The 10 Best Bars In Highland Park - Los Angeles - The Infatuation (2024)

photo credit: Doug Friedman

When it comes to bars, Highland Park has a bit of everything. There are places where you can stay out until 2am and dance with people who get paid to pose for Calvin Klein ads, but there are also places more suited for solo outings and low-key dates. Here are the places to focus on first.

THE SPOTS

Fueled by local DJs, whiskey highballs, and a wall-to-wall vinyl collection, Gold Line is the best (and arguably the only) listening bar in LA. The music at this dimly-lit Highland Park spot blasts at house party volume nightly, with genres ranging from indie jazz to obscure Japanese funk from the ‘80s. But even if you aren’t someone who gets giddy about vintage LPs, you can still drop in for a fun night. Grab a seat at the wooden bar with a date, or pack out a leather couch near the disco ball with friends, and let groovy Detroit house mixes do the rest.

If you're looking for a mellow spot on Figueroa to sip fancy co*cktails with friends, the front room of this Highland Park co*cktail bar is a reliably chill option. The moody, low-lit lounge plays 80s throwbacks for an early 30s crowd and serves interesting drinks, like a ginger-infused vodka and blood orange number that might jumpstart your appetite. Fortunately, Arroyo Club also serves an excellent double smashburger with crisp-edged patties and spicy chipotle aioli, which you order using a QR code at the table. If a dancier crowd is more your speed, Arroyo Club shares a back patio with a speakeasy-ish co*cktail spot that we like even better, Good Housekeeping.

This casual wine bar is run by the same people as Bar Covell in Los Feliz, which means you can expect a tremendous wine list, solid bar snacks, and bartenders who’ll happily let you taste-test until you find the right glass. With a long bar, leather booths, and floral wallpaper, it’s nice enough to bring a first date to, but low-key enough to drink wine by yourself while reading a book. Plus, there’s a front sidewalk patio that’s entirely dog-friendly.

This cute, checker-floored beer-and-wine bar on York Blvd. in Highland Park has live music shows almost every night. Most of the weeknight performances are free, but on weekends they charge a $12 cover. Expect to see a blue-haired vocalist performing lo-fi indie rock under a disco ball while you drink natural wines, shots of sake, and boozy slushies while eating solid noodles and curry from Sticky Rice, the popular Thai mini-chain that serves from a takeout window out front.

This semi-hidden Highland Park co*cktail bar tucked behind Arroyo Club always seems to have the right amount of people inside—crowded enough to classify as a social scene, but not so packed that you have to stiff arm someone for a seat. There’s a nightly DJ spinning records in the corner, and the co*cktails are all impressively nerdy, with ingredients like vegetal chartreuse, green salt, and honeysuckle-washed gin. We like to come whenever Gold Line gets too busy, or for a first date/post-dinner nightcap situation.

La Cuevita (formerly known as Little Cave) is a dark dive bar with skull heads lining the shelves and colorful papel picado hanging from the wooden beams above. If you'd rather be in the sunshine drinking margaritas, though, head outside to their back patio. There are a few tiny nooks for your group to take over and free tacos on Tuesdays between 9-11pm.

Located on the second floor of an old masonic lodge in Highland Park, Checker Hall is part restaurant, part bar, and a rare spot where any type of night is possible. The cavernous main room is lined with booths and a Mediterranean-leaning food menu suitable for intimate date nights. But we love Checker Hall most for its late-night scene, especially when the attached music venue lets out, and the pentagon-shaped bar is suddenly wall-to-wall with people drinking excellent co*cktails—like tequila and jalapeno Carmen #6, one of the best spicy margaritas in the city—and looking for an afterparty.

Block Party is proof that if you give people good beer on draft, a cruise ship-sized shuffleboard, and a sprawling back patio where you can hang out all day, no one will leave disappointed. Located in the heart of York Boulevard’s main drag, Block Party is a place where you roll into on a Saturday afternoon and leave five hours later wondering where your day went. Spoiler alert: you spent it drinking alcoholic snow cones, playing Wii sports, and watching drag shows. We also love that Block Party lets you bring in your own food.

Drinking and bowling have gone hand-in-hand since the caveman era, and Highland Park Bowl does the combination better than anyone. The historic space on Figueroa has been around since the 1920s, but after a big renovation, it's now a retro steampunk wonderland where you can spend a few hours drinking Old Fashioneds. If you want to bowl, plan on reserving a lane ahead of time. That way, you can bowl a few frames then head upstairs for a spread for wood-fired Neapolitan pizzas.

The Hermosillo is technically a tap room for Highland Park Brewing, but you don’t need to care about beer to love this place. It's the kind of reliable neighborhood hangout where you can post up in an old-school banquette with Dodger fans or eat a few tacos while watching someone's toddler run around the parking lot patio strung with lights/ Of course, you’ll also have a great time at Hermosillo if you do care about beer, and the knowledgeable staff is happy to discuss the dozen-plus craft beers on draft.