The Library Bar in downtown Los Angeles

Study hard at the Library Bar in downtown Los Angeles

The Library Bar: 630 W. 6th St. Ste 116A, LA 90017 213-614-0053       Map

The cool blue neon sign of the Library Bar beckons souls lost in the concrete jungle or who were discharged after hours from the Central Fount of Human Knowledge towards its comforting civilized oasis. Inside is a one-room nest of delicious food, delightful drinks, vellum volumes of various merit, and a huge host of hip hoi polloi hollerin’ at the height of auditory capacity.

Billed as an alternative to the Hollywood club scene, this popular nightspot with a respectable beer menu has a limited specialty cocktail selection, but quality trumps variety. Inside are plenty of shaded nooks to camp in plus a wall of tomes such as outdated encyclopedias and exotic picture books, albeit barely enough light to read by.

There are no rules governing silence here. Many ladies perused the treatises, and some were taken off the shelves, but I can’t imagine concentrating on an annual Audubon publication while Belgian tripels are chugged a mere hardcover’s throw away and early Black Sabbath blasts from stereo speakers. The books are decorous, as is the fireplace; food and drink are paramount, with narrow yet tasty choices.

I ordered their signature Library Bar burger, which was delectable, and I recall the succulent chorizo sliders from an earlier excursion. The fries were flavorful, although my wife complained of too much tang from the cumin seasoning.

For my liquid companion, I submitted to a beer cocktail, inspired by a conversation amongst fellow Examiners at a meeting an hour prior.

Moscow Mule: Stolichnaya vodka, Bundaberg ginger beer

The Moscow Mule began on the east coast, but dug in its heels here in Los Angeles, particularly with the promotion of John “Jack” Morgan, proprietor of the (vanished) Cock n’ Bull on Sunset, also a manufacturer of ginger beer.

It’s easy and simple, comes in a pint glass, and tastes like a flavored shot of vodka. It’s got a little kick, ginger being the trendy part of many “new” cocktails, but otherwise is a fine comrade to spicy fries and sweet hamburgers.

The weird thing about my Mule was the fat cucumber round on the side. It commanded the aroma of the cocktail, though that’s not a problem--cucumbers are refreshing whether in a drink or covering your eyes during a mud bath. By the bottom of the glass, a strange sensation welled like a volcano deep within me. It was like the desire to violate the propriety of a repository of intellectual edification, the same urge I felt when working at a library in high school. Would I? Could I? YES!

I ate the damn cucumber wedge.

I thought it would be drenched in alcoholic essence, but tasted just like a wet cucumber. Somehow strangely disappointing in an otherwise euphoric expedition to this downtown escape from trendy posturing.

Just don’t use the books as coasters.
 

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