From scrappy Silver Lake dives to polished DTLA rooms, these are the LA bars where the music is the point, not the background. Expect anything from jazz to goth to country.
Culver City · 6010 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90035
A Fairfax staple where the stage is small, the talent is big, and you’re never more than a few feet from someone absolutely wailing into a mic. It’s part rock club, part industry watering hole, with red lights, strong d…
Frogtown · 2478 Fletcher Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90039
A live music venue that somehow still feels like a secret. Hiding out in Frogtown, Zebulon has an excellent bar, a surprisingly great dance floor, and a knack for booking artists you’ll be bragging about “knowing before…
DTLA · 450 S Main St, Los Angeles, CA 90013
A neon-lit DTLA hideout where the walls are plastered with gig posters and the drinks hit before you’ve finished pretending you’re “just here for one.” It’s dark, loud, and happily unpolished—equal parts punk show after…
East Hollywood · 5221 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90027, USA
A factory-themed bar on Hollywood Blvd with live music nearly every night and a secret back bar — the R&D — where the cocktail menu rotates nightly and guest bartenders run the show. It's the kind of place where you lan…
East Hollywood · 4519 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90029
East Hollywood’s favorite dimly lit troublemaker, where the cocktails are legit and the back room turns into a sweaty dance floor the second the DJ senses weakness. It’s equal parts indie show, themed party, and “I swea…
Santa Monica · 1432 4th St, Santa Monica, CA 90401
A moody, red-lit time capsule that’s been slinging blues, burlesque, and late-night soul since 1931. Tucked beneath street level, Harvelle’s delivers dive-bar intimacy with serious music cred—think torch singers, funk b…
Silver Lake · 2906 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026
A scrappy, no-frills music bar where the floor’s a little sticky, the beer’s cheap, and the band might be incredible or might be your friend’s band—but either way, it feels right. This place runs on distortion pedals, P…