12 Bars of Christmas Hermosa Beach Date, Bar Schedule & Drink Specials

One of the highlights of a very lively holiday season in the Los Angeles South Bay Beach Cities is the 12 Bars of Christmas and Toy Drive in Hermosa Beach.

It’s a tradition among singles and the fun party people that involves some 100 people who go in and out of a dozen bars around the pier in a true holiday “cheers.”

Always held the second Friday of December, the 2025 event is Dec. 12. It starts at Tower 12 at 6 p.m., and ends at Barnacles. The Pre-12 Bars Social Cocktail Party & Toy Drive is Thursday, Dec.  12 at Tower 12, 7 p.m.

This is a closely-guarded secret and the full list and drink specials are generally not released ahead of time. But, based on past events, PubClub.com can provide a rather accurate assessment of these details.

The meeting spot and time is Tower 12 bar at 6 p.m. There you will get a lanyard making you an offical member of the 12 Bars of Chritmas pub crawl. The lanyard lists the bars, the specials at them and enables you to get those specials.

Note that you can go to any bar at any time, and “leap frogging” is a good idea because the Hermosa Beach bars are small and can’t fit everyone on the pub crawl at the same time. I do have it from a reliable source – the organizer – that HB Coastal is added this year replacing Waterman’s. The most important thing to know is to be at Tower 12 for the start of it.

#1 Tower 12 (6-7 p.m., Toy Donation Drop)
$7 Kona Draft & Nuturl, $9 Jameson shots, $10 Patron shots

#2 Baja Sharkeez (7-7:30 p.m., Toy Donation Drop)
Drink specils TBD

#3 Lighthouse Cafe
$6 Skrewball Whiskey, $5 Bueneveza Draft and $8 Lighthouse Margaritas

#5 TBD

#6 American Junkie
Patron shots, Bueneveza draft beer and Holy Ranch water

#7 TBD

#8 – Patrick Molloy’s – At the pop-up Christmas bar, $5 House Shot, $5 Mystery Brown Bag Seltzer, $6 Kona Draft,  $8 Frozen Irish coffee

#9 Hennessey’s
Hot Nut Shooters, Coors Light and Blue vodka lemonades.

#12 – Barnacles
$5 Fireball shots, $6 Imperial Cider and $7 Deep Eddy cranberry mules

The 12 Bars pub crawl is free and open to anyone to attend but the bars are small and often quickly fill to capacity. So what usually happens is that people split into groups, meaning three or even four bars are full of people dressed in Santa suits, Santa hats, or as sexy elves and other holiday attire.

You do need the coveted lanyard with the list of bars so you can officially tagged and get the drink specials, which are set up at all the bars.

One big moment is the group photo in at the Christmas tree on the pier.

And just so you know, this is primarily a pub crawl for singles tho of course there’s several couples. Most importantly, it’s for people who are in good spirits as they down their spirits of the holiday season.

This is part of a huge party holiday weekend in the South Bay that also includes the Redondo Beach boat parade and the Manhattan Beach Fireworks. PubClub has the complete holiday schedule in the South Bay.

The 12 Bars of Christmas is organized by Nick Macko and Sean Angus, who gets the drink specials, works with the bars and makes up the schedule. It’s a lot of work so everyone can have fun.

Holiday cheers!

12 Bars Of Christmas Toy Drive

Toy Drop off dates:
• 7 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 8 – Toy Drive Drop Off and Cocktail Party at Sharkeez.
• 6 p.m., Friday, Dec. 9 – Toy Drive Drop Off and 12 Bars of Christmas Pub Crawl starting at Tower 12.
• 7 p.m., Friday, Dec. 9 – Last Toy Drive Drop Off and Stop 2 of 12 Bars Pub Crawl at Sharkeez.