Local's Guide to Hollywood Bars

Not that it ever matters what you're wearing in LA, but if you feel like drinking in your pajamas, Power House is the bar you've been looking for. Positioned across the … street from all the touristy hype of Hollywood and Highland, Power House offers cheap beer, darts, a smattering of genuinely shady characters, and a jukebox full of classic rock. Best of all, it's as unknown to hipsters as it is to tourists. [link]

One of the only places in town where you can shoot some pool without having to wait four hours to commandeer a table, Hollywood Billiards is so cavernous you could go … several times and never realize how many rooms and hallways are contained within. It's a dream come true for sports fans; there are enough TVs that every team's fans have an area to themselves, and cheap beer makes the event exciting even if you've just tagged along to be nice. A spacious, quiet courtyard with plenty of tables makes Hollywood Billiards about as democratic as they come around here. [link]

A visit to Boardner's will take you into the very belly of the beast. It's off Hollywood Boulevard in the heart of the camera-snapping/trick-finding district, but it's … just hidden enough to be legit. Standing outside is entertainment enough; the goth club next door, Bar Sinister, provides the finest in urban people-watching. Inside, the booths are cozy, the drinks are strong, and a menu of well-done pub food ensures that you'll be able to soldier through to closing time. [link]

Big Wang's hardly feels like a Hollywood bar; it has the atmosphere of a roadhouse, with a menu to match. Pitchers of beer are cheap even when they aren't on special, and … the bathrooms are generally in, er, memorable condition. But the real highlight is the marvelous, marvelous junk food, which ranges from the titular wangs to such inspired concoctions as tater tots smothered in alfredo sauce and bacon bits. [link]

You can tell right off the bat Coach and Horses is a classic dive -- they only take cash, and it's so dark, anonymity in alcoholism is assured by default. More shocking … than the perpetual gloom, however, are the prices. Liquor drinks are cheap enough to leave even the most hardened bargoer teary-eyed, and they're strong enough to take the roof off your mouth. By 10 p.m. the place is packed, so go early if you want your choice of seats, or late if you want your choice of ill-advised one night stands. [link]

Lounge-y and seductive, The Well epitomizes the stereotype of the Hollywood bar that's so hard to find, people brag about having been there. (Hint: the entrance is on … Argyle, even though the address is on Sunset.) A jukebox hums in the background as the bar's many nooks and crannies fill to the rafters, but the mood manages to remain intimate and easygoing -- maybe because it's one of the only bars in town where you don't have to duck outside to carry on a conversation. [link]

Positioned just slightly north of the Hollywood grid, Birds makes the transformation from hipster rotisserie chickeneria to bar at some point between your fourth and … fifth Singapore Sling. The waitresses wear t-shirts that read "come for the food, stay for the drama," and that sums it up better than we ever could. By midnight the place is packed with locals, and it's not uncommon to see people dancing on the tables inside, while more low-key patrons sit outside, away from the music, to smoke and flirt. [link]