a late-night guide to culver city
Culver City doesn't announce itself the way Silver Lake does. It earns you slowly, through good pours and low lighting and a jukebox you didn't expect. If you know where to go, the night here stretches longer than it has any right to.
Start at Nightjar (8850 Washington Blvd, inside Platform LA). This is the room that gets it right, the cocktail list is serious without being precious, the lighting is doing exactly what it should be doing, and the crowd actually talks to each other. Go on a Thursday. Order whatever they're shaking that week and let the bartender talk you into something you've never heard of. Rating: 4.9 stars, which is not an accident.
If you want loud and cash-only and genuinely alive, The Cinema Bar at 3967 Sepulveda Blvd is your place. Open until 2am. Cheap drinks. The kind of bar that has regulars who've been regulars for twenty years. Don't go here on a first date unless you're trying to skip ahead. Do go here after everything else closes, when you need one more and the night isn't done with you yet.
Kirk Douglas Theatre (9820 Washington Blvd) anchors the cultural end of the evening. Check their calendar before you commit to anything, the programming is genuinely interesting, smaller productions that hold up, and the lobby bar before a show is a civilized way to start a Friday. It's not a late-night spot but it sets the tone for one.
JEOPARDY! at 10202 Washington Blvd is listed as a music venue and we're taking that at face value. The address puts it deep in the old Sony lot neighborhood, which has its own strange nocturnal energy. Worth knowing exists.
For late-night eating, Taqueria Los Anaya is the answer. The carne asada tacos are the reason. No further debate. Go after midnight, go hungry, go more than once.
LaRocco's Pizzeria at 3819 Main St has a patio, cocktails, and a group-friendly energy that keeps it humming later than you'd expect a pizza spot to. The Main St block feels good at night, walkable, a little loose, people spilling out of places in the right way.
If the evening needs a gear shift toward something quieter, The Conservatory for Coffee, Tea & Cocoa at 10117 Washington Blvd has a patio and keeps reasonable late hours. Sometimes you want to sit outside with something warm and let the city come down around you. This is that place.
The move in Culver City is always to start at Nightjar, eat tacos at some point, end at The Cinema Bar. Everything else is a beautiful detour.