatched red bar stools, some of which may be filled with the elder statesmen of the neighborhood. Be not afraid of these old codgers--they won't bite and neither will the no-nonsense bartender. He won't tempt you with any happy hour deals, but who needs any when well drinks are $4.25 and draft domestic beer is just $3.25? Take the money you save and spend it on a game of pool at one of the three tables in the back room or on a game of darts or poker. The payoff may not exceed the one offered next door, but at least you'll have your self-respect afterward.
A classic grungy dive bar, Del's Saloon gained some recent notoriety when it was featured in the Judd Apatow movie "Knocked Up," but it's been a beloved West L.A. haunt for years. Particularly popular on Wednesdays and Saturdays when local singles and the odd septuagenarian standards-singer moves in for hosted karaoke from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., Del's is a good call the rest of the week for cheap drinks, a decent juke box and a short wait to use either of the two pool tables (only $.50 a game) or two dart boards. There is also a lone, worn big-screen TV and a few smaller ones perpetually tuned to sports, but patrons tend to visit for what's behind the long wooden bar, not what's above it. There is a happy hour from--calling all alchoholics--6 to 11 a.m. and again from 4 to 7 p.m. but drinks are reasonable around the clock. Pitchers of good microbrew like Sierra Nevada, Samuel Adams and Fat Tire go from $15.50 to $16.50 with import pitchers from $17 to $18.50. Unless the staff has ordered pizza for a big game or other special promotional event, there's no food at Del's, but the bartender won't look twice if you bring your own with you.
Considering its dingy décor and a clientele that can look a little rough at first blush, most people are shocked when they take their first bite of an Hinano burger. It is, simply, one of the better burgers in town—unfussy and classic. Coupled with a bag of chips and beer that is unusually cold, Hinano’s is one of the best stops you can make when you’re checking out the bar scene on the wet end of Washington Blvd. It’s the ideal sort of dive: two pool tables sit in the back room; there’s sawdust all over the floor; and you can even serve yourself a free basket of fresh popcorn from the popper in the corner. On most nights, it’s fairly crowded with friendly locals looking for a relaxed time. Get there before nine o’clock if you want to sit in one of the prized stools at the bar. You won’t leave once you’ve got one.
Tucked into an upscale strip mall across from a Whole Foods grocery store, Lost & Found illustrates you can't judge a book by its cover. Step past the Western-style saloon door hidden from the parking lot, and you'll find a classic, cash-only dive bar replete with a long, chipped wood-grain counter, faux-leather benches and stools, Medieval lamps and even a topless, sub-Vargas-girl oil painting. Make no mistake, however, this is a dive bar with both recreational functionality and class: It not only has a juke box, pool table, dartboard, arcade and poker games, it has has a working fireplace just perfect for warming your outsides while the affordable liquor warms your innards.
A 60's-era bowling alley with 28 lanes, Mar Vista Lanes also boasts a surprisingly good in-house diner, Peppy's, arcade games and a full-service bar bedecked with the standard red Naugahyde bar stools, a classic-rock-oriented juke box and a pool table. Bowling is $4 per person per game and shoe rental is $4.25, but on Sundays from 8 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., the first game is $6 and each subsequent game is $1, and it's $1 for shoes.
