Hinano Cafe
15 Washington Blvd.
Venice, CA 90292
map

In light 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 douchebag 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

Dave’s on Broadway
708 E. Broadway
Glendale, CA 91205
map

It is not very often that the World Dive Bar Tour makes its way somewhere without a Los Angeles address, but this week will bring us all to the fine city of Glendale. Once you step away from the rampant consumerism of Brand Blvd. one will find the small town charm in the city’s quality collection of dive bars. Located at the intersection of Broadway and Glendale Ave, Dave’s is easy to miss. Keep an eye open for the red lit sign and the neon in the window, which simply hints at the quality within.

Dave’s on Broadway is a dive bar of the most typical sort. It is fit into a basic storefront configuration 40-ish feet wide by 100-ish feet deep, with a dark doorway in the front, a long bar along one side of the room, a pool table to the side, and a not so secret back entrance. The mixed drinks will set you back just a few bucks, the domestic oat sodas even less, and the bartender might just be wearing a classy old school white dress shirt and a thin black tie - just the way it should be. There might be free pizza, there might be karaoke or some sort of live musical performance of dubious quality, and there most certainly will be friendly senior citizens ready to make conversation with the slightest perception of eye contact.

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

"In the early 1880s town names such as Etheldean, Minneapolis, Portosuelo, Riverdale, San Rafael, and Verdugo were proposed. Following Thanksgiving dinner in 1883, settlers met at the schoolhouse (which also served as the community church) on lower Verdugo Road to discuss the possible names for the town. Ultimately, a young woman painter from Chicago offered the two word name "Glen Dale" and it was approved."

–Glendale Historical Society

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  

Hinano Cafe
15 Washington Blvd.
Venice, CA 90292
map

In light 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 douchebag 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

Dave’s on Broadway
708 E. Broadway
Glendale, CA 91205
map

It is not very often that the World Dive Bar Tour makes its way somewhere without a Los Angeles address, but this week will bring us all to the fine city of Glendale. Once you step away from the rampant consumerism of Brand Blvd. one will find the small town charm in the city’s quality collection of dive bars. Located at the intersection of Broadway and Glendale Ave, Dave’s is easy to miss. Keep an eye open for the red lit sign and the neon in the window, which simply hints at the quality within.

Dave’s on Broadway is a dive bar of the most typical sort. It is fit into a basic storefront configuration 40-ish feet wide by 100-ish feet deep, with a dark doorway in the front, a long bar along one side of the room, a pool table to the side, and a not so secret back entrance. The mixed drinks will set you back just a few bucks, the domestic oat sodas even less, and the bartender might just be wearing a classy old school white dress shirt and a thin black tie - just the way it should be. There might be free pizza, there might be karaoke or some sort of live musical performance of dubious quality, and there most certainly will be friendly senior citizens ready to make conversation with the slightest perception of eye contact.

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

"In the early 1880s town names such as Etheldean, Minneapolis, Portosuelo, Riverdale, San Rafael, and Verdugo were proposed. Following Thanksgiving dinner in 1883, settlers met at the schoolhouse (which also served as the community church) on lower Verdugo Road to discuss the possible names for the town. Ultimately, a young woman painter from Chicago offered the two word name "Glen Dale" and it was approved."

–Glendale Historical Society

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

Any bar that feels compelled to advertise as a major selling point in their exterior signage the presence of a "BIG TV" is unquestionably a proper dive. Even more so at The Roost, which has yet to make the transition to a digital signal. Standing strong as the Alamo of dives on a street facing an invasion of gentrification, The Roost serves up cheap drinks, free popcorn, and an overbearingly red-tinted ambiance to those who appreciate the little things that make a bar great. Make a stop at the Indian Sweets and Spices down the block for the most delicious cafeteria-style vegetarian Indian cuisine you’ll eat all day, and then join us at the bar for an evening of unbridled debauchery as we ramp up the celebrations surrounding a certain Co-Czar’s impending decent into matrimony.

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

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

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 over the French in the town of Puebla, which served to slightly delay the French army’s march toward Mexico City. Mexicans celebrate this battle in recognition of a glorious time when Mexico could strike fear into world powers with their military might, rather than with exotic forms of influenza. 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 13th.

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

Carpe Drink’em,

Alex, Damien, & Travis - WDBT Co-czars

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

-Benito Juárez

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

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

Hinano Cafe
15 Washington Blvd.
Venice, CA 90292

In light 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