Nightlife in North Glendale

A rare outlet for commercially sanctioned laughter in downtown Los Angeles, Garrett Morris’ Downtown Blues and Comedy Club helps visitors escape the stresses of the workweek with a rotating stable of top-tier standup talent every Friday and Saturday. Comic legend Garrett Morris, now seen as Earl on CBS’ 2 Broke Girls, hosts showcases of comic talent with charming wit and tales of how he outlived the original cast of Saturday Night Live. The bill remains consistently loaded with fresh-faced and seasoned funny folk, with past luminaries including George Lopez, Margaret Cho, and Wayne Brady, along with aspiring stars in the twilight before their first mismatched-marriage sitcom.

Keeping true to its name and Morris’ roots in the New Orleans music scene, the venue often punctuates its comedy shows with performances from top blues artists—including Morris himself, who has lent his soulful pipes to the Harry Belafonte Singers—that add melody to the mirth. While weekend shows feature Garrett’s hosting and harmonies along with the headlining acts, the Thursday Night Experience allows youthful burgeoning comics and musicians to hog the spotlight.

The unassuming red brick building in the alley behind the Ice House in Pasadena may not look like much, but inside lies T. Boyle's Tavern—a no-nonsense two-level pub with a polished beer menu, hearty eats, 13 flat-screen TVs, and one 8’x10’ jumbo TV. The TVs flicker with the NFL Sunday Ticket’s games or broadcast USC and UCLA teams as they shoot a basketball, throw a football, or punt a volleyball. Nearby, a huge stone tiki head perched on the rough brick wall overlooks live bands as they belt out classic rock covers, blues, or ’80s hits.

Tall, round bar tables next to old wooden barrels hoist buffalo wings, pastrami burgers, and fish tacos that pair with dozens of bottled or draft craft beers, including tasty suds from Bear Republic, Rogue, Sierra Nevada, and Port Brewing. When regulars aren't sharing laughs over beers or frantically trying to answer trivia questions, they can head over to the dartboards or shuffleboard and pool tables.

The Granada LA is a party school. Part dance studio, part nightclub, it's a place where students can learn the steps of West Coast swing and merengue one night and put them into practice while enjoying bottle service and eats from the on-site restaurant the next. If they do venture out onto the dance floor of the 1930's Spanish Revival-style nightclub, they'll be treated to live music that leans heavily toward salsa. The nightclub, like whatever village The Village People were from, attracts a variety of people: casual dancers looking for zesty nightlife, and also students of the attached dance studio.

At the Hollywood Improv, comics lure laughs from deep within bellies as they follow in the footsteps of standup legends such as Ellen DeGeneres, Chris Rock, Jerry Seinfeld, and Dave Chappelle, all of whom have graced the Improv club stages. The club's calendar schedules comedians as often as seven nights a week, alternating between big-name headliners and up-and-coming funsters who tickle funny bones with fresh material, abundant energy, and feathered reflex hammers.

What’s now known as The Comedy Store was once called Ciro's, a nightlife hotspot in the 1940s and '50s. Playing host to glitzy stars and shadowy mobsters, the club's history is shrouded in rumors of mafia assassinations and untimely deaths. However, the joint buried its seedy past by converting to a comedy club and helping launch the careers of such legends as Richard Pryor, Jim Carrey, George Carlin, David Letterman, and Dave Chappelle. The younger La Jolla location lets laugh-starved patrons bask in the same high-powered comedic atmosphere as its progenitor.

Trees play an important role at Bar Food. They've given their wood for the knotty rafters that support the ceiling, the cubbyholes that make up the bar's Wall of Taps, and the barrels that aged the gastropub's collection of more than 200 whiskeys. You'd expect wood to frame the colorful paintings of music icons that gaze down on the whiskey list with immovable looks of envy, but they hang frameless.

Like a 19th-century dockworker's shopping list, the menu promises hearty traditional public-house fare—fries, cheese plates, sandwiches, shepherd's pie, beef stew, and fish and chips. Guests sup on these and other dishes at cozy wall-length booths or out on the streetside patio. Four and 20 taps keep beer glasses full and diners happily cheering for every chicken that dares to cross Wilshire Boulevard.