When the sun sets, Venice Beach comes alive with buzzy rooftop bars, live music venues, and late-night eats that keep the energy going well past midnight. From craft cocktails with ocean views to hidden neighborhood gems, the nightlife here is as eclectic as the neighborhood itself.

The good news if you’re staying at Hotel Erwin: the best seat in the house is already yours. Start on the roof, then let the night take you wherever it wants to go.

For those moments when you want Kassi’s bold Mediterranean and Greek-inspired flavors but don’t want to leave the comfort of your room, you can bring the coastal experience straight to your door with our curated In-Room Dining service. It’s the ultimate luxury of staying in without missing out on local, sun-drenched ingredients.

• Daily from 11 AM to 10 PM

Heading out to explore Venice instead? Kassi To Go lets you grab those same vibrant dishes fast and fresh, making it effortless to take restaurant-quality bites right down onto the boardwalk or the sand.

• Sunday – Thursday: 11 AM to 10 PM
• Friday & Saturday: 11-2:30 AM

Just blocks from the Venice boardwalk on Windward Avenue sits Belles Beach House, a tropical escape from the team behind Hotel Erwin’s own Kassi Club. The concept is a brilliant 1970s time machine: an upscale ode to retro Tiki culture mixed with the legendary art scene of Venice’s own Larry Bell. The massive venue boasts an impressive covered outdoor patio bar, breezy alfresco dining spaces, and an indoor restaurant that completely transports you out of Los Angeles.

The menu operates on a distinct logic of its own, blending vibrant craft Tiki cocktails with a modern Hawaiian Izakaya menu. Sip on a frozen Piña Colada or a signature “Marine Layer” cocktail featuring yuzu and passion fruit while working your way through plates of spicy tuna crispy rice, rock shrimp, and house-made pork bao buns. As the afternoon fades, local DJs take over the decks, spinning sets that complement the surf-side breeze rather than overpowering it. It’s a laid-back, effortlessly cool neighborhood mood, which is exactly why it belongs on this list.

Two blocks from Hotel Erwin on Windward Avenue sits Venice Beach’s oldest watering hole. Open since 1915, it was already a decade old when Prohibition attempted to dry out the city. The owners responded by moving the party underground—hiding a literal speakeasy in the basement accessible only via a hidden trapdoor and a rope-operated dumbwaiter. The law eventually caught up, Prohibition died, but the basement stayed alive. Today, the Townhouse operates as a legendary neighborhood joint on the ground floor, while The Del Monte Speakeasy throws down in the basement every night of the week with live bands, DJs, comedy, and burlesque. With its exposed brick, low ceilings, and house-made Moscow Mules, it feels like a beautiful secret that shouldn’t technically exist. Open until 2 AM.

Hinano has been holding down the corner of Washington Boulevard near the Venice Pier for over 60 years. Jim Morrison used to drink here, the floors are covered in sawdust, and absolutely nothing has changed since the 60s—which is entirely the point. The legendary, no-nonsense burger is the reason you show up the first time (available until 11:30 PM), and the ice-cold pitchers are the reason you stay. With live local bands on the weekends, two pool tables, and a jukebox that refuses to play top-40 garbage, the crowd is a beautiful, gritty mix of local surfers and travelers who wandered in and forgot to leave. Open until midnight.

Open since 1952, The Brig is one of the oldest bars on Abbot Kinney and has outlasted every trend the street has cycled through by simply being a good bar.

The indoor-outdoor layout means the patio fills up quickly on warm nights (which is most nights in Venice). There’s a pool table, a live DJ on regular rotation, and enough room to actually move around—something not every bar on the boulevard can claim. The crowd skews local and tends to get more interesting as the night goes on.

When the evening calls for a proper meal rather than bar snacks, Abbot Kinney Boulevard—a 15-minute walk or a short ride from Hotel Erwin—offers three distinct options that each do something genuinely well.

Gjelina has been the anchor of the Abbot Kinney dining scene since 2008 and still earns its reputation every night. The wood-fired pizzas, charred and thin, are among the best in Los Angeles. The vegetable dishes are serious enough to headline a meal.

Felix is the place for handmade pasta on the West Side. Chef Evan Funke works behind a glass-enclosed pasta laboratorio visible from the dining room—a room where pasta is still being rolled and cut every day from California ingredients. The space is beautiful and the food is meticulous. Reservations are recommended; walk-ins are worth attempting.

RVR is chef Travis Lett’s brilliant, California-Japanese izakaya that stays conspicuously packed even on school nights. The menu shifts seamlessly between rich ramen, fresh hand rolls, smoky kushiyaki, and seasonal small plates sourced straight from the farmers market. While the kitchen winds down before midnight (usually wrapping up between 10 PM and 11 PM depending on the night), the buzzing room and the killer bar program capture exactly what a vibrant night out in Venice is supposed to feel like.