Long Beach Nightlife Best Bars In Belmont Shore, The Pike & Pine Ave

Hot Singles Spots And One Of L..A’s Best Bars

There is a roar down by the shore, and it’s happening all over Long Beach.

California’s sixth-largest city may be part of the bigger whole of L.A., but there is a whole lot of action happening right here.

Long Beach is nearly as diverse as Los Angeles. It has a beach – a long one, and that’s not just a pun – combined with a hip mentality, a population of beach-minded bar-goers, lounge lizards and younger clubbers who hang out at places on lower Pine and upper Pine downtown, as well as Belmont Shore just down the shore.

It must be noted all the places and events mentioned here are catered to singles. And meeting other singles.

Long Beach Top Party Events

Each April, Long Beach hosts the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. It has been going on for a whopping 40 years and, in addition to the actual race, there are free concerts, extreme sports demonstrations, the Miss Grand Prix girls and packed bars. In short, it’s a happening. The 2016 race is April 15-17.

Speaking of sporting events, Long Beach also hosts an America’s Cup type of sailing event called the Congressional Cup. It involves big, colorful sailboats racing for the oldest match racing prize in the sport. The best viewing spot is the Belmont Pier, where there are concessions, including Stella Artois and other beers. Its 2016 event will take place in late spring..

In October, there’s the annual Long Beach Marathon. It starts and finishes on Shoreline Drive and includes landmarks such as the Queen Mary, Rainbow Harbor, the Belmont Pier and Long Beach State.

Downtown Bars, Shoreline and the Pike Nightlife

Downtown Long Beach means Pine Ave., with its collection of restaurants, peppered with a few bars and shops. Just about every place has a patio, and diners enjoy late-night dinners that give the place a European atmosphere.

This is a remarkably rare experience in Los Angeles.

Further down on Pine is the Pike, an area of restaurants, bars and sightseeing tour boats.

The Auld Dubliner is a cozy Irish pub that’s a good place for a downtown pint. We’re not alone in this observation – it’s where to find the waiters, waitresses and bartenders from the adjacent restaurants after midnight.

The place is fun any night after 11 and on weekends – Saturdays are particularly lively – its one of the most fun and best bars in Los Angeles.

A band plays a mix of rock and Irish music, the atmosphere is casual, there’s not line and people are having a blast. It’s one of PubClub.com’s favorite bars in all of Los Angeles.

The Long Beach Hooters has relocated from Pine to the Pike and it has one of the biggest TVs to be found anywhere showing sports (the University of Nebraska alumni crowd the place on fall Saturdays).

For those who go in just for a beer or two and wind up not wanting to leave because you’ve scored a table with a smokin’ waitress and suddenly need to eat, don’t overlook the grouper sandwich here; it’s quite tasty, especially for Hooters.

The patio at The Yardhouse in Shoreline Village is relaxing any sunny afternoon. The view of the marina is calming and while it’s a bit short on socializing opportunities it serves well as a group gathering spot (do resist all temptations to order the nachos). Inside, the bar is wrapped around near endless taps serving beers from around the globe. It is not really a nighttime destination, however.

Another restaurant which has a patio with a view is Gladstone’s. The portions here are huge, and so is the view from the patio. It’s adjacent to the Pine Ave. Pier and offers good afternoon and evening lunch, dinner and cocktailing. The Happy Hour here rocks, with half-priced appetizers and beer such as the tasty Kona Longboard going for just $3. Happy Hour is in the bar area only, from 4-7 p.m.

For live music, Blue Cafe is one of the top blues bars on the West Coast. It’s where the musicians want to play. It has moved from its location on the Promenade to 217 Pine Ave.

Down in Belmont Shore (keep reading) is a spot called Shannon’s Bay Shore. But now, one does not need to leave downtown to go to Shannon’s for there is one right on Pine Ave. And the crowd is just as funky; this is a fun, “anything goes” place so let the hair down and check the inhibitions at the door. It’s good for sports and great for drinks – a Stella beer is just $5 here!

A popular spot is the relatively new restaurant/bar Wokano. It has Happy Hour with drinks sushi and appetizers for $3 and up from 3-7 Monday-Friday and a late-night Happy Hour with drink specials, 10 p.m.-midnight Sunday-Thursday.

Long Beach also has lots of conventions and business activities. As a result, the lobby bars at the various hotels – Westin, Renaissance, Hyatt and Hilton – can be a source of lively socializing.

Downtown Long Beach Dance Clubs 

On upper Pine, Cafe Sevilla looks out onto the street from an ideal perch. Its patio and lower level greets diners and, later, salsa fans.

Upstairs, Cafe Sevilla’s ample space provides for plenty of dancing and drinking, and people pack in here for both. Go-Go dancers add to the aura, the DJ cranks it from an elevated booth and the place pumps.

Cohiba Club, atop the Mum’s, is a cigar bar disguised as an upscale dance club. While the guys shoot stick and puff up in a traditional cigar club, the rest of the crowd gets crazy on the dance floor in the next room.

New club competition comes from from Ice. Located where the music venue Vault 350 was housed for many years, it’s too soon to tell what its future holds. But it certainly got off to a good start with a rocking opening party.

Mariposa is a hot Latino-focused club with salsa music in a much smaller venue than the clubs mentioned above; in fact it’s a restaurant that becomes a hangout and dance bar on the more casual side.

Belmont Shore’s Best Bars

The really fun party place in Long Beach is in Belmont Shore.

There are always smiles when going out in fun and lively Belmont Shore.

PubClub.com once used this space for its Belmont Shore bar reviews, but has now expanded that into a separate article, which you can find right here. But here’s a quick rundown:

The bars are Panama Joe’s (run by Sharkeez); the traditional dive beer joint the Acapulco Inn, or “the A.I.” to locals; Shannon’s BayShore a dive with an edge; the sports bar with a hot nightlife scene Legends and the relatively tame Irish pub Murphy’s.

And we’ll leave you with this jewel. A great way to start a day in Long Beach is go a bit further South to the intersection of Pacific Coast Highway for brunch and a beer at the Schooner or Later along the marina.

Long Beach Gay Bars

Long Beach has the second-largest gay population in L.A. Ripples, on the corner of Granada Ave. and Ocean, is primarily lesbian. Ripples. Club Broadway, also on Broadway, is another lesbian bar.