Baja Cantina Bar / Mexican Restaurant

Venice, Los Angeles –

Since first opening in 1974, Baja Cantina has been dishing out Mexican food and margaritas to surf bums, tourists, and rowdy sports fans from the minute doors open till the last free bowl of chips and salsa spills on the floor.

Considered a local landmark by many liquored-up locals, “The Baja” oozes history – from the vintage surfboard décor and the rusted wheelbarrow that somehow ended up on the roof to the Friday nights many patrons no longer remember.

The sprawling restaurant benefits from its location just two blocks from the ocean, but weekly tequila tastings, lobster, and barbecue nights certainly don’t hurt business, either.

Packs of dudes pile in at the central bar for cheap beer and whatever game is on the flat-screens, while the main dining area, swimming in beach scenes and photos from 80s volleyball tournaments, brims with twenty-somethings slinging pitchers of fruity cocktails and families recouping from an afternoon on the sand.

The expansive Grill Patio and Bar in back is the real draw for the party crowd, offering loads of outdoor seating, a big fireplace, and another bar where day drinking is celebrated and, on busy weekends, even three bartenders can’t keep up with the margarita orders.

Pretty cocktail waitresses and guests in bikinis and tank tops are the norm at Baja Cantina, a Venice cultural landmark that’s wonderfully worlds away from cultured.