Dance clubs, live music, rooftop bars, speakeasies, LGBTQ+ venues, listening bars and late-night dives in Santa Monica.
Dance clubs, live music, rooftop bars, speakeasies, LGBTQ+ nightlife, listening bars and late-night dives across Santa Monica, with where to go and what is worth the late night.
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.
Tip: Dress code loosens early; go at 17:00 for a patio sofa because the queue after 21:00 on weekends is real.
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.
Tip: Tickets go through Seat Engine on the venue site; the long-running Toledo Show jazz and burlesque revue owns Sunday nights.
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.
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.
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.
Tip: Proper Hour runs 16:00-17:00 weekdays and 15:00-17:00 weekends; the poolside alcoves take groups up to twelve.
The Penthouse floats on the 18th floor of the Huntley Hotel in Santa Monica, white banquettes and coastline views from breakfast through late cocktails.
Tip: Happy hour runs 16:00-18:00 on weekdays; sunset window tables go to whoever books earliest on OpenTable.
Basement Tavern hides under the 1890s Victorian on Main Street in Santa Monica, a candlelit whiskey bar with live bands packed in most nights.
Tip: Enter down the side stairs of the Victorian; it gets shoulder-to-shoulder after 21:00 when the band starts.
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.
Tip: It bills itself as Southern California's longest-running karaoke; sign up early because the nightly list fills by 21:00.
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.
Tip: Ask the bartender to steer a whisky flight; the beer list turns over constantly and skews serious.
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.
Tip: The sandy-floored front room is the landmark bit, designated by the city in 2012; the Backyard patio opened in 2019.