Perhaps it is the clandestine entrances or maybe it is the need for a password or maybe we long to relive the days when liquor was illegal and gangsters wore black trench coats, white shirts and smoked cigars or we long to be a part of history when Prohibition made drinking illegal and well, a little more exciting.  F. Scott Fitzgerald may have put it best, “the parties were bigger .. the pace was faster … and the morals were looser”.  Maybe it is because with social media everything is so public that a little secrecy seems fun, whatever the reason, speakeasies are back.

And of course LA and North Hollywood are no exception, whether they are tucked behind a clothing shop, a book store or a barber shop, these secret bars are serving up yesteryear libations in dark rooms with staff dressed from the 20’s and the jazzy sounds of Duke Ellington coming from the speakers.  So where can you find these secret spots near your North Hollywood apartment.

Here is a list of top secret bars in your area:

Good Time at Davey Waynes – Enter through a consignment store, but once you get in you think you are entering into the 70s than the 20s.

Address: 1611 N El Centro Avenue – Los Angeles, CA 90028

La Descarga is another secret bar, this one brings you to Cuba, well not actually Cuba but to a two-story dark-lit bar with rare Cuban rums and more.  You have to make a reservation, then show up at a nondescript door on Western, where you will be checked in.  You will go up a narrow staircase to be confirmed.  Once you are a door will open up and you are in.  Once in you might notice that behind the bar is a hallway that looks like a rickety old alleyway, this is a secret entrance to the cigar bar and an additional bar upstairs .  1159 Western Avenue LA http://www.ladescargala.com/

This next bar will have you thinking you are at the Bates Motel.  Housed in an old Victorian No Vacancy on Hudson Avenue is home to one of LA’s hottest and most secretive bar.  Mixologists mix up crazy concoctions and we aren’t sure how they fit it in but there is dancing and a DJ.  There is another bar used mostly for functions with an Indiana Jones style secret entrance.  No Vacancy is filled with memorabilia, curved stair ways and fun.