Sarai and recently I spent a week in Los Angeles and made a point of hitting a few old familiar spots. Saturday evening we went bar hopping with Nathan, starting off with drinks at Yamashiro, overlooking Hollywood and downtown LA.
Last night was was the kick-off party for
International Flight Lounge, a new monthly event at
Forbidden Island in Alameda. International Flight Lounge is described as
"A hi-flying mix of the best uptempo '60s French pop, Euro beat and film soundtracks, exotica, British invasion, and much more".
The closest bar to our new apartment in Oakland is a punk rock dive bar. Ah, nostalgia.
Someone recently told us about Bourbon and Branch, a speakeasy-themed bar in the Tenderloin. We heard tales of required reservations, passwords at the door, 1920s-style music and decor, and great cocktails, so we had to check it out.
We made a reservation for Wednesday night, figuring it wouldn’t be too crowded, which it wasn’t. Crowding won’t [...]
After nearly two years, I finally made it out to Forbidden Island, the new (well, newish) tiki bar in Alameda. Residents of Alameda refer to themselves as “island people”, so a place like this fits in well. (For those unfamiliar with the area, Alameda really is an island in the San Francisco bay.)
Forbidden Island’s reputation [...]
It took nearly two and a half years, but Sarai and I finally checked out Vino Venue, the high-tech wine tasting bar just down the street from my office in SOMA.
The idea is pretty neat: You buy a pre-paid card that you use at any of the self-serve tasting stations set up around the bar. [...]
Sarai and I have decided that the only way we’ll be able to check out all the bars in our new neighborhood is to try to hit a new one every week, so last night we stopped by The Phone Booth after dinner. Thatchery, Yelp reviews, and San Francisco’s Best Dive Bars all warn that [...]
After a couple rounds at the V Room we walked down 4th street to Fern’s, which was a complete waste of time.
The bartender checked our IDs upon walking in and had a problem with Nathan’s, which had recently expired. She apparently doesn’t understand the concept of time, as she seemed to think that he [...]
Our first stop for a night of Long Beach bar hopping was the V Room, a nice little dive with a good jukebox and carpeted walls (???). A round of drinks for seven people came in a few dollars under $30, and they pour their whiskey nice and full. No complaints there.
The bar was [...]
Sunday night we went out for Belly Dance Sass and Wild Gypsy Brass at Amnesia. The entertainment was great, one of the belly dancers in particular was absolutely amazing and Brass Menazeri, the Balkan Brass band that came on after the dancing rocked.
The bar was really nice and the event drew an interesting looking (and [...]
