Los Angeles Watering Holes: Stay Cool (and Classy)!

This hip boutique hotel has a snazzy poolside bar, DJs spinning nightly, and cabanas—if you’re feeling like a movie star. Every Saturday from 1pm – 9p, the hotel hosts a “Pool Party,” and on Sundays from 1pm – 9pm “Sundaze” offers DJ beats to accompany your poolside lounging.

You could easily spend the whole day poolside at the W. Good eats, cocktails, and outdoor movies (Sunday nights during the summer), make it impossible to leave.

So remember when Lindsay Lohan and everyone else who was considered young and hot at the time gathered at the Roosevelt Hotel- namely the poolside Tropicana Bar? Those days are LONG gone, but that’s good news for us normal folks— we now actually have a chance of getting within 20 feet of the place.

The pool at Santa Monica College is hands down, my FAVORITE pool in LA. Not only is it super clean (hell, it borders on pristine,) but they have a separate poosl for kiddies and adults who want to swim laps. HEAVEN.

This isn’t my favorite place to swim, but it is an indoor pool, so it makes swimming on those rare cold and rainy days possible.

When I moved away from West LA, this became the closest pool to me. It’s not the best (it’s sort of small), but it’s not bad.

Griffith Park has a pool, you say? Why yes. Not only does this sprawling park have stables, trails, fields, and an observatory, but it also has a fabulous public pool, ripe for the swimming.

I don’t know what it is about this place, but it seems like everyone who lives here is on perpetual spring break. That, and everyone looks like a Laguna Beach cast member— guess this place lives up to its name. In addition to being able to ogle beach volleyball players, you’ll have a bunch of beach-adjacent bars at your disposal.

Malibu is probably my favorite place to go to the beach in LA— it sort of makes me feel like I’m on vacation. Probably due to the fact that everyone else on the beach is actually a tourist. I usually go to Surfrider Beach— who doesn’t like to check out hot surfers while getting a tan? But the most popular/famous place to go is Zuma.

The first time I went to Manhattan Beach, I was like why don’t I live here??? I this this seaside city is SUPER cute— spending the day here is definitely vacation-esque. After spending the day on the beach you can wander around the quaint little shops, and get ice cream at Manhattan Beach Creamery— my FAVORITE.

Huntington is also known as Surf City, USA— since they host the U.S. Open of Surfing it kinda makes sense. So if you’re looking to hit the waves, or hit on some surfers, Huntington is the place.

Playa Del Rey’s Dockweiler Beach is one of the few (or perhaps the only) beach in LA County where you can barbecue— there are fire pits dotted around the beach for your smore-making and hot dog-grilling pleasure.

You can rent kayaks and all kinds of fun water sport paraphernalia at this place. If you’ve never been kayaking, you should SERIOUSLY consider it. It’s WAY more fun that it looks. I promise.