The Penthouse is a rooftop bar in Downtown, Santa Monica.
Editorially verified August 18, 2026 by Lewis Vaughan, TableJourney editor. Source.
Tip: Happy hour runs 16:00-18:00 on weekdays; sunset window tables go to whoever books earliest on OpenTable.
Address: 1111 2nd Street, Santa Monica, CA 90403
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.
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.
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.
