10 1/4 Pasadena

Heading down the stairs inside Pasadena dive The 35er, you’ll think you’re on your way to the bar’s storeroom only to find an old-timey phone booth at the bottom. Once you pick up the phone and give the bartender the size of your party, with luck, you’ll be buzzed into one of the smallest speakeasies in Los Angeles. Tiny slivers of tables line the walls with barely enough space for a couple of rounds of classic cocktails, while a few coveted four-tops sit beneath the glow of Edison bulbs with pewter monkeys hitching a ride on top of them. Here you can find drinks made the way they were intended to be enjoyed roughly a century ago, including less popular refreshments like the minty Queen’s Park Swizzle. With no dress code, only capacity can keep you out of this space that slowly turns into a rowdy watering hole as the night gets boozier. If you’re more into mid-century modern drinks that pack a punch and feel nostalgia for Xzibit’s “Pimp My Ride,” this bar in a bar also contains a tiki speakeasy pop-up on Friday and Saturday nights.