The Must

118 W. 5th St.
Los Angeles, CA 90013
213-627-1162
www.themustbar.com
twitter.com/themustbar

Parking: Metered street parking, or Metro baby!

Daily, 4-7 pm, beers at $2-5, wines $3-8, specialty sangria & port drinks at $4, and then an interesting little food menu priced from $3-6

To put it simply (and oh-so-cliché-ly), The Must offers a Must go-to downtown LA happy hour for several reasons.

• They have a Saturday happy hour. We could only find like three other bars that featured this downtown.


• Bar manager/bartender Casey is kinda the bomb – funny, easy to talk, good for suggestions, etc.


• They show old VHS movies on a 13-inch bedazzled television. Yeah!!


• Their beer & wine menu has some pretty great, concise descriptions like “Almond Joy Bar” for the Toasted CoCoNut PorTeR beer and “leather &orange liquer” for the Hair of the Dog “Fred” beer.


• They’ve got some delish food & drink items at swell prices.


• They serve forties of Colt 45 and Old English that come served in paperbags. Nuff said.


• Tuesday night is Titties & Wine Tuesday. Nuff said. Not really – we had to ask and it turns out it started out as a lesbian night, but now it’s anything goes!

On the chilly January Saturday that we ventured out, JG was craving a grilled cheese sandwich ($4) and tomato soup ($3) while I went for the butternut squash soup ($3) and tater tots ($4), dinner of champions (and Napoleon Dynamite). Everything was quite tasty – including our drinks. I tried the Braque Obama, a fun white-port & tonic concoction, and the blackberry sangria (both $4) while Jennie stuck with her tried & true red wine, cabarnet ($5).

As we were the first customers, the scene was pretty quiet, but already started to pick up by 5:15 pm. Host-with-the-most Casey assured us that almost every night ends up pretty lively. Checking later – a local friend, Downtown Ben, concurred, but raised the point that the restaurant’s actual dinner menu is a bit unfocused – is it tapas? Date food? Gastropub? As we’re happy hour specific, we couldn’t complain about the fun happy hour food options, but can see his point on the actual dinner menu. Also, hard liquor lovers - The Must is a wine & beer joint, which we're actually pretty fine with.

The only other drawback – as young, single ladies – is the location. Downtown is overall pretty great and interesting and weird. We love our adventures there – but we would think twice about walking around the near-Pershing Square neighborhood solo at night. Good thing we travel in pairs :)!

So grab a friend and head on over to the Must!
--JB

Rating: 4 Martinis

Gin & Tonic for the Soul: Hangover Cures

Interesting Discussion Topics for Happy Hour

Having a site about happy hours raises a lot of the same questions. How do you find happy hours? How do you stay fit and drink? When’s the next happy hour? How do you drink so much and not get hangovers? Well, my friends, this week we’re going to share some hangover cures with you!

Know Your Limit!
Believe it or not we don’t drink that much. Yes, we may drink frequently, but we’re not knocking them back at the rate one might assume. When we’re out, we drink what we want, when we want. We don’t give into peer pressure that is surprisingly still rampant at our age. Not everyone has the same tolerance for liquor so ignore that friend who nags that you’re only on whatever number drink. At the end of the night, they won’t look cute. You still will.

Watch the Sugar!
Drinks that are heavy in sugar and syrup may look pretty, but aren’t pretty on the stomach. Not only are they high in calories, but also they can often leave you with a sugar high hangover. There is a chemical called acetaldehyde that is believed to be the cause of hangovers. It is triggered by sugar therefore increasing your chances of a hangover. That’s hangover times 2! We could get all scientific on you, but that’s quite boring. Putting down that Mai Tai and picking up a Gin & diet Tonic now, huh?

Hydrate!
Drink lots of water before you drink, when you drink, after you drink. The more hydrated you are, the less likely you are to be hungover… if drinking at a normal pace, of course. Drinking water is also good for your skin. If water’s not your bag, then go for some type of electrolyte drinks such as Vitamin Water or Gatorade. One rule that’s helped us is to match liquor drinks with glasses of water!

Don’t want to look lame at the bar? Awhile back, I read that people are less likely to pressure you about drinking as long as you have a glass in your hand so order up some water with a lime or lemon. Remember, you’ll be feeling great tomorrow, while others will not.

Stay stocked on Ibuprofen!
If it’s been one of those nights, take ibuprofen as soon as you wake up. I always use this method, while JB always take 2 with a big glass of water when she go to bed and that helps her. Even if you feel all right at first, some hangover cues may creep up on you later. Stomach aches, French fry cravings, need for naps, agitation, etc. If you take something before the symptoms come on, then you should be good for the rest of day.

Don’t forget to eat!
Don’t want a .72 blood-alcohol level? One way to curb this is to, um, not drink a Costco size bottle of Maker’s Mark, but more importantly not to do so on an empty stomach. Having some food in your system seems to coat your stomach and make the liquor absorption less immediate. If your goal is to get drunk, don’t eat. But if your goal is to drink, have a good time and not wind up with a 48-hour-hangover, mangia-mangia, bambino! But as with avoiding a hangover, eat in moderation.

Got any magical hangover cures that we’ve missed? Please share!
-JG

Photo Credit: Vitamin Water and Advil

Micky's

8857 Santa Monica Blvd.

West Hollywood, CA 90069

310.657.1176

www.mickys.com

Parking: Metered parking until 6pm, free meters after 6pm; parking lots at various prices

Mon.-Fri., 4-9pm; Sat, 4-7pm, $4 well drinks, $4-5 special menu of 4 appetizers

I’m just going to come out and say it: Micky’s should be renamed Dicky’s or Dicks or Sex because that’s all you’ll be thinking about, I swear.

On my adventure of the boys-town bars, we went to Micky’s for their happy hour that lasted until 9pm. My eyes have been trained that when I see a 4pm start time that the happy hour must end at 7pm. It was nice to see that Micky’s stands out from the bunch. And do they ever…

Micky’s has a pretty diverse cocktail menu to flip through. Favorite line on the menu, under Cosmopolitan-- “Like the Girls in Sex & the City drink!” Like any man or woman in a gay bar would need to be told that, but still cute. Although the bar has a pretty lengthy menu, their happy hour signage is pretty bold when it states $4 Well Drinks. Nothing more. I thought to discuss this with the bartender, but they were too distracted by the men oogling them, and I was too distracted by the go-go boys to investigate further. We stuck with the well drinks on special and ordered cranberry & vodka.

Micky’s serves food, too. The happy hour menu only offers only 4 options that actually sound pretty hearty: angus or chicken sliders plus fries, artichoke heart salad, deep fried blue cheese salad. I may not have minded the short food menu, had it not been included on the regular large menu. I always feel happy hour menus should be separate because most people are going to start eyeing what they can’t have… at happy hour prices. We were already full from our meal at The Abbey so I didn’t sample the food. I don’t think anyone goes there to eat because I only saw one plate the entire visit.

Micky’s is the place to go when you want some eye candy. If you’re trying to catch up with a friend, all you’ll talk about are the boys. I have been to my fair share of gay bars in West Hollywood and beyond so this wasn’t the first time of seeing go-go boys. It was just odd to see such a show when a show wasn’t going on. These boys are out to make some money, and the patrons are glad to give it to them. The boys would just sit, stand, or lay on their podium sometimes gyrating, sometimes groping themselves and men would just come over flirt, hug, & give money. It was such a sight to see that I almost felt prude. Almost.

-JG.

Rating: 3 Martinis

Empire Tavern

137 Victoria Street West

Freemans Bay, Auckland 1010

+64 (09)373.4389

www.empire.co.nz

Parking: Street Parking or Public Parking lot for $3 NZD per hour

Monday-Friday, 5-7pm, $5 NZD house wine & spirits, $5.50 NZD draft pints

If you know anything about New Zealand, you know of the beautiful hills & valleys. The hills are alive in the city of the Auckland! It didn’t take long to grow tired of walking up and down and up and down hills. Yes, my legs may be thankful for it, but sometimes you just want some flat land. That’s how we ended up at Empire Tavern.

Empire Tavern was ever so conveniently located across the street from our hotel. We liked the look of it because it reminded us of a gastropub that we might find back in the states. Empire Tavern advertises all types of activities: game night, pool games, live music, but no happy hour. Well, guess what? They do have happy hour!

For $5 you can score house wine or house spirits, known to us in the states as well drinks. As usual, I went for a glass of red wine. The wine was mighty tasty for house wine. In fact, with most New Zealand bars, the wine was always fresh and tasty, never sour. Bars in the states could learn a thing or two about keeping fresh

bottles of wine around.

Empire Tavern did not offer any deals on food. However, we had no complaints there since the starters were priced from $6.50 - $12.00. We snacked on the Texas Nachos, Tiger Prawns & Calamari, & Bread & Dips. My favorite was the Texas Nachos. Perhaps, because loaded nachos were a taste of home.

The crowd at Empire Tavern was pretty diverse. It appeared that plenty of people were groups of coworkers. Everyone was of different ages, different jobs as some were in suits and other very casual, and all kiwis. We were the only Americans, but we did fit in even though we did stand out with, according to locals, our exotic accents.

Rating: 4 Martinis

We’ll Drink To That: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure

"We'll Drink to That " is a feature that highlights products that have us so excited that we just gotts to inform our readers! Know of a product that you think we'll drink to? E-mail us at TheHappyHourTour@gmail.com!

I absolutely love to get manicure/pedicures. Some people love to get massages, but for me a mani/pedi is my massage. I just love to kick back in the massage chairs, receive beauty treatments, and read the latest Us Weekly. However, now that the holidays are over and my latest show wrapped, I can’t splurge on my favorite beauty ritual as much as I would like.

I have bought countless brands of nail polish, but the end result is always that it looks like I gave myself a manicure… if I was six. Cue the new Sally Hansen line Complete Salon Manicure to save the day.

While in Memphis for the holidays, I was still too jetlagged from my New Zealand travels to bother finding a nail salon. On one Walgreens run, I picked up a color from the new collection to once again try an at-home manicure. I’m not sure how long this collection has been out, but I’m certain that it’s pretty new since it can be found on displays at many stores. I picked up the color Plum Luck since I feel that dark polishes tend to better disguise mistakes. At $7.49 the polish is about a dollar more than most drugstore polishes, but it works! Trust me. I’ve tried many.

Not only did I not have mistakes on my nails, but they were also super shiny before I applied a top coat. To cover my bases (literally), I was sure to use a top coat to ensure a great result. The polish was also quick drying so I didn’t get fabric imprints from long sleeves, towels, or sheets – a BIG pet peeve. The polish looked great for days, and I never had to reapply a top coat for a fresh look.

I have since picked up two more colors from the Complete Salon Manicure collection: Pink Slip and my new obsession, All Fired Up. There are over 40 shades to choose from. If you’re like us and need to save money for happy hour, I highly recommend picking up nail polish from this collection!

-JG

The Abbey

692 N. Robertson Blvd.

West Hollywood, CA 90069

310.289.8410

www.abbeyfoodandbar.com

Parking: Metered parking until 6pm, free meters after 6pm; various prices, parking lots

Mon.-Fri., 4-7pm, $5 happy hour specials with lots of choices

In addition to the normal round of questions we receive about our happy hour adventures, we are often asked when we will be going to happy hour again. Finding happy hours is a lot of work so it was with great surprise that my friend & former coworker, Tim, offered to take me on a happy hour tour of boys-town in West Hollywood.

We started our evening at The Abbey, a must since it has been voted “best gay bar to bring a straight friend to” by Los Angeles magazine and “best gay bar in the world” by MTV's Logo. I had been to The Abbey before but only during the madness of Halloween. Happy hour is a beast I’m always willing to tackle.

For those that haven’t been to The Abbey, the place is huge. There are 4 bars, 3 indoor & 1 outdoors. It was nice to see that even during happy hour 2 of the 4 bars were open since sometimes bars fall short on the servers (and service!) during happy hour. We grabbed a table on the outdoor patio, and we were greeted by our server for the night, Kevin. He made sure we had a happy hour menu and whatever else we needed for the rest of our visit.

On Monday through Friday, The Abbey offers “Everything Five After Work Special.” For drinks, there’s a choice of 4 martinis, 4 mojitos, 3 wines, and well drinks & beers. There are 8 choices for appetizers. That is definitely a lot more variety than we’ve seen featured at some happy hours lately. As our readers know, we like choices.

I ordered up the mojito, and Tim went for his favorite from The Abbey, a cosmo. It took us a while to decide what food to order as he assured me that everything was good. We finally decided to split the calamari & nachos supremacy. Odd pairing, we know, but good nonetheless. When the plates arrived, I couldn’t believe that it was a happy hour serving size. Just like the drinks, the food was of generous proportions.

I can’t think of one reason not to return to this happy hour. Our server, Kevin, checked in within us twice prior to the closing of happy hour, a major plus. The drinks were tall and tasty, the food portions were of great size, the service was amazing, and the price was right all around.

I was a tad disappointed that there were no go-go boys on my visit, but as I would learn later that night, go-go boys can be quite the distraction.

-JG.

Rating: 5 Martinis

Sale St.

7 Sale St.

Freemans Bay, Auckland

+64 (09) 307.8148

www.sale-st.co.nz

Monday nights, 2-for-1 drinks

Disclaimer: Sale St. does not have a happy hour. However, they do have 2-for-1 drinks all night on Monday nights.

Who doesn’t love 2-for-1 drinks? In LA, the same specials can be found at Cabo Cantina, Rocco’s Tavern, & Miyagis.

Many people recommended Sales St. Tourism friends, Fashion friends, and just about every other local friend I made. Due to steep & winding hills, it took me a few days before I learned that I could actually walk the block and a half to Sale St. Upon that discovery, it became a regular spot. There’s something different going on there every night, but it was the 2-for-1 night that interested me most.

Sale St. does 2-for-1 in a more balanced, less alcoholic way than most bars. When you get

your first drink, you get a receipt for the 2^nd drinks. What’s great is that you can use this receipt at the bar or give it to a server if you land a table. There’s no attitude on where you have to order, who gets tips, etc. like our Malo experience. What if you lose your receipt? Well, you wouldn’t lose the money you would spend on a 2^nd drink, would you?

There weren’t food deals as this happy hour either, but the food is good regardless. Sale St. has a pretty diverse menu, but the pizzas are probably the best to thing to order when looking to split food with friends. My suggestions are the buffalo or prosciutto pizza. If you’re looking to keep something all to yourself, go for the angus steak sandwich. It’s no Steak Umms but I guarantee you’ll be just as happy with the generous serving.

Sale St. is great place for groups. On many nights, there were work parties in full swing. The indoor area is plenty spacious, and there is large patio outdoors with a great view of the Sky Tower. If we were ever to get lost, we always knew just to head towards the Sky Tower.

The interior of the bar is also a good spot for dates, plenty dark with lots of corners for making out. In fact, the inside is so intimate that the only photo I could grab without feeling like I was paparazzi was the one of the “No Bitchin or

Back-stabbing” sign. I would definitely like a date here if I ever return to New Zealand! Hint Hint Kiwi Boys!

Cheers! JG.

And until next time...

Rating: 4 Martinis