The Los Angeles Live Venue Drinking Price Guide

Hollywood Drink Prices By The People, For The People
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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:

  1. Where were you
  2. What was the date
  3. Who was playing
  4. What drink did you order
  5. Which bar did you order from
  6. How much did it cost
  7. 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.