Being in West Hollywood, California was a blast for a vacation. There were so many different bars and nightclubs to go to, it was unbelievable. Be careful though, because some are gay bars, some are lesbian bar and some are bi bars. So know which ones you are going to so you don’t end up at the wrong one. As a tourist here is what I thought of some of the bars that we went to.
The 4100 bar located at 4100 Sunset Boulevard was a really nice lounging nightclub. In the lounge area they have plush couches and small table areas that are away from the busy bar area so you can relax and have a conversation. The bad part about the bar was there were a lot of drunk and obnoxious people there and it seemed normal to everyone there. So all in all it really wasn’t my kind of bar. If you feel like partying hard and being loud and obnoxious then this is the bar for you.
The Smog Cutter is located at 864 North Virgil Avenue on the East side of Hollywood. This bar is nothing special. It is just your average everyday neighborhood bar that you can go to in the city that you live in. There was free karaoke that only a few of the same locals kept singing but really no Hollywood excitement like I was looking for. They do have a pool table, so if you are looking for a quit bar to relax and play a game of pool, this is your bar. The average drink price was $6 – $8.
The Cat Club located at 8911 Sunset Boulevard was a really fun and different bar to go to. It is owned by Jim Phantom of The Stray Cats. They have live music seven days a week from jazz to rock to bluegrass and all other types of music. A band called the Starfuckers play every Thursday. In the band is Dizzy Reed of Guns N Roses, Eric Dover who used to play with Alice Cooper, Stephan Adika from the Dee Dee Ramone’s band and the owner of the club Jim Phantom. They were really good!
This was the style of Hollywood bar I was looking to find. It may have been a smaller bar, but the atmosphere was fun. The carpet was a leopard print pattern and red flames were painted on all of the walls. The stage up front had a great lighting system that made the whole bar light up. If you like live music, make sure you check out The Cat Club. The average price of a drink in here was $8.
The three leveled Key Club located at 9039 Sunset Boulevard was one of my favorites. It was a nightclub, restaurant and had live entertainment all in one place. They had a separate little room that had red chairs and wood tables and long curvy couches where you could kick back and have a conversation. They also had a room called the plush room, where it was more intimate. In here there was a long curvy black leather couch, with small tables. Then if you felt like being where the action was, you could go upstairs to where the bar and dance floor was.
They allowed only 500 people in here at a time. The line does get long so get there early enough. They opened at different times each night so make sure you are there at least 1 and a half hours early. There is a cover charge and the cost depends on who is playing. Clubs like this is what makes Hollywood a party town! Average drink prices are around $10.
The Troubadour located at 9081 Santa Monica Boulevard was a bar that had a lot of history to it. Celebrities like Elton John and John Taylor performed here early in their careers. The bar area’s atmosphere is really nice even though it is smaller then most bars. The walls are made from a dark wood and there are celebrity’s poster hanging on the wall. The seating was large black booths surrounded by small black tables.
There was a separate room with the word Showroom in neon above the doors. This is where the performances took place. We saw a band called Pistol Pistol and they were really good! The average drink price here was $10.
Fubar located at 7994 Santa Monica Boulevard was not the bar for us at all! We walked in and there were drag queens everywhere looking at us. We definitely felt out of place. The bar was not lit very well and it seemed kind of blah in there. The only excitement was looking at the dresses some of these guys squeezed themselves into. Some of them looked better then I did in a dress! We decided not even to have a drink cause it was more of a gay and lesbian bar. We should have realized this when a drag queen checked our IDs. But it wasn’t until we saw the same sex couples making out and men in dresses until we figured it out.
The Cactus Lounge is located in the Standard Hollywood Hotel located at 8300 Sunset Boulevard. The lobby lounge is truly amazing. They have brown plush lounge chairs with blue tables surrounded them. The floor ceiling and walls around them are a brown plush carpet. On the wall in a different area are a variety plants in lighted pots. From the ceiling there are the clear bubble chairs hanging.
The purple lounge was out of this world. There were big purple plush chairs and couches surrounded by purple tables. The lighting was purple along with the ceilings and the walls. The bottles of alcohol behind the bar were illuminated in purple lights. And there were purple glass chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. This was one of my favorite places. It was very Hollywood and very unique to any other place. The average drink prices were between $10 and $20 but the atmosphere was well worth it!
Overall going out in Hollywood was a lot of fun and quite an adventure. Make sure you do your research on bars. You might walk into the wrong kind of bar like we did. Also a lot of the bars want you to be dressed up very fashionable, so dress to kill when you go out. There are a lot of bars that will have long lines, or that will turn you down because you are not on the list or not important enough to them. They may even turn you down because of the way you look or are dressed. But don’t worry there are plenty of other bars and nightclubs to go to. Hold your head up high and try the next place. Just remember it is Hollywood. They go mostly on who you are and image.
