Downtown's Secretive New Bar Is the Perfect Throwback Hang

Downtown’s Bar Clacson has a new best friend today, with the surprise reveal of The Slipper Clutch. The neon-fueled newcomer opens tonight as a semi-hidden back bar filled with 80s kitsch and pinball machines.

The Slipper Clutch is a new take for the 213 Hospitality team, having partnered with Eric Alperin of The Varnish and NYC’s Richard Boccato to bring the surprisingly spacious second space to life. You won’t find the usual sort of polish that comes with a place like Seven Grand, but instead can revel in loads of neon lighting, open cement walls, and mismatched floors.

The bar program itself is more laid back too, focusing on batched highball classics like the gin & tonic, vodka cranberry, and seven & sevens. There will be single spirits served neat or over ice and $6 tallboys of beer, but other than that this is a true bar gun operation.

Janel Wright Design helped work on the interior, which boasts an overall capacity of 120 with 44 seats inside. There are a couple of cabinet arcade games and pinball machines in the room as well, but otherwise this is an easy, open room for hanging with friends and sipping on the simple stuff. To access it all, just head through Bar Clacson towards the bathrooms, and follow the “highballs” sign. Eventually access from the alley will be possible too, making it more of a Birds & Bees semi-hidden space after all.

The Slipper Clutch opens officially tonight, keeping hours Tuesday through Sunday from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. There’s a grand opening party tonight as well, and it’s loaded with 80s rock iconography and cocktails.

The Slipper Clutch
351 S. Broadway
Los Angeles, CA