• About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • DMCA
  • Sitemap
  • Write For Us
Sunday, January 24, 2021
Daily illinois - USA | News, Sports & Updates Web Magazine
  • Covid-19
  • News
    • All
    • Education
    • Politics
    • Sports
    • World
    Former HHS Sec. Leavitt says state vaccination plans ‘getting too granular,’ slowing distribution down

    Former HHS Sec. Leavitt says state vaccination plans ‘getting too granular,’ slowing distribution down

    Opinion: There was much more to Hank Aaron than breaking Babe Ruth's record

    Opinion: There was much more to Hank Aaron than breaking Babe Ruth’s record

    7NEWS.com.au

    Inflation likely ended 2020 still subdued

    Here's What's Next for Chamath Palihapitiya's Social Capital SPACs

    Here’s What’s Next for Chamath Palihapitiya’s Social Capital SPACs

    Trump's Senate impeachment trial will start the week of Feb. 8, Schumer says

    Trump’s Senate impeachment trial will start the week of Feb. 8, Schumer says

    Jackets' Dubois on benching: 'Out of my control'

    Jackets’ Dubois on benching: ‘Out of my control’

    Top 30 Christian Teen Podcasts You Must Follow in 2021

    This Professor Protested a School’s Racism. Then He Lost His Job.

    This Professor Protested a School’s Racism. Then He Lost His Job.

    Carolina Cabral/Getty

    Maduro Is More Powerful Than Ever as Venezuela Collapses

    The Pet Shop Boys

    Which band originally recorded It’s A Sin as Russell T Davies drama airs?

  • Science & Tech
    • All
    • Mobile
    Could a homegrown coronavirus strain be partly to blame for California's surge?

    Could a homegrown coronavirus strain be partly to blame for California’s surge?

    Screenshot of https://english.khamenei.ir/ (Source: Fox News screenshot)

    Iranian supreme leader’s website shares threatening image of Trump

    Artistic rendition of the exoplanet WASP-107b and its star, WASP-107. Some of the star's light streams through the exoplanet's extended gas layer. (Credit: ESA/HUBBLE, NASA, M. KORNMESSER)

    ‘Super puff’ planet unlike any other found in deep space, could change how we explore the universe

    Earliest form of money found and it's a bunch of rings and axes

    Earliest form of money found and it’s a bunch of rings and axes

    How the hunt for COVID-19's origin became a twisted, confusing mess

    How the hunt for COVID-19’s origin became a twisted, confusing mess

    Netflix shares see their biggest jump in four years

    Netflix shares see their biggest jump in four years

    The Ongoing Collapse of the World's Aquifers

    The Ongoing Collapse of the World’s Aquifers

    India fires tough message to WhatsApp: Withdraw privacy policy tweak

    India fires tough message to WhatsApp: Withdraw privacy policy tweak

    Deals: Anker sale at Amazon from $15, latest Retina 5K iMac, more - 9to5Mac

    Deals: Anker sale at Amazon from $15, latest Retina 5K iMac, more – 9to5Mac

    ICYMI: More gadget highlights from CES 2021

    ICYMI: More gadget highlights from CES 2021

  • Entertainment
    • All
    • Gaming
    • Movie
    • Music
    For these Mexican filmmakers, all art is political. 'Identifying Features' makes it personal

    For these Mexican filmmakers, all art is political. ‘Identifying Features’ makes it personal

    Brian Eno has had a pretty good quarantine

    Brian Eno has had a pretty good quarantine

    As part of a sworn affidavit in Kenosha County Circuit Court, Assistant District Attorney Thomas C. Binger submitted several still images from the video which show the Kyle Rittenhouse posing for several photographs in a t-shirt which reads "Free as F**k" with other adult males in the bar. In each photograph, the defendant and the other adult males are flashing the "OK" sign.

    Judge: Kenosha shooter can’t associate with supremacists

    Trump reportedly considered putting an ally willing to dispute election results in charge of the DOJ

    Trump reportedly considered putting an ally willing to dispute election results in charge of the DOJ

    Beach Bunny's airborne pop-punk calls out toxic dudes, with irrepressible glee

    Beach Bunny’s airborne pop-punk calls out toxic dudes, with irrepressible glee

    Voices From China’s Covid-19 Crisis: ‘If I Survive This, What Will I Do?’

    Voices From China’s Covid-19 Crisis: ‘If I Survive This, What Will I Do?’

    Rachel Brosnahan attends the 25th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on January 27, 2019, in Los Angeles.

    Analysis: Comedy steps up as a respite from our current woes

    Review: 'The Human Factor' takes a fly-on-the-wall approach to Middle East peace negotiations

    Review: ‘The Human Factor’ takes a fly-on-the-wall approach to Middle East peace negotiations

    Sabrina Carpenter dropped a new song, and fans think it's about Olivia Rodrigo

    Sabrina Carpenter dropped a new song, and fans think it’s about Olivia Rodrigo

    Trump WHO

    Impeaching Trump: The Senate will receive the article of impeachment Monday. What next?

  • Lifestyle
    • All
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Travel
    Here's some happy gardening news: Tomatomania is back with hundreds of tomato choices

    Here’s some happy gardening news: Tomatomania is back with hundreds of tomato choices

    Amazon’s Small Business Empowerment Team Is Helping Entrepreneurs Sell More – Can They Help You?

    Amazon’s Small Business Empowerment Team Is Helping Entrepreneurs Sell More – Can They Help You?

    The abandoned Soviet nuclear missile base hidden in a Polish forest

    The abandoned Soviet nuclear missile base hidden in a Polish forest

    Joe Biden speaking at his inauguration

    Looks Like Joe Biden Got a New Watch to Celebrate His Big New Job

    How the Pet Food Industry Can Support New Pet Owners - Food Industry Executive

    How the Pet Food Industry Can Support New Pet Owners – Food Industry Executive

    An incense-cedar that fell through a house in Wawona during the Mono wind event on Tuesday is pictured. (Yosemite National Park via AP)

    Yosemite National Park temporarily closed after windstorm hits California

    Kate Middleton showcases straightened long hair in lockdown – and fans love it

    Kate Middleton showcases straightened long hair in lockdown – and fans love it

    Airline stocks fall after EU leaders impose travel curbs within the bloc

    Airline stocks fall after EU leaders impose travel curbs within the bloc

    They wanted to bring a sneaker shop to South L.A. Then their dream got bigger

    They wanted to bring a sneaker shop to South L.A. Then their dream got bigger

    Anna Baryshnikov's New Fashion Obsession Came From the Dickinson Costume Dept.

    Anna Baryshnikov’s New Fashion Obsession Came From the Dickinson Costume Dept.

29 °f
Chicago
31 ° Sun
31 ° Mon
29 ° Tue
28 ° Wed
No Result
View All Result
Daily illinois - USA | News, Sports & Updates Web Magazine
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Gimlets, Bukowski & Day Drinking: Missing LA’s Dive Bars

by Staff Writer
January 6, 2021
in News
Reading Time: 4min read
0
Gimlets, Bukowski & Day Drinking: Missing LA’s Dive Bars
491
SHARES
1.4k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter


Los Angeles is a city built on contradictions. While it’s famous for its international stars, miles of beaches and devotion to over-the-top opulence, it also boasts an equally impressive network of gritty dive bars.

Related posts

Former HHS Sec. Leavitt says state vaccination plans ‘getting too granular,’ slowing distribution down

Former HHS Sec. Leavitt says state vaccination plans ‘getting too granular,’ slowing distribution down

January 24, 2021
Opinion: There was much more to Hank Aaron than breaking Babe Ruth's record

Opinion: There was much more to Hank Aaron than breaking Babe Ruth’s record

January 24, 2021

These are not the places where you’ll find the glitterati or the Insta-fluencers—the parade of people trying hard to look like they’ve never tried hard in their lives. No craft cocktails or sleek decor here; no scene, no dress code. These watering holes are practically as old as LA itself and attract a range of regulars.

As California is now in the midst of a serious lockdown to combat the spread of COVID-19, these establishments are now closed and are the ones I miss most and can’t wait to get back to.

When I was writing my novel, The Lady Upstairs, a feminist noir thriller about women blackmailing LA’s wealthiest and most morally bankrupt men, I spent a lot of time in dive bars. Mostly as research. (Mostly.) Where else can the antiheroes of Raymond Chandler and James M. Cain, among others, find a respite from all that optimistic sunshine? Slither into one of these joints, and you can practically feel the ghosts of fedora-wearing private investigators and fast-talking femme fatales. Cool, dark dive bars offer the chiaroscuro that makes Los Angeles such a fertile breeding ground for the genre.

While it will be some time before I can go out for a drink, these are the watering holes I plan to visit first.

There’s a plethora of kitschy-cool tiki bars in Los Angeles. All of these take a scene-y spin on mid-century tropes and update them for the 21st century. It’s as if the bartenders are giving you a wink-wink isn’t this ridiculous artifice letting patrons know they’re in on the joke, so everyone can just relax and enjoy their not-too-sweet Mai Tai.

Not so at the Purple Orchid.

Located in El Segundo, a city-suburb of west Los Angeles just south of LAX that reads like the love child between Andy Griffith’s Mayberry and the well laid-out business parks of Silicon Valley, the Purple Orchid is walking distance from both a movie theater that plays 1950’s era Sci-Fi classics on Sundays and the headquarters of Raytheon defense contracting.

With specialty cocktails like the Curious George, which is heavy on both rum and banana (picture a liquid sugar hangover eight ounces deep), and a range of “bowl” style and flaming drinks, the Purple Orchid is refreshingly unpretentious in its love for all things typically tiki. It’s also the setting for more than one crucial scene in The Lady Upstairs. I picked it because the history of tiki cocktails is littered with noirish nuggets and because I think you can make the case that tiki bars are a bit like femme fatales themselves—gorgeous to look at and likely to leave you with a lot of regrets in the morning.

The Prince of Whales, located a few blocks off the ocean and only a few miles from LAX, smells like the inside of an aquarium that hasn’t been cleaned regularly. The clientele is almost evenly split between daytime regulars who start the hard work of pickling themselves at 10 AM and popped-collar Loyola Marymount University students testing their freshly minted IDs. It’s a big, beautiful blue whale of a building, home to a karaoke stage, a quadrangle of sports-blaring televisions and an expansive back patio that sees a variety of table tennis experts who have logged an improbable number of hours perfecting their backhand.

You may have heard of other bars on this list, but I’m almost positive the Prince of Whales has never made any list for bars to visit in Los Angeles and therein lies its charm. It’s located in my neighborhood (and the neighborhood where the main character in The Lady Upstairs also lives), Playa del Rey—Los Angeles’ forgotten beach town. It’s a corner of the city where mom-and-pop restaurants can still somehow afford beach-front property and features a charming little cluster of neon lights and beach bums resembling Thomas Pynchon characters.

At the Prince of Whales, the drinks are cheap and strong. If you start your night at the Prince of Whales, you’re in trouble. If you end the night there, you’re doing it right.

The wood paneling of the HMS Bounty, not updated since the bar opened in 1962, now looks a bit out of place in Koreatown, a chic and diverse neighborhood in the heart of Los Angeles.

The HMS Bounty is attached to the Gaylord Apartments, once dubbed “one of the largest and most pretentious apartment houses in the country” by The Los Angeles Times. It made a brief cameo in Mad Men, but that high-profile publicity hasn’t done anything to change the unpretentious charm of the place, which offers “food & grog” as per the banner outside.

I don’t remember any specialty cocktails from the HMS Bounty; I barely remember the under-$10 double Gin & Tonics; but I do remember that the sweaty maroon carpet swayed under my feet like a real-live ship as I stumbled my way up to the bar to pay my shockingly cheap tab one adventurous evening.

The ghost of Raymond Chandler greets you at the door of this storied Hollywood establishment. While it’s not a dive bar per se, but really a historic restaurant with an amazing and noirish bar, I felt I still had to include it on this list

Musso & Frank opened in 1919 and is the oldest restaurant in Los Angeles. Along with Chandler, James M. Cain, Dashiell Hammett, Dorothy Parker and many others ate and drank here. From the cocktail menu springs lucrative inspiration—or so writers like Charles Bukowski seemed to hope, as he’s credited with the tradition of looking for just the right opening hook to a novel in the bottom of a Musso & Frank Gimlet.



Source by www.thedailybeast.com

Tags: cocktailsDrinking cultureFilm noirLos Angeles
Share196Tweet123Share49
  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
Van Morrison teams with Eric Clapton for anti-lockdown song

Van Morrison teams with Eric Clapton for anti-lockdown song

December 19, 2020
'Zombie' greenhouse gas lurks in permafrost beneath the Arctic Ocean

‘Zombie’ greenhouse gas lurks in permafrost beneath the Arctic Ocean

December 24, 2020
Trump’s speech that ‘incited’ Capitol violence: Full transcript

Trump’s speech that ‘incited’ Capitol violence: Full transcript

January 11, 2021
For these Mexican filmmakers, all art is political. 'Identifying Features' makes it personal

For these Mexican filmmakers, all art is political. ‘Identifying Features’ makes it personal

0
Fact check: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced he would defer his annual raise

Fact check: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced he would defer his annual raise

0
Swedish government sidelines epidemiologist who steered country's no lockdown experiment as deaths rise

Swedish government sidelines epidemiologist who steered country’s no lockdown experiment as deaths rise

0
For these Mexican filmmakers, all art is political. 'Identifying Features' makes it personal

For these Mexican filmmakers, all art is political. ‘Identifying Features’ makes it personal

January 24, 2021
Brian Eno has had a pretty good quarantine

Brian Eno has had a pretty good quarantine

January 24, 2021
Larry King Dead at 87

Larry King Dead at 87

January 24, 2021
Daily illinois - USA | News, Sports & Updates Web Magazine

Copyright © 2020 Dailyillinois.com.

Navigate Site

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • DMCA
  • Sitemap
  • Write For Us

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • About Us Page
  • Contact
  • DMCA Policy
  • Home 1
  • Privacy Policy
  • Submit, Guest Post, Write For Us and Become a Contributor
  • Terms of Use

Copyright © 2020 Dailyillinois.com.

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.