The Los Angeles Live Venue Drinking Price Guide
Hollywood Drink Prices By The People, For The People
We’ve been talking about doing something like this for well over a year and it is now time to get it out the door. Please bookmark this page. May it serve you when planning how much money to bring (or not to bring) the next time you hit the live music circuit. With any luck we’ll eventually be able to tell who’s doing things right, who’s doing things so-so, and who’s shafting everybody in the ass indiscriminately across the board.
The next time you go to a show you need to remember:
- Where were you
- What was the date
- Who was playing
- What drink did you order
- Which bar did you order from
- How much did it cost
- Any other pertinent information (How was the drink? etc)
The ’which bar’ category has been added based on the fact that within venues themselves, some bars offer drinks not available at the other bars. Example, beers are available in super big gulp sizes at the downstairs bars at Spaceland and Roxy but not at the upstairs bars. You get the idea.
Every time you see a show and order at least one drink, come back to this page and add your info to the comment section. Every week or so, we’ll update the master list with your input, sorting by venue then by date within venue. If this takes off we may eventually have a serious resource on our hands here, and we will database it. If it doesn’t take off, we’ll then know you are all (a) lazy or (b) non-boozers. Either way we win; demo data is prettymuch invaluable these days. I’ll start the chart with last night’s show and a recent foray at the Troubadour. Let’s do this, people! Price guide after the jump.
*** THIS CHART LAST UPDATED 26 OCT 2007 ***
| The Los Angeles Live Venue Drinker’s Price Guide | ||||||
| Venue | Date | Act | Drink | Which Bar | Price | Notes |
| Avalon | 10/10/07 | Beirut w/ Alaska in Winter | Corona | East wing (looking towards the stage), downstairs | $6-7* | Cold, too much for a beer. |
| Avalon | 10/12/07 | Beirut | Jack and soda | Bar to the right when you walk in | $10!!! | Decent pour. |
| Echo (upstairs) | 10/22 | Castledoor | Dewars and Ginger | upstairs bar | $3 (special) | not so great, but i don’t like dewars |
| Echoplex | 10/15/07 | Boris, Damon & Naomi | Corona | Both Bars (back and side) | $5 | not bottled, in a cup, but they let me watch them pour it |
| El Rey | 9/21/07 | High on Fire | PBR | Lobby Bar | $5 | bottle dumped into a plastic cup |
| El Rey | 9/21/07 | High on Fire | Jack Daniels & Coke | Lobby Bar | $9 | NA |
| El Rey | 10/12/07 | Dark Star Orchestra | Heineken | Lobby bar | $7 | Poured from bottle into a cup |
| El Rey | 10/16/07 | Patrick Wolf | Stoli Raz w/soda | Front bar | $8 | NA |
| El Rey | 10/18/07 | Two Gallants (kicks ass) | 1 stella, 1 whiskey/ ginger ale & 4 jack & cokes | inside bar | $47 | acceptable pour |
| Forum | 10/23/07 | Interpol | Coors Light & Dos XX (Beer only @ this venue) | Floor | Domestic 8.50, Import 10.00 | Big decent sized cups, 2 drink min. per purchase (*) (?) |
| Venue | Date | Act | Drink | Which Bar | Price | Notes |
| Greek | 9/21/07 | Sea Wolf, Sondre Lerche, Air | Dos Equis | Snack bar, main area, window closest to the bathrooms | $10 | Domestic beer choices are terrible so you are pratically forced to bump up to a $10 “imported” beer. |
| Henry Fonda | 9/21/07 | The Rentals | Coors Light | Downstairs bar facing the stage | $6!! | On tap; pee water def not worth 6 bucks |
| Hotel Cafe | 9/30/07 | Terra Naomi | Stella | Bar near the stage | $6 | Bottled |
| Key Club | 10/16/07 | Astra Heights | 2 Red Bull & Well Vodkas | $19.41 | what!?!? | |
| Mayan | 10/25/07 | Gogol Bordello | Vodka Tonic | Upstairs Lobby | $8 | very average |
| Mayan | 10/25/07 | Gogol Bordello | White Russian | Downstairs Lobby | $9 | very average |
| Orpheum | 10/15/07 | PJ Harvey | johnny walker black label rocks | upstairs bar | $7 | nice, strong pour |
| Venue | Date | Act | Drink | Which Bar | Price | Notes |
| Palladium | 10/12/07 | Morrissey | Vodka (Absolut) & Cranberry | First bar at the entrance | $10 (you call it), $8 (house liquor) | Weak, it was served in a small plastic cup, overpriced and underpoured |
| Safari Sam’s | 10/15/07 | Black Francis | Black and Tan | Upstairs Bar | $6.50 | B&T made with BASS |
| Safari Sam’s | 10/15/07 | Black Francis | Red Stripe | Upstairs Bar | $6.00 | NA |
| Safari Sam’s | 10/15/07 | Black Francis | Red Stripe | Downstairs Bar | $6.00 | NA |
| Spaceland | 10/16/07 | Dappled Cities & Figurines | PBR Draft | Main downstairs | $3 | A bit foamy, but hi, $3. plus super friendly bartender. |
| Troubadour | 9/19/07 | Clap Your Hands Say Yeah | Jameson, rocks | The Palm (SaMo Blvd) | $7.00* | Dan Tana’s Too Damn Packed |
| Troubadour | 9/19/07 | Clap Your Hands Say Yeah | Heineken | Downstairs Main Bar | $7.00 | NA |
| Troubadour | 10/19/07 | Black Lips | 2 makers and ginger | main bar | $17 | Well made drink |
| Troubadour | 10/19/07 | Black Lips | Stoli and Red Bull | main bar | $10 | It was ok. |
| Troubadour | 10/20/07 | Dr. Dog | Corona, Heineken, Black Label and Soda, Jack and 7 | main bar | $32 | Decent pours |
| Wiltern | 10/23/07 | Jesus and Mary Chain with BRMC and Evan Dando | NA | NA | Beer: $6/ $7 Wine/ Chpg: $6 Well Drinks: $7 Call Drinks: $8 Bottled Water/ Soda: $3 Gatorade: $4 |
I didn’t drink anything. I took craptastic cell photos of the Wiltern price list. Upstairs. Main level bar. |
*unverified
Photo of South Bay bartender taken by losanjealous ryan for www.losanjealous.com – an independent music, events and original content site based in Los Angeles. Used with permission.
