Lotus Lounge

I’m absolutely ruined now because of here. My previous favorite lounge could never begin to compare, this place is an experience that everyone should try

Gaby is best bar tender there very friendly best attitude ! Come chill at this dive bar :)

I met some friends here for karaōke on a Saturday night.
I’m coming back here always.

Chill dive bar. Juke box and karaōke. Affordable drinks. Two negro modelos for $ 9. Have to have a minimum of $ 10 for card. Not crowded. Older crowd.

Dive bar with a few locals. Age range is around 40 – 50 tonight. Def potential as a great dive bar. If younger 30 – 40 crowd comes in I will be here more often.
I’ll try this pub a few more times.

This is a local bar. Straight up Dive. Cheap beer bottles, Funny bar tenders, Entertaining customers /​regulars. It is a 2 min walk from the Vermont /​Santa Monica station, so no need to drive. If you do there is parking in the back.
Don’t come here expecting anything fancy. Come to get drunk.
And if you get hungry, the pupusas next door are pretty good too.

It’s a real shithole! I love it! True dive bar. Bathroom is more tolerable than most dives. The staff are great! Bukowski would have appreciated it. Unfortunately Mexicans sometimes play absolutely horrible musica!

No booze! Beer, wine, sake, and soju only. That’s why I’m knocking it. No booze! Ugh. Anyways, we went in and it’s probably the crappiest looking bar I’ve ever been in but I like crappy looking bars. It was full of old men who were obviously regulars. One bought our drinks.
The bartender was awesome. An older Thai lady. Very sweet. This is the type of bar I’d be a regular at if they had booze. It would go from 2 stars to 4. If you don’t care about the lack of liquor then by all means try it out.

The sun is beatin’ down on my baseball cap.
The air is gettin’ hot, the beer is gettin’ flat.
~Paul’s Botique, 1989.
Alas, it was another humid day in the City of Angels. My throat was parched & I was in dire need for some ice cold refreshments — or in this case, a tasty cerveza.
Making my way down Vermont Ave in East Hollywood, I stumbled across a dive; tuck away from the southbound traffic. Perhaps I was succumbing to the effects of heat exhaustion, but…
As if a drunken-​wander belch directly onto my face — upon entering, I was warmly greeted (quite literally) by the pungent-​humid breath omitted from deep within the bowels of the bar. The joint has ABSOLUTELY no ventilation. Aside from two electric-​power fans .the lounge resembles a Turkish bathhouse.
The Lotus Lounge is a throwback to a time that has since been, far removed from the L. A of present day. The joint gives the impression of an unearthly environment — a backdrop that is straight out of an exploitation film (circa. early 1970s)
Plastic lawn chairs & discarded loudspeakers give a «garage-​feel» ambiance. A pool table & dart board are station at the rear-​end. The décor consists of aqua-​colored Xmas lights, porcelain dolphins & posters of Budweiser pin-​ups.
The ensemble cast consists of neighborhood regulars, LACC students & nocturnal ‘businessmen’. Staying true to it’s dive roots. «cash only» folks. Also, this is a beer & wine destination…
Beer selections are limited to: Coors, Guinness, Bud, Blue Moon & Rolling Rock. However, their prices will make you feel as if you’ve been transported to a tropical paradise. $ 2.25 for domestics and $ 3.25 for imports … screw those Corona «beach» ad’s.
Pitcher vary in size & price. A large pitcher will run you $ 12 ($ 10 come happy hour). Half-​size pitcher’s start at $ 7.50 ($ 7 via Hora Feliz). Cheap wine is generously-​poured at $ 4/​glass. Warm-​sake is distributed at $ 5.50.
Come the Eve of Shabbat, karaōke-​revelers rock the sh#t outta the joint. On any other given night, the jukebox offers a respectable playlist: from New Order to the Man in Black.
I have to note the facilities, if your familiar with the Stones’ LP cover to «Beggar’s Banquet»…no need for further explanation.
I would have awarded the Lotus Lounge a «four» star-​rating, but the inadequate ventilation makes for a darn right uncomfortable setting… My lord, this muggy September weather gives me the horribles. But BS aside, thee most affordable happy hour prices on this side of town.
An fyi, the joint is conveniently serviced by the Vermont/​Santa Monica Metro Red Line Station.

I only go Friday nights for karaōke. not too many people show up so we get to sing a lot. The owner lady is crazy and forces you to sing and she dances around a lot and makes us laugh. if you love the dirtiest of dive bars, this is your place. Don’t expect a lot. Beer and wine only.
EDIT 12÷14÷12: the karaōke guy on Friday nights has not been showing up :(deduct a star…

Quality.
So it’s become a recent habit of mine to restrict my drinking adventures to locales within walking distance of the Metro Red Line. I’m not trying to get a DUI, although I could bail myself out of jail. Still, not tryin’ for that.
So a friend I wanted to meet who lives in Silverlake. She is an equally local locale frequenter and suggested some place I definitely did not want to get involved in, The Little Temple, I think… I checked out places in the area and the Lotus Lounge was 2 blocks from the Vermont/​Santa Monica Red Line station. Done. Friend agreed, she said as long as they serve Knob Creek she’s in… little did we know…
So, in essence it reminds me of the bars I used to go to in Mexico when all the bars were «closed» so 2/¾am-ish…The ones you had to bang hard enough on the iron curtain so someone would hear it over the blaring Mariachi music and come sneak you in.
It’s very seedy, has a 20 year old karaōke setup, a pool table, a dart board, and an electric group of patrons. Oh did I mention they have large jugs of Carlo Rossi? Like I said, quality. No booze, just a few kinds of beer, The Ross, and some other similar offerings.
The manager told my friend, repeatedly I believe, that she was «safe» and «nothing bad would happen to her» good looking out!
If you’re looking for a local place to grab a few cold ones, have a laugh, and mix up your palate of social intake, this is a decent place to check out.
And watch out for Virgina at the pool table. She’s a hustler. And tell’s amazing jokes too.

Pretty much my new favorite place in L. A!!!
The owner is feisty as hell and so nice. The other bartender Jesse is adorable and sweet as can be. Went in on a Friday night with 3 other people and besides the 4 of us there were 4 others (who definitely are always there)!! Karaōke is so ghetto and fabulous and beer is cheap! What makes it even better is none of the stools/​chairs in the place match (they literally have plastic lawn chairs) and there is a pool table and darts
It is a real «dive bar» and reminds me of home. I had the greatest time there and will definitely be going back.

Of course it has been observed and stated by those far wiser than I that Los Angeles is a land of façade. Fake boobs, fake tans, pirated DVDs of current theatrical releases on a blanket covered sidewalk by Macarthur park for like $ 5. And you just hover over them, arguing inside your own head, like «I don’t want to be seen in public buying a ticket for ‘Valentine’s Day’, but Ashton Kutcher told me personally I should see it. Via his Twitter stream…». But I digress…
In a land of fakes, is there a place for a real, honest to God shit hole? Not just a dive bar, not a trendy representation of another person’s perception of what low class, scummy charm may be. I am talking real scum. Pleather seats that come loose when you fidget in them, cause there is just one fan, bought from the Rite Aid across the street back when it was a Longs Drugs in the waning days of the George H.W. Bush Administration. Floors that are either cement or just covered in some kind of solid grey film. A pool table always surrounded by the same 3 grizzled old bastards, whose faces inspire a rueful fear of wasted life. I assure, LA does have a place for this, and that place is the Lotus Lounge.
I don’t want to scare you off — the Lotus is really fantastic. They have super ghetto karaōke every Friday night, I think it is? The owner is very obviously an aged expat Vietnamese whore, whom I appreciate supporting in response to all the good love she likely gave our soldiers decades ago. I once saw a 60 year old Filipino guy there wearing a NOFX t-​shirt. And if THAT wasn’t enough, the beers are cheap, they have jugs of Carlo Rossi wine (classy!), and if you hang out for awhile, the owner may bring out one of the tall plastic bottles of clear booze with Vietnamese writing one them for shots. This stuff is either hooch or kerosene, either way, you’ll be stumbling home with a smile on your face.
A real smile.
For once.

Great to take a group. Best Barkeep in town. Take the Metro Redline and walk a few blocks.

Oh you guys — how come you have not posted your review of the Lotus Lounge?!
Hidden on Vermont — you can easily skip right past this place. Hell I did not see it until yesterday. Park the car — I have to know what this place is…
The towel acting as a front door helps to prepare you for what is inside. Its safe to guess that its a beer/​wine only establishment based on that alone — and its true!
Wine in a jug?! Yes!
Beer on tap? Surprisingly, yes! Pitches even.
This place was fairly bright — guess it was the back door being open — looks like we have parking in the back!
Its your basic Mexican Style bar — with a pretty good juke box. The few patrons that did deposit money made some pretty hot selections. It was 5:30 after all. Have to get the work day out of the system…
I’ll follow up once I’ve been over there again… no «hints» as of yet. But I’m pretty sure there is some secret about the place I’ll come across…
Okay so here is the hint — stop at Fat Burger on the way here — bring your half eaten burger in for one of the queerest looks you’ve ever seen from the staff. Next while you are trying to keep it together with your burger and your new friends — have Tommy Diamonds sneak to the ATM AND the donut shop. You have to have a box of donuts for the rest of the bar. Of course! But let me smash one of those in my face first. We like to make friend’s where ever we go…