This Friday marked the 81st anniversary of the end of Prohibition, or, as the alcohol enthusiasts of Los Angeles like to put it: Repeal Day. I can’t think of a better beginning of my contributions to SpotZone’s nightlife blog than a celebration of the political act that made such a roaring aspect of L.A.’s culture possible.
I have signed on to be your insight into the Los Angeles bar and club scene. What makes SpotZone such an amazing app is that it lets every person in Los Angeles who considers themselves someone who “goes out” tell the rest of us exactly what we should be doing each evening. What Spots have the best music? Which locations have the most favorable guy to girl ratio? Are we going to have to wait in line? I will brave the front lines with the admirable people whom LA’s best venues call “regulars” to provide SpotZone with ratings that will tell you where to go at the beginning of each night.
But first I have to try and find a way to categorize different places and how they’ll appeal to different people during any given mood. For example, this weekend I drank three nights in a row (my mom says I’d better be successful because she won’t pay for my rehab one day), and each night I had a very typical, yet unique type of drinking experience that everyone I know basically chooses from: the Casual Bar Visit, Party at Home, or Drunken Night Out. Let’s break them down, shall we?
This is probably the most common, and definitely the most responsible way to enjoy your boozy LA evenings. It’s the anthem of networking, grabbing a pint with your friends, or meeting up with a Tinder date in a location that’s comfortable, yet in a public area. My Casual Bar Visit was to one of my favorite locales, Haven Gastropub.
Haven’s got a great whiskey menu, with bourbon, scotch, and rare artisanal blends that number over 140, so you can pretend to be a classy alcohol maven when ordering Pappy von Winkle, which you’ll be hard-pressed to find anywhere else in Orange County.
I’m not, nor will I ever pretend to be, a food blogger, but I will tell you that the lamb burgers, truffle fries, and pig ears round out the eclectic, refined, yet comforting food menu that will accompany your whiskey buzz perfectly. It’s expensive, so Haven is a great place to go if you have money to spend or want your limited budget to force you to drink responsibly.
Oh and if you like men, their waiters and bartenders are some of the hottest you can find, and they don’t look like they belong in Orange County. In a good way.
Party at Home
‘Tis the season for emotionally manipulating your boyfriend into engaging in holiday festivities! Bribing him with egg nog and an endless supply of rum doesn’t hurt either. Decorating a mini Christmas tree and some sugar cookies made up my Friday night, but this is of little relevance to you, so you’ll hear about these escapades way less often, unless they end with a crew of people just drunk enough to check SpotZone to see where we should go out and dance off all of this energy.Drunken Night Out
This is the fun one. This is the night that racks up astronomical Uber receipts, calories that “never happened” and text messages that Drunk You deleted before you went to bed out of either kindness or masochism. Drunken nights out involve vodka sodas, lines, promoters, and EDM, and usually end in a 24-hour diner or burger joint.
The Drunken Night Out is a very fleeting experience that balances precariously between too boring and embarrassingly fun. Depending on your age, I would err on the side of embarrassing. Your Sunday morning pain will fade into a glorious story that you’ll be able to tell in a couple of years without cringing.
The Drunken Night Out can be ruined by a buzz that fades too quickly or a club that’s so boring, you blackout to make up for it. The Drunken Night Out needs SpotZone to help you decide where to go because Drunk You isn’t known for making the most brilliant of choices.
Mine happened this Saturday. It started at a party at The Mondrion on Sunset with an open bar (a fickle enemy if not tamed with expert practice, timing, and restraint). We left just as the crowd started to thin, and our group decided to head for Harlowe Bar, despite my insistence on hitting up Berri’s for some lobster pizza (yes, that’s a thing, apparently).
To Drunk Me’s chagrin, there was no food.
So there you have it. Each night out, no matter where you go or what you do, is a variation of one of these three types, or at least a combination of them. I’m working on setting up a SpotZone events calendar, which will tell you where in Los Angeles to go for each different type of experience, depending on what you’re in the mood for. In my opinion, however, it’s best to mix it up and never stick to just one type of drinking experience, that way you can meet a variety of different types of people, check out new bars and clubs you don’t normally frequent, and keep each night interesting!
Keep checking in on the new blog and on the SpotZone App for different ways to have each different kind of night. There’s even an upcoming New Year’s Eve celebration at Haven, if you’re into the classy, fancy dining experience sort of thing (for raunchier, club events follow us on Twitter, where we’ll be posting every New Year’s Eve party and opportunity we hear about from now until 11:59 on the 31st).
What’s your favorite type of night out? Is there a category of drunken debauchery I’m missing? Let me know in the comments, and check in next Sunday for another blog post about my LA Weekend. Know a place I should check out or an upcoming party or event you want me to blog about? Drop a tip at spotzoneaudrey@gmail.com. I look forward to hearing from you all.
Haven Gastropub
New Year’s Eve – Ring in 2015: They’ll be offering the option of a Chef's prix-fixe menu, for those interested, for $45 per guest (not including beverages, tax, or gratuity).