Up In the Old Hotel – Happy Hour at The Culver Hotel

Yes that is the name of one of my favorite books. But don’t worry this isn’t going to be a book review. Although if it was it would only be two words – Read It. But I digress….I’m actually referring to a specific old hotel – The Culver Hotel in downtown Culver City.

I’ve passed by this hotel countless times and have always wanted to go inside. Not only is it super cute but it has a storied history. Built in 1924 and just blocks from Sony Pictures Studios (formerly MGM) it has hosted countless movie stars. It’s most well known occupants were none other than the Munchkins. During the filming of The Wizard of Oz most of the actors playing the Munchkins stayed at the hotel. Now the Wizard of Oz is one of my favorite movies and I love any trivia relating to it. Hence my always wanting to go inside.

Now I supposed that I could have just walked in but I never seem to be just hanging out in that area. I usually have a specific destination I’m headed to and you know how it is…maybe next time I’ll stop by. Well, last week that next time came thanks to one of my favorite activities – happy hour.

I found out that The Bar at the Culver Hotel holds a happy hour every day from 4-7pm. Hooray! So I grabbed one of my friends and off we went. When we stepped through the door it was like stepping back in time. The bar is actually in the front lobby of the hotel and there are period furnishings throughout. Each table was unique and there were chairs of every sort – love it!We picked a table and got to ordering.

First up, the drink. We both chose the Culver Lemonade. A mixture of Sagatiba Pura (which I had never heard of), passion fruit puree and lemonade. Pretty tasty!

Now onto the food. We were both pretty famished so we decided to go whole hog. We ordered the garlic corn dogs, garlic fries, and chips and dip. Yum, yum, and yum.

Don’t those look delish? And they were. What I especially loved was that everything was homemade, right on down to the potato chips. I especially loved the onion dip that came with the chips and dip. It reminded me of the tubs you get at the grocery store but oh so much better. I loved it so much, I totally hogged it. Oops! And to top it all off the food was only $5 each (the drink was $6). Pretty snazzy!

So I can now say that I finally visited The Culver Hotel…and I’ll definitely be back.

The Bar at the Culver Hotel
9400 Culver Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232
happy hour daily 4-7pm