DTLA Dive Bar Crawl Recap

 

Last Friday, I made my way over to King Eddy’s Saloon, one of Los Angeles’ oldest bars. It was started before Prohibition and has been serving wizened livers for decades. I walked in promptly and was immediately offered a seat. Throughout the night, regulars would offer their bar stools for the ladies. Very, very nice of everyone. One man even ventured some poetry, Emily Dickinson no less! I, however, was left to fend off another curious bar patron. What is it about me? I wouldn’t have minded some poetry…

Beer turned out to be more expensive than my whiskey & soda. One ordered a whiskey sour and was served a trashy sweet concoction that every college (high school?) girl would be familiar with. I liked that they cut up three neon red Maraschino cherries and threaded them on a toothpick before serving. Didn’t I say they were classy?

After going to 6 bars on one night, I decided King Eddy’s was really the King of all dive bars in L.A. They’re open at 6 AM and are very eager to serve your daily needs. While my well whiskey & soda was $2.50, they’ll happily serve you call cocktails too. I did spot a bottle of Maker’s 46 on the counter. I wonder how much they’d charge for a shot of that? And to keep up with the times, King Eddy’s has not just a website but Twitter and Facebook as well so friend your new favorite dive bar.

When I go back, I’ll have to explore the food  menu where they are not ashamed to have a microwave.

King Eddy’s Saloon 

131 E 5th St., Los Angeles, CA 90013 – (213) 629-2023

At the hipster-friendly Bar 107, it was still happy hour when we got there so I ordered a Bulleit rye and soda. $5!  I am going to make my $30 or under dive bar crawl goal yet!

 

Bar 107

107 4th St., Los Angeles, CA 90013 – (213) 625-7382

 

At La Cita which doubles as a dance club for many occasions including Mustache Mondays and my favorite, make-your -own-Bloody-Mary Sundays recently renovated so it doesn’t have that caved in dance floor. And the smell is almost gone…

Hey, what kind of dive is this?$6 for a well whiskey & soda? Well, all right. I like them because they allow people to bring in food– more on that later.

La Cita

336 S Hill St., Los Angeles, CA 90013 – (213) 687-7111

 

I shouldn’t have put Redwood on my list of dive bars as they were charging cover this night. But somehow we talked our way in anyway. Thanks, Opportunarian!

The pirate-themed bar served me a weird grilled cheese. Despite having snarfed down three tacos from Ye Olde Taco House #1 (really, more on that later!), I was still feeling snacky so I had half a grilled cheese. Um, this was a cheese sandwich of unmelted cheese. The sweet potato fries were good though.

I made a mistake of ordering a Salty Dog from their ridiculously small drink specials. It was pretty bad. The grapefruit juice was really bitter. Guess I don’t like vodka anyway.

Redwood

316 W 2nd St., Los Angeles, CA 90012 – (213) 680-2600

 

 

After the Redwood, we popped over to New Jalisco, a bar I’ve been fascinated by for years. Their specialty are michaeladas but I opted for a rum and pineapple ($6). Unfortunately, the bartender gave me a Screwdriver. English is not a strong point here. Be prepared to use your high school Spanish to get a drink.

Are you sick and tired of not knowing what your bartender looks like in the nude? Well, head on over to New Jalisco where Tony runs around half naked. He told us he works out 5 days a week so why shouldn’t he show off his abs? By the way, he also is a go go dancer at Mickey’s in West Hollywood so catch him there on Wednesdays. I didn’t quite catch where he is on Saturdays but he’s definitely at New Jalisco on Fridays. You can even shove a few bucks down his pants if you feel like it. He likes that.

My gay adjacent ways had  me grooving on the dance floor and we came back for El Drag Show. It was fantastic. Really, this was my favorite dive and most likely the one I’d return to. Hell, Tony even threw in chips for us to snack on at the bar.

New Jalisco Bar

245 S. Main St., Los Angeles, CA 90012

 

We had to skip La Costena’s neighbor, Five Star Bar because they had a $5 cover. Pfff, whatever cover! Instead we bounced over to La Costena where they were having recession specials.

Although the signs stated Tecate was $2.50, they only charged us $1 a can. Wow! But alas, I had already hit my $30 mark and decided to rein it in. La Costena was decorated for Halloween so hop over there to check out the crazy decorations shoved in front of the many soccer posters. People also liked dancing here. It’s beer and more beer here (plus cash only) so come with your singles.

La Costena Bar

271 S Main St., Los Angeles, CA 90012 – (213) 680-9455

 

Remember how I told you La Cita allows food? Spring for a few tacos at Ye Olde Taco House #1 next door. They taste all right before you start drinking and even better (necessary) afterward. My fave that night was the chile verde and lengua.

Ye Olde Taco House #1

340 S Hill St., Los Angeles, CA 90013 – (213) 625-2700

Next month, I’m hosting a fireplace crawl. I hope you can come!