Townhouse Cocktails ~ Venice

52 Winward Ave. ~ Venice, CA 90291 ~ 310-392-4040 (TACO Map)
Something about the Townhouse gives you that sand-between-your-toes feel, it is so open, relaxed, and beachy. Venice residents (who call it 'Pisshouse') of both the old alcoholic school and new ironic skool hoot and surely holler in this joint, known for its enormous beers, pool tables, darts, and Lord of the Rings pinball. A dive after TACO's own heart, the rock comes loud and it is conveniently located next to Muscle Beach where we spend our off-hours gazing at the well-toned physique of that Jimmy "Superfly" Snooka look-a-like with the magic silver ball. Drinking next to an embalmed, mumbling mummy or a heavily tatted, amped-up skinhead has never tasted so refreshing.

Townhouse Cocktails is also steeped in history, having opened within Abbot Kinney's Euro-tinged fantasy in 1915. A subterranean former speakeasy sporting murals from pre- bathtub gin days was unearthed only recently under the bar, which might have something to do with the bullet holes that trace the Townhouse walls. Here you might find Jackass' Wee Man shaking his unproportioned booty to an occasional DJ breakdown or Keifer Sutherland simply breaking down at the seasonal Cantina de Corazon (currently hibernating).

With memories of Morrison and current NASCAR fanatics taking the top floor, Townhouse, one of the West Coast's oldest bars, has a committed drinker's spirit that fills the place like the oft-present odor of stale beer and puke past from the window to the heavily decorated bar wall (the dildo was thrown at the bartender by a homeless gal-but that's her loss).