Cocktails, wine bars and dives: drinking in Santa Monica for grown-ups.
Cocktail bars, wine bars, dive bars and gastropubs: drinking in Santa Monica for grown-ups.
The Galley has kept its portholes and rope nets on Main Street since 1934 as Santa Monica's oldest restaurant and bar, steaks, littlenecks and stiff drinks.
Signature drink: Mai tai under the fairy lights
Food: Bar menu
Tip: Sit at the South Seas Bar under the year-round fairy lights; the East Coast littleneck clams are the classic starter.
Chez Jay has kept its nautical dive-bar dining room on Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica since 1959, a city Historic Landmark of steaks, peanuts and lore.
Signature drink: Martini with free peanuts
Food: Bar menu
Tip: The sandy-floored front room is the landmark bit, designated by the city in 2012; the Backyard patio opened in 2019.
Father's Office on Montana Avenue is the Santa Monica gastropub where Sang Yoon's no-substitutions Office Burger was born, backed by 36 craft taps.
Signature drink: One of 36 craft taps
Food: Bar menu
Tip: No ketchup, no substitutions, 21-plus only; the burger comes one way and the bar means it.
Ye Olde King's Head has poured pints a block from the Santa Monica Pier since the mid-1970s, the British pub whose fish and chips built its name.
Signature drink: Imported bitter on draught
Food: Bar menu
Tip: Afternoon tea is served Monday to Saturday until 16:00 in the tea room; the gift shop bakery sells sausage rolls to go.
The Daily Pint stocks more than 500 whiskies behind a Pico Boulevard dive-bar front in Santa Monica, with sharp rotating taps, pool and shuffleboard.
Signature drink: Whisky flight from 500-plus bottles
Food: Bar menu
Tip: Ask the bartender to steer a whisky flight; the beer list turns over constantly and skews serious.
The Gaslite has held its Wilshire Boulevard corner in Santa Monica since 1962, a come-as-you-are karaoke dive open 06:00 to 02:00 with free popcorn.
Signature drink: Well drink with free popcorn
Food: Bar menu
Tip: It bills itself as Southern California's longest-running karaoke; sign up early because the nightly list fills by 21:00.
Harvelle's books blues, burlesque and soul into a low-lit 4th Street room in downtown Santa Monica, one of the Westside's longest-running music bars.
Signature drink: Whisky cocktail at the stage
Food: Bar menu
Tip: Tickets go through Seat Engine on the venue site; the long-running Toledo Show jazz and burlesque revue owns Sunday nights.
Basement Tavern hides under the 1890s Victorian on Main Street in Santa Monica, a candlelit whiskey bar with live bands packed in most nights.
Signature drink: Old fashioned
Food: Bar menu
Tip: Enter down the side stairs of the Victorian; it gets shoulder-to-shoulder after 21:00 when the band starts.
Big Dean's Ocean Front Cafe has anchored the boardwalk below the Santa Monica Pier since 1902 as Loring's Lunchroom, burgers and buckets on two patios.
Signature drink: Bucket of beers on the boardwalk
Food: Bar menu
Tip: It became Big Dean's in the 1970s; grab a patio rail seat, order the burger and watch the boardwalk crowds.
The Bungalow sprawls through a beach-house maze at the Fairmont Miramar in Santa Monica, cocktails, DJs and pool tables with ocean air off the bluff.
Signature drink: Spicy margarita
Food: Bar menu
Tip: Dress code loosens early; go at 17:00 for a patio sofa because the queue after 21:00 on weekends is real.
The Penthouse floats on the 18th floor of the Huntley Hotel in Santa Monica, white banquettes and coastline views from breakfast through late cocktails.
Signature drink: Sunset cocktail on the 18th floor
Food: Bar menu
Tip: Happy hour runs 16:00-18:00 on weekdays; sunset window tables go to whoever books earliest on OpenTable.
The Georgian Room, in the 1933 Georgian Hotel on Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica, pairs Tuscan chophouse cooking with live jazz around a Steinway grand.
Signature drink: Martini beside the Steinway
Food: Bar menu
Tip: Friday and Saturday it runs to 02:00 with live music; Spaghetti Sunday closes the week with a set menu.
Elephante stacks a coastal Italian kitchen onto a 2nd Street rooftop in Santa Monica, whipped eggplant, pizzas and pasta with the ocean over the rail.
Signature drink: Aperol spritz at golden hour
Food: Bar menu
Tip: Go before sunset for the light and stay for the DJ; weekend mornings it runs ricotta pancakes from 09:00.
Calabra spreads Mediterranean-Californian plates across the Santa Monica Proper Hotel rooftop, a circular bar and garden terrace with Pacific views.
Signature drink: Proper Hour seasonal cocktail
Food: Bar menu
Tip: Proper Hour runs 16:00-17:00 weekdays and 15:00-17:00 weekends; the poolside alcoves take groups up to twelve.
Not No Bar plays throwback Euro disco over wood-fired pizza on Main Street in Santa Monica, bar director Kent Thompson's cocktails until 01:00.
Signature drink: Soy Del Rancho
Food: Bar menu
Tip: Friday and Saturday are fully walk-in; the patio never takes bookings and the room goes 21-plus after 22:00.
Library Alehouse has poured independent craft beer on Main Street in Santa Monica since 1995, California gastropub plates and a wood-lined back patio.
Signature drink: Black Manhattan or a Mayberry IPA
Food: Bar menu
Tip: The back patio hides from the Main Street noise; pair the Mayberry IPA with whatever burger special is running.
Santa Monica Brew Works pours ten house taps in its Colorado Avenue taproom, 310 Blonde to PCH Porter, with Emmy Squared pizza serving till late.
Signature drink: 310 Blonde Ale
Food: Bar menu
Tip: Monday is all-day happy hour; the Emmy Squared after-hours menu runs Friday and Saturday from 21:00.
AJA Vineyards pours its Malibu Coast AVA estate wines in a 2nd Street tasting room in Santa Monica, flights and glasses beside boards of cheese and snacks.
Signature drink: Estate wine flight
Food: Bar menu
Tip: Happy hour knocks 5 dollars off flights Wednesday to Friday 15:00-18:00; outside food is allowed for a 15 dollar fee.