Kibitz Room
419 N. Fairfax Ave.
West Hollywood, CA 90036
map

Five thousand years of beautiful tradition has nothing on the twelve thousand years of imbibing. We, the World Dive Bar Tour, shall uphold this tradition for one last time in 2011. The end of the year means rushing from office to party, rushing from the office party, TV specials, gift procuring, and dangerous reflection on the waning year. This week, we tap the brakes on the holidays and bend an elbow at the Kibitz Room. L’Chaim!

Kibitz has been a stop on the WDBT for years due to its cool, dark charm and stiff pours. Come early, nosh next door at Canter’s and take the VIP entrance into the back of the bar straight from the restaurant. Or eat someplace decent and take the long, cave like Fairfax entrance. No matter how you come, bring some cheer, have a beer, and be merry.

This year, we’ll take advantage of some serendipitous seasonal timing to host a holiday gift exchange. If you’re inclined to participate schlep a wrapped gift ($20 or less) to the bar and expect some meshugenneh present-stealing game.

As usual, the casual debauchery starts around 9PM and gets really interesting by 10:00. Come for one drink, or stay for one too many. Bring anyone and everyone, and join us for a great time in the middle of the week. If you arrive early or late, look for the people having a damn good time (it’ll be us), or start having a damn good time on your own (we’ll find you, if the friendly regulars don’t find you first).

Carpe Drink’em,

The World Dive Bar Executive Committee

The 2012 World Dive Bar Tour will start out on January 11th at Smog Cutter.

Oyster, n. A person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.

St. Nick’s
8450 W. 3rd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90048
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It’s a Holiday Miracle! In recognition of an incredibly awesome 2009, and in the season’s spirit of giving, the World Dive Bar Tour Executive Committee has added a bonus venue to the calendar: St. Nick’s, located in the shadow of the Bev Center for convenient post-shopping libations.

Featuring decent pub grub and drinks that make up for mild priciness with their respectable volume ($7 gets you a mixed drink, but it fills a pint glass), St. Nick’s is an excellent casual mid-week watering hole that stands, with the passing of The Coronet Pub, as the only oasis in the vast dive wasteland between West LA and East Hollywood.

Additionally, our cleverness should be acknowledged in that the bar is named for the noted Turkish gift-giver and patron saint of pawnbrokers, St. Nicholas. As we all remember from fond childhood memories, over the centuries the legend of St. Nicholas was stripped of his Middle-Eastern appearance to more closely resemble the Europeans who worshipped him (just like what they did to Jesus), and this once frail desert-dwelling Saint now appears during the Christmas season as a jolly, fat white guy from the North Pole, extolling the virtues of shopping at Macys and drinking Coca Cola. Associations between his activities and the pawnbrokers for whom he patrons have also been stripped from most folklore, despite remaining a common occurrence during depressed economic times. Merry Christmas!

As usual, the casual debauchery starts around 9:00 and gets really interesting by 10:00.  Come for one drink, or stay for one too many, bring anyone and everyone, and join us for a great time in the middle of the week. If you arrive early or late, look for the people having a damn good time (it’ll be us), or start having a damn good time on your own (we’ll find you).

Carpe Drinkem,

Alex, Damien, and Travis — WDBT Co-czars

Kid: Your beard’s not real.
Willie: No Shit! It was real, but I got sick and all the hair fell out.
Kid: How come?
Willie: I loved a woman who wasn’t clean.
Kid: Mrs. Santa?
Willie: No it was her sister.

–Bad Santa

Kibitz Room
419 N. Fairfax Ave.
West Hollywood, CA 90036
map

Following the observance of Yom Kippur, the predominantly goy and shichtza WDBT will pause for a stop on the tour to remember who really runs this town. While our agents, lawyers, producers, and, in stark contrast, most of the town’s great comedy writers, observed a 25-hour fast, praying for atonement and repentance in the utmost ritual purity on Monday, this Wednesday, we will pollute ourselves with manischewitz in the spirit of multiculturalism, entering the belly of the beast — the Fairfax District — to visit the Kibitz Room adjacent Canter’s Deli.

Although our understanding is that "kibitz" is a pickled herring jelly, meant for spreading on bagels or rye bread, the bar itself is Dive Bar Tour Kosher, with an old man serving up cheap drinks at a reasonable price, and a wide range of friendly clientele. The only reminder of the bar’s Jewry is the relentless singing of classic Hebrew drinking songs… "Have a tequila, have a tequila…"

As usual, the casual debauchery starts around 9PM and gets really interesting by 10:00. Come for one drink, or stay for one too many. Bring anyone and everyone, and join us for a great time in the middle of the week. If you arrive early or late, look for the people having a damn good time (it’ll be us), or start having a damn good time on your own (we’ll find you, if the friendly regulars don’t find you first).

Carpe Drink’em,

Alex, Damien, & Travis - WDBT Co-czars

"Five thousand years of beautiful tradition, from Moses to Sandy Kaufax, YOU’RE GODDAMN RIGHT I’M LIVING IN THE PAST!"
- Walter Sobchak

Coronet Pub
370 N. La Cienega Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90048 (Almost Beverly Hills)

As you know, the Co-Czars strive to select not just a diverse variety of dives but also ones in different parts of the city from week to week. However, there is one part of LA that has never been graced by our presence due to a lack of suitable venues: Beverly Hills. I was told this week that there’s actually a secret BH Gestapo in charge of seeking out businesses that sell booze for less than it costs to gas up a Maserati. And, apparently, these fascists threaten their licenses by institute new policies upon them such as something known as a "dress code." Thus, we take great pride in closing out WDBT 2006 at one of our classic dive stops, the Coronet Pub, a mere three blocks from this haughty municipality.

With a strip club and Trashy Lingerie across the street, the Coronet is one of the more seedy bars we’ve visited, despite being situated on a major LA thoroughfare. The narrow storefront opens into an even narrower bar area with limited seating and only the glow of the neon in the window to illuminate the glass in front of you. These decorative choices were undoubtedly intentional, meant to conceal the haggard visage of any dancers from across the street who occasionally drop in to loosen up before their shift.

As usual, the casual debauchery starts around 9PM an gets really interesting by 10:00. Come for one drink, or stay for one too many. Bring anyone and everyone, and join us for a great time in the middle of the week. If you arrive early or late, look for the people having a damn good time (it’ll be us), or start having a damn good time on your own (we’ll find you).

Carpe Drink’em,

Alex, Damien, & Travis, WDBT Co-Czars

"This is the cleanest and nicest police car I’ve ever been in in my life. This thing is nicer than my apartment." - Eddie Murphy, Beverly Hills Cop