I'm going to be blunt. As a recent college graduate aspiring to somehow afford being able to go out often enough to keep writing a blog about nightlife, I'm in the process of looking for a full time job. Therefore, when my mother read last week's blog entry about going out every Tuesday for, uh, tacos, and being hungover on Wednesday mornings, she suggested that I leave out details like this because potential employers might not be amused by my habits.
So I am not writing about my own experiences today. I'm writing about my, uh, friend. Her name is Holly. She is not me. She is totally a real person. And she went out this weekend in Hollywood, where she always parties. She has the hookup at every club in LA and she (not I) is going to teach you how to have fun in one of the country's most notorious party arenas. Again, totally not talking about myself today. Just to be clear.
Holly started her weekend off at a swanky Hollywood party. Kind of. Okay, not really. It was a restaurant/brewery in Glendale that doesn't serve hard alcohol, but has an assortment of really great beers. I'm not exactly sure if it's appropriate for me to name the host of her party, so suffice to say it was a private event put on for the crew of a TV show. This meant a wrist band with free beer, so ample sampling of everything Golden Road Brewery had to offer. She recommends the Carry On beer, and walked away with a case of it when the evening was over, so I'll probably spending the week with her, making sure that beer doesn't go to waste. In fact, she has two cases because her friend swore off drinking forever the next morning (rookie mistake), so come hang out with us sometime this week if you get the chance.
The trick to a successful night out in Hollywood is to never turn down an invitation or a meet-up. You never know who you'll run in to, but it is equally important to thank your host and get out of there as soon as people start leaving, food starts getting cold, and people start talking about other plans. It's also equally important to not drive yourself home, as on her way to the pub she saw a very unfortunate DUI taking place on the side of the road and reminded herself that Lyft is her friend and under no circumstances would that ever be her. The $20 ride it will take to get to the after party is not worth that mark on your record. It would make finding a full time job even more difficult.
Even better than a Lyft though is a free ride, so if your friend has a sober driver, tag along with them and let them make the plans. In this case, her friends wanted to go to 4100 Bar in Silver Lake, so off they went.
4100 Bar is a classy establishment. On Friday night, it felt like the kind of place where people "go for drinks" with coworkers or people they want to network with. This wasn't the kind of evening Holly and her friend had in mind, so the two of them hopped into an Uber, bound for Hollywood.
Holly was meeting up with some friends from Georgia who are currently attending medical school and know nothing about where to go or how to have fun in Hollywood. She met them at Argyle, one of her favorite clubs with mediocre music and a consistently fun crowd. She sweet-talked her way past the security guard by name dropping the bartender after texting him to make sure he was working that night, which brings me to my next tip: it's better to favor a few haunts, where you can make friends with the cute bartender, get free drinks, and greet the bouncers by name. It makes for a smooth evening, cheaper costs, and a kind of drunken, after hours family, which adds some familiarity to your evening. It also makes you look cool in front of your out-of-town friends who now think that Holly is a badass who parties all the time.
Out of the three different types of places she went to that night, there was something for everyone. It's just a matter of getting out there, meeting people, and not being afraid to throw some cash at bouncers to stay out of that horrid line. Remember: they're not here to keep everyone out. They're here to keep the poor people out.
For up-to-the-minute tips that you can read while you're out every night, download the SpotZone app for free and follow us on Twitter, to know what my plans are for the weekend, where you can find the best music, and where the lines are short and the ratios are favorable. You're welcome.