The 2024 Best of LA Nightlife Awards was our first ever and was where calling them the DISCOS started. It was an incredible night with over 80 nomination forms submitted and 1,000 votes picking these winners. Congratulations to these pillars of LA nightlife! We love you all.
2024 Winners
| BEST BARTENDER | Bles, Melody Lounge |
| Nominees | Avi, The Offbeat Moira, The Stowaway Bevin, Blipsy Bar Danny, General Lee’s |
| BEST HAPPY HOUR | The Mermaid |
| Nominees | The Escondite Wax On Hi-Fi Thirsty Crow Elbow Room |
| BEST DINNER SPOT | Yamashiro Hollywood |
| Nominees | Mike and Anne’s Holbox Joy on York Loqui |
| BEST KARAOKE DJ | Kisser, Melody Lounge |
| Nominees | Thalia (Sip n Sing), The Offbeat Ricardo, The Redwood Adam, Ye Rustic Inn Santiago, The Mermaid |
| BEST PLACE TO SEE LIVE MUSIC | Lodge Room |
| Nominees | The Wiltern Permanent Records Roadhouse The Vermont Hollywood Hollywood Bowl |
| BEST ONGOING PARTY | Sade Night, General Lee’s |
| Nominees | Scenario, The Love Song Motown on Mondays, The Short Stop Cumbiaton, Various Locations Uhaul Party, Honey’s @ Star Love |
| BEST PLACE TO GO DANCING | La Cita |
| Nominees | Boardner’s The Short Stop The Echo/Echoplex The Let’s Go! Disco |
| BEST LATE NIGHT FOOD | Avenue 26 Tacos |
| Nominees | King Taco Crispy Pork Gang Doomie’s Fat Sal’s |
About the 2024 Awards
The following is a transcript of a recap from our KCHUNG radio show Metro Sessions On the Air
Because we did it as a trial to see if people were into it, we had a short nomination period (Dec 1 – 15th) in which anyone who wanted could submit nominations. After we sorted the top 5 nominations from each category, we opened voting for the remainder of 2024. And the response was so surprising! In that short window, we had more than 100 nominations submitted across all 8 categories, and during the voting period, 1,013 votes were submitted in total. It was incredible! And I must say, the Metro Sessions community picked some truly great people, parties, and institutions as the very best.
We held an awards ceremony during Turntable Tuesday on January 13th and announced all of the winners. We had several in attendance to collect the first ever Discos, the disco ball trophies that we gave our winners. It was an excellent night and I am already excited for our 2025 Awards Ceremony. And nominations don’t even open until the 15th!
So who were the winners? Who were the near winners? Let me tell you, all of them were well-deserved.
We started with the best happy hour, and our very own weekly spot, The Mermaid, won that one! Santiago pulled up to accept the award and gave us a little happy hour rundown. Gotta say, it’s a well-deserved win. Even now, they have $7 happy hour cocktails and they’re incredible. The Escondite was in the running for that one, and I personally love that spot and their happy hour as well.
We also announced our winner for best place to see live music, which the Lodge Room obviously swept. I was super excited to see Permanent Records Roadhouse and The Vermont get a nomination there personally.
We got into some food categories: our best dinner spot was the beautiful Yamashiro up on top of Hollywood, which is so famous for its breathtaking views. It was a natural winner. Our winner for best late night food was also a bit obvious: the people love Avenue 26 tacos. They always have and they always will.
One of our closest categories was for best karaoke DJ, and the nominees were all very much beloved and very fun participants. However, KJ Kisser of VIP Karaoke ultimately won for their Sunday nights at Melody Lounge. We later got to hear the legendary voice of Kisser during our Tuesday karaoke, and let me tell you, a freaking angel. A singer of the highest order. If you want to hear someone sing you to tears, check Kisser out at Melody Lounge on Sundays and ask them when they’re going to be singing.
One of the funnest categories is our best bartender category, and while many of my favorite bartenders were nominated, the people chose Bles from Melody Lounge as the winner. He’s the brilliant cocktail curator there, as well as the owner of the beautiful De La Playa record store and community space in Highland Park. We got an emotional speech out of that one.
We got into some dancing as well, of course! Our best place to go dancing is definitely one of my favorite places to dance and host events, La Cita. If you haven’t checked that out, cruise by that bar right next to Grand Central Market on literally any night. It’s always poppin! Be prepared to wait in line! We also presented our award for best Ongoing Party, and it was so so cool to see Sade Night at General Lee’s in Chinatown win that category. Vacations pulled up to receive his Disco, and it was great to see the love everyone had for this night.
And those were the winners last year! You can see a full list of winners and nominees on our website www.metrosessions.live/discos2024
Thank you to the more than 900 people who voted for your faves in 2024 LA Nightlife! The awards were held at The Offbeat on Tuesday, January 21st at 7 PM. With food by Lakotacos & music by open turntables DJs.
I was inspired to take this on both as a person who is passionate about local businesses and as a frequent traveler who loves to go out in other towns. Massive annual readers poll lists like the one conducted by INDY Week and Baltimore magazine are so helpful to visitors and so fun for local folks to participate in, because they let locals show you what they REALLY love without all the hype and influencing. I hope that you will do the same for the people and places that make LA nights so fun!