10 1/4 Pasadena

On our lists of the best speakeasies and cocktail bars in Los Angeles.

Head down the stairs inside Freddie's 35er, the dive bar on Colorado Blvd, and the room at the bottom looks like a storeroom until an old phone booth turns out to be the door: pick up, give the bartender your party size, and wait to be buzzed in. Inside is one dimly lit room with a coin-embedded bar and monkey-themed decor, plus a handful of four-top tables lit by Edison bulbs. The cocktail list leans pre-Prohibition, from a Queen's Park Swizzle to a milk punch made with oat milk, and a tiki speakeasy pop-up takes over Friday and Saturday nights.