Whitehorse Inn
1532 N. Western Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90027

The Whitehorse Inn is a Hollywood institution and a true dive, down to the crimson and black decor, solid jukebox, cheap drinks, and eccentric patrons. In an eerie juxtaposition, though, there is also homey feel provided by its friendly elderly hostess passing around platters of chips, crackers, and microwaved hotdogs to you in the welcoming comforts and prelapsarian familiarity of the ratty couches in the sitting area, thus blending the emotions brought on by a traditional dive with those of your kind-hearted grandma’s living room.

Throw in the fact that the bar is situated under East Hollywood’s most popular hotel for transexual hookers and their clientele, and the bar begins to truly feel like a visit to grandma’s — if you and your grandmother both led sinful lives and reconvened in hell to reminisce on fond family memories. In short, it’s one of our favorite bars, and we do hope you’ll join us.

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

“Poverty was an ornament on a learned man like a red ribbon on a white horse” - Anzia Yezierska

Hop Louie
950 Mei Ling Way
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Los Angeles’ official downtown Chinatown is an interesting place, caught between the rise of downtown development and the young professionals who live there and the rise of the vibrant Chinese communities hopscotching eastward out towards the Inland Empire. Our dive bar for this week is a hold out from both worlds. It’s simply refused to change in any way, shape, or form from the day it opened, right down to the ancient bartender whose surly demeanor and lack of polite language skills are quite legendary. But the good thing is he will likely be wearing a snappy vest and knows how to serve many of the quality tropical drinks of the pacific rim. It might just be the best place for a Singapore Sling this side of the Raffles Hotel.

For those out to join us, remember that the bar is located between Hill and Broadway in the tourist trap street-scape of Mei Ling Way. The only problem is someone forgot to tell the tourists. On this street Hop Louie might be a bit hard to find but wander around a bit, examine some storefronts, toss some spare change for good luck in the central fountain, and before long you’ll see the sign for the bar. Inside you’ll find a comfortably dim spot with a beautiful black lacquered bar, a jukebox with a wonderful selection, and a solid crowd of drinkers hoping for some collective abuse via the sometimes outrageously strong drinks or the aforementioned bartender.

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

“Louie Louie, oh no
Me gotta go
Aye-yi-yi-yi, I said
Louie Louie, oh baby
Me gotta go”
- Richard Berry (famously preformed by The Kingsmen)

The Gold Room
1558 W. Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90026

A common misconception regarding Cinco de Mayo is the belief that it honors Mexico’s independence. In fact, it merely celebrates General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín’s victory in the town of Puebla, which served to slightly delay the French army’s march toward Mexico City. This victory stands alongside the Alamo and the Oaxacan teacher’s strike of 2006 as one of the most successful slaughters in Mexican military history. Another common misconception regarding Cinco de Mayo is that the holiday should be celebrated on May 5th. In fact, as any astute observer of Mexican culture and language will tell you, Cinco de Mayo is on May 7th.

So, in celebration of this noble holiday, we visit Echo Park’s fabled Gold Room for an evening of Mexican culture at its finest. If one were to take a 1984 El Camino with a glistening neon purple undercarriage, chili pepper lights lining the windows, an airbrushed Virgin de Guadeloupe on the hood, and flames shooting out the exhaust, and then wave a magic wand to turn it into a bar, the Gold Room would be that bar. It is a magical place where a $1 tequila shot is expected as accompaniment for every beer, an old man in a gaucho hat offers you peanuts, popcorn and occasionally steak picado, and unlike most other Mexican bars in the neighborhood, our band of gringos can safely enter without causing all conversations to halt as the record needle lifts off a Julio Preciado album.

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).

Carpe Drink’em,

Alex, Damien, & Travis - WDBT Co-czars

"Democrazy is the destiny of humanity; freedom its indestructible arm."

-Benito Juárez

WEDNESDAY, March 26th, 2008

The Green Frog
13624 Moorpark Street
Sherman Oaks, CA 91423

So pick up some discarded, vomit covered shamrock paraphernalia out of a nearby gutter, and confuse the locals by celebrating Old St. Patrick with us at the legendary Green Frog.

On this rare visit to the Northern Territories, the WDBT Executive Council also issues a strong recommend for Pre-Dive-Eats at the only dive bar with the audacity to declare itself as having "The best seafood in LA!" — the legendary Oyster House Saloon, just down the street at 12446 Moorpark.  Stop in for the dive bar ambience and drink selection, the 75¢ oyster shooter happy hour, and the heaping bowls of mussels and linguini, but only if you’re truly brave enough to attempt a dive bar double header.

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).

Carpe Drink’em,

Alex, Damien, & Travis - WDBT Co-czars

"Me? In love with a pig? Ha ha! Wait ’til I get the guys at marketing!  Maybe you’ve expected me to go hog-wild! Oh, good, maybe you expect me to bring home the bacon! Ah, the sounds of love - Soue! Oink oink!"

-Kermit

Hinano Cafe
15 Washington Blvd.
Venice, CA 90292

In lieu of Venice’s rapid gentrification, it’s nice to know that there’s still a beach bar where you can get a cheap beer, shoot some pool, and mingle with local surfer bums, hippies, and the occasional gang member. Those places are all but gone. Hinano’s is the exception. Surrounded by trendy eateries with a high douchebaggery quotient, this surfer shack extraordinaire has embraced the Venice mentality over the years and maintains that laid back style today.

Hinano is adorned out front with a string of Christmas lights year round and aglow with neon within. Don’t let the ski-capped eastern-European doorman checking IDs fool you. You won’t find any Kolatchys in this bar, but rather a fine variety of draught beer, a delicious and affordable bar menu served throughout the night (try the burgers), and free popcorn courtesy of the stand-up machine in the corner. Bring enough change for the PacMan and pool tables and enough greenbacks to quench your thirst as Hinano is cash only. And don’t bother with the Valets on Washington right in front of the bar (yes, it’s gotten that bad). Park on Pacific or one of the other side streets.

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, if the friendly regulars don’t find you first).

Carpe Drink’em,

Alex, Damien, & Travis - WDBT Co-czars

"…It’s just like, dude, you got the best barrels ever dude, its just like you pull in and you just get spit right out of’em and you just drop in just smack and..whah-pack!…and drop down..and BAHHHHHHWWW!…and after that, you just drop in, and just ride the barrel and get pitted, so pitted…like that."

- Surfer Dude

The Roost
3100 Los Feliz Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90039

This week takes us to a pure bred Los Angeles dive. While some spots around town attempt to pull the wool over our eyes with a dark look and a sticky bar yet still charge more than a five spot for a drink, there are no such concerns for this week’s bar — at least while it lasts in this corner of rapidly gentrifying Atwater Village. The Roost is a place right out of your grandparent’s liquor cabinet, right down to the catholic high school girls from Our Lady of Perpetual Sorrow up the hill, who reportedly sneak out for a quick nip during study hour past the non-existent age-verification procedures.

Starting outside you might pause for a moment to admire its classic 1960’s era pole sign, boasting what will prove to be extremely stiff cocktails and ‘Big TV’ from before TV’s were big. Make your way past whatever disreputable characters might be holding down smoking duties at the front door, and inside you will find a vintage popcorn machine complete with stale popcorn, some Patsy Cline on the jukebox, and true to the bar namesake - a few old birds perched along the bar either seeking to fill their empty glasses with tears or find someone to fill it up with booze. Fulfill that latter dream at your own risk, just be sure to bring enough cash as this place dates from way before credit.

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

"A bird can roost but on one branch, a mouse can drink not more than its fill from a river"

- Chinese Proverb

Whitehorse Inn
1532 N. Western Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90027

Whether it be a Karaoke Ninja, Thai twinks, or burlesque clowns, there is always something truly special about Hollywood dives east of Vine that sets them apart from the rest. We venture this week to the Whitehorse Inn on Western Avenue, affectionately dubbed by some as "skid-mark row." Why, you ask? Let’s just say that your walk to and from your car could be more entertaining than the bar itself.

Whitehorse Inn is situated in the middle of LA’s biggest tranny and john commercial district, so we advise you to beeline for the bar once you’ve parked and use discretion in casual conversations with strangers when you step outside for a smoke. If we haven’t scared you off yet, the Whitehorse actually offers some quality and unique attributes unlike any of the dives we visited.

The bar is owned and operated by and old Russian lady who, to this day, lives by the maxim that you can never have too much to eat. Wherever you sit, she’ll serve you bottomless bowls of pretzels and chips. Hang out by the bar after 10PM, and you might be lucky enough to grab a free hot dog, hot out of the microwave.

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

"Love put me wise to her love in disguise. She had the body of a Venus, Lord imagine my surprise"

- Steven Tyler