The most visible social scene in LA undeniably revolves around the high-end nightlife: the famous and exclusive bars and clubs in Los Angeles. The in-crowd is deeply intertwined with the entertainment industry, and nowhere is this more evident than in Hollywood, with its ever-present lines of stunning wannabe stars waiting outside the swanky clubs and lounges, and the snap-happy paparazzi waiting for short-skirted celebs to step out of their Escalades.

Hot one minute and cold the next, the LA bars and clubs can be as fickle as the A-listers who frequent them. To entice these leggy blonde starlets, each club attempts to outdo its competition with kitschy themes, ostentatious décor, impenetrable access, and enough idolatrous fawning to keep them coming back.

LA’s pre-club scene is equally exclusive, as high-powered agents and producers talk shop at sceney Beverly Hills and Sunset Strip hotspots and bars with tight reservation-only policies and the steep price tags that come with them.

Yes, it pays to be famous, wealthy, and beautiful in LA’s gilt-edged scene, and those with deep pockets and even deeper connections will find the tall, tanned, and beautiful just beyond the iron-clad velvet ropes, where one can dance with a Kardashian one minute and do shots with Jeremy Piven the next, or catch a glimpse of Hollywood dealmakers green-lighting the next hot movie franchise.

Although the Hollywood entertainment scene garners the most tabloid attention, the rest of LA’s multifaceted nightlife is nothing to be scoffed at. With a variety of options stretching from the ocean to Downtown, Los Angeles offers inventive cocktail dens, speakeasy watering holes, club/lounge hybrids, Irish pubs, and lazy beachside bars.

In recent years, the mixology and craft beer scene has blown up in Downtown, Silver Lake, and Los Feliz, where trendsetting hipsters rub elbows with grizzled regulars over Dark & Stormys and Old Fashioneds, while beach bums, yuppies and divorcées congregate down by the water with a laid-back, anything-goes attitude that makes every day feel like a weekend.

Hitting a combination of all these types of venues in one night may require traveling across the city, but taking advantage of LA’s less stereotypical offerings is well worth the effort...read less