This modern Mexican restaurant in Venice boasts two spacious sun-washed patios furnished with teak tables and tropical plants. A few booths are located in the main dining room but open out into the patio for an outside-in feel. Fueling festivities is an extensive agave collection curated by Raul Yrastorza (El Carmen, Las Perlas) and mezcal and tequila cocktails. Reservations are available via Resy and walk-ins are welcome.

Take in a cinematic favorite, such as Pulp Fiction, while passing around a pitcher of frozé with the Hollywood Hills as your backdrop. L.P. Rooftop’s summer movie series Melrose Rooftop Theatre is now a permanent fixture of the rooftop bar, taking over part of its nearby parking lot. Every night from Sunday to Thursday, a different movie is screened with the option to reserve bean bag chairs for dinner or do first-come, first-serve general admission and order food and cocktails a la carte.

West Hollywood bar-restaurant Employees Only transformed its adjacent parking lot into a beautiful outdoor space for dining and drinking with twinkling lights, umbrellas, heated lamps, and a full-service bar. Proof of vaccination is only required for indoor dining not patio dining. Bonus for dog lovers? Well-behaved pups are allowed in the cocktail garden. So order a Tamarind Gold bourbon and amaro cocktail to enjoy alongside your furry bff.

This Miracle Mile brew pub boasts the best use of an old tire shop ever. The 13,000-square-foot Firestone building has patio seating on what used to be a driveway and a taproom and bar in the former high-ceiling garage. The bar by the Pouring With Heart crew (Casey’s Irish Pub, Seven Grand, and more) naturally offers plenty of drink options. Choose from beer made on premises, wine or cocktails on tap, or a cocktail menu featuring classics such as an Old Fashioned or penicillin. 

This West Adams brewery/bar offers a 6,000-square-foot patio that’s open to both kids of all ages and dogs. Seating is first come, first serve. Cool down with draft beers that are made on-site from a 10-barrel system. On Thursdays, all draft beer is 25% off. Got a favorite? Take a growler to go for $20. Plant-based food offerings include Neopolitan-style pizzas, calzones and meatball subs.

Freehand Hotel’s rooftop bar has always been one of the best places in the city for drinking cocktails poolside with a view. The pool area can accommodate any party from solo drinker to groups of 13. Non-hotel guests must spend a minimum of $45 during hours before 7 p.m., which is not an issue when ordering a dish, a beer, and a cocktail such as the Thirst Trap mezcal-white wine spritzer. There are also 11 tables (42 seats) by the bar. Reservations are not required.

Enjoy innovative and fun cocktails, such as a piña colada soda and a tequila tepache, outdoors at Thunderbolt in Historic Filipinotown, along with Southern-inspired bites such as a fried green tomato sandwich. The outdoor tables can be reserved via Tock after 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and after 12 p.m. on Sundays. Pro tip: Stop by the bottle shop to peruse the highly curated inventory of spirits.

The Mermaid’s first-come, first-serve outdoor patio is shared with neighboring businesses in the Little Tokyo strip mall and is open seven days a week, going off ‘til 2 a.m. Fill up on hardy pub grub such as loaded nachos and buffalo wings and wash it all down with tropical punch Drink Like a Fish with rum and Earl Grey tea or the Smokey Eye mezcal pineapple cocktail. Happy hour with $7-$10 drink specials is all day on Sunday and 5 to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The Raymond features three outdoor patios for a total of 92 seats. The largest one, the West patio, is primarily for dining but will accommodate walk-ins who want to drink if there are tables available. The 1886 bar, which has been around for over a decade, has built a reputation of offering well-crafted cocktails, not only on its seasonal menu but an impressive 600 cocktails off-menu. A longtime favorite since the bar’s opening in 2010 is the Smoking Jacket, a smoky sipper made with pot still Irish whiskey, tobacco bitters, maplewood smoke, and orange vanilla ash. 

For beachy tiki vibes, venture out to Belles Beach House on Windward Avenue in Venice. The Hawaiian izakaya spot took over Larry’s gastropub in October and transformed it into a two-room restaurant. In addition to the Larry’s Dining Room is the open-air Oli-Kai Room with overhead shade and a bamboo-slatted roof. For straight-up drinking, however, there’s the 60-seat deck out the front door and across the sidewalk, which is draped with fishnet and string lights and offers warmth from portable heaters. Relax on rattan lounge chairs and partake of an extensive cocktail menu of shaken, stirred, slushies, draft, classics and punch bowls.

Bar Flores, the vibrant cocktail bar upstairs from Lowboy, boasts a brick-lined patio populated with colorful flowers, umbrellas, and lights. It now seats 50 and has a new taco patio area. The cocktails here are day-friendly options such as a pisco lavender spritz, a cognac and tepache refresher, and michelada. But on Margarita Wednesdays, come for the $8 margaritas and stay for the live music. No reservations required.

The Thai-themed cocktail bar that was originally hidden behind a red curtain in the back room of the Sticky Rice restaurant in Echo Park is now located outside in the beer garden behind the restaurant. It seats 45 on the patio and 15 along the bar. The space, which is casual and dog-friendly, features cocktails such as Mai Tais and Thai chili margaritas. But lay down a base layer with pad kee mao and Thai pork jerky from Sticky Rice.

Enjoy tropical cocktails and Beverly Hills views at this rooftop terrace bar on the Sixty Beverly Hills hotel. The folks behind Melrose Umbrella Co. cocktail bar took over the hotel’s food and beverage program, which means delicious, well-crafted cocktails in an impeccably decorated setting. For peak staycation vibes, sip on a three-rum piña colada served in a pineapple while taking in the sun setting over Wilshire Boulevard.

It took a pandemic and a community of handy friends to make it happen, but after over 60 years LA’s oldest tiki bar Tonga Hut finally has an outdoor lanai. The former parking lot now is a tented tropical oasis with hanging fishnets and string lights, bamboo fencing, a fire pit, a water feature and tikis everywhere. It can accommodate 80 tiki lovers thanks to several wooden picnic tables and a two-seat table nicknamed the “Tiger Lounge” for the tiger paintings hanging over it. 

What was once the Ten Pound whiskey bar at the Montage is now the Cigar and Whiskey Bar at the Maybourne. Fortunately the mezzanine bar, which is above the Terrace restaurant, has been improved with a larger cigar humidor and a wider selection of world-class liquor, not just scotch. Its outdoor balcony, which overlooks the Beverly Cañon Gardens park, has been brightened up with neutral colors of white, beige and brown. But FYI, as it’s one of the few spots in Beverly Hills where smoking is legal and features an extensive cigar list, this will be a favorite of well-heeled cigar smokers.