Long Beach is, indeed, becoming the epicenter for holiday-centric celebrations across bars and restaurants citywide. In the vein of this year’s spook-tastic Halloween outing among venues, Long Beach holiday drinks and food reach new heights with this year’s winter offerings.
Decorations galore. Drinks that span the warm and bright to the esoteric and complex. Vibes that vary from the purposefully overwhelming to the much more chill. Long Beach has this holiday season down on lock with these bars and restaurants going all out in the name of Santa Claus, Krampus, and more.
Miracle at The Ordinarie
What kind of Long Beach holiday hootenanny? The OG, Christmas balls-to-the-walls awesome.
210 The Promenade N.
Miracle at The Ordinarie has officially returned to Downtown Long Beach, bringing SanTaRex, Christmasaurus, Krampus, lights, booze, and plenty of holiday cheer. An annual tradition over five years in the running, owners Christy and Jaime Caldwell could very well call themselves the bearer of bringing the holidays to Long Beach. Nearly every inch of its interior space is covered: From retro, reflective red, silver, green, blue, pink, and gold tinsel to white and multi-colored lights to wrapping paper-wrapped frames to presents to nods to “Christmas Vacation” and “A Christmas Story,” it is a happily overwhelming, over-the-top and excessive in every significant way imaginable, including the holiday libations.
With a new no-reservations-accepted-after-3PM policy—“It was the reservations that were truly holding up everything last year,” Christy said, noting that reservations are now only accepted between 11:30AM and 3PM—and an earlier start day (today), this year is proving to be the space’s biggest.
For more information, click here.
Recommendations: Chicken pot pie bites; Yippee Ki Yay Mother F****r!; and Santa Slide.
Baby Gee Bar
What kind of Long Beach holiday hootenanny? The one where a miracle snow storm comes.
1227 E. 4th St.
On top of its just-released (and quite stellar) winter cocktail menu, Baby Gee can’t stop and won’t stop. Bringing a flurry of snow on the hour daily outside its walls and a slew of wintertime cheer inside with its onslaught of wondrous winter decorations, it is also offering a yuletide menu on top of its regular winter offerings.
On the hour, patrons will hear a bartender proclaim, “It’s snowing outside!” Opening the front door, patrons will see an array of snowflake-like white dots falling across their sightline. Following that, people step outside to see the much-loved midnight green building graced with the illusion of snowfall.
This paired with vintage decorations, a new slew of holiday drinks, and the distinct aura that has made the 4th Street bar a staple, visiting Baby Gee is a must this year.
For more information, click here.
Recommendations: Le Befana’s Sblagiato; Penny in the Old Man’s Hat; and Broth Toddy (for those who can handle savory drinks).
The Social List
What kind of Long Beach holiday hootenanny? The one honoring monstrous legends.
2105 E. 4th St.
I’ve long said that The Social List is 4th Street’s great social experiment: To create a space that is both an ending point and a connector to other businesses. A neighborhood joint that happily sticks to what people like and what sells well. And it is because of that the much-loved space has lasted for a decade.
Well, that and Navarro Hospitality Group’s Beverage Director Erik Rios-Wentzky, who oversees both Lola’s locations as well as The Social List. His ability to conjure up bewitchingly solid cocktail lists has never been a secret. Whether it’s a cocktail list for the space’s remodel or a special menu for Mardi Gras, Erik’s talent has never had the chance to curtail. And his 2024 holiday menu continues to reflect that standard.
Recommendations: You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch; Santa Baby; S’More Presents
For Brian Addison’s full feature, click here.
The Stache Bar
What kind of Long Beach holiday hootenanny drink? The perfect, not-quite-so-divey one.
941 E. 4th St.
Stache Bar, 4th Street’s much beloved dive-meets-high-end-spirits space, helped introduce Long Beach to good liquor. But long gone are the days when Stache Bar was the only bar in the city to offer Hudson Baby Bourbon and Weller’s full-proof.
Surely, it joins many others getting in on the happily welcomed trend of holiday menu takeovers but it reflects the biggest shift at the bar in a long time. With bar manager Priscilla In building her relationship with owner Brett Gallo, the two have come to a communal understanding: The Stache deserves more love—and that’s exactly what they plan on giving it. This stellar and ambitious menu—which has everything from house-made melon liqueur to pistacho orgeats—is a beautiul reflection of that effort.
Recommendations: Mt. Crumpit; Santa’s Comin’ … to Town; Don’t Nog It Till You Try It
For Brian Addison’s full feature, click here.
Port City Tavern
What kind of Long Beach holiday hootenanny drink? The one with martini trees.
4306 E. Anaheim St.
Port City Tavern, Recreation Park’s kinda-divey-but-you-can-find-Tequila-Ocho space, has prided itself on its creative cocktail menus. Owner Dylan Davis and bar manager Bradley Eston have long believed that those who want a boilermaker can co-mingle with those who also want a solid cocktail that goes beyond the well.
And that is expressed in each advancing holiday menu, from their Halloween menu earlier this year to their holiday offering (which, like Baby Gee, comes with a snow machine outside).
Recommendations: You’re a Mean One; Martini Tree; Snowballin’
For Brian Addison’s full feature, click here.
The Bamboo Club
What kind of Long Beach holiday hootenanny drink? The tiki one, of course.
3522 Anaheim St.
They call it The Tinsel Club, which inspired their Halloween off-shoot, The Tremble Club. And with it, The Bamboo Club has not only created a solid’n’cheerful menu for the caroling season but decked out the space with garland-ed great taste. Plus, the space—celebrating its fifth year of being the King of Long Beach tiki—is completely decked out in what could be the most Halloween-y vibe in the city.
Recommendations: Gangsta Pearadise; Rudolph’s Flame; Yukon Cornelius
For Brian Addison’s full profile, click here.
SnoCorner
What kind of Long Beach holiday hootenanny? The perfectly New Orleans one.
1701 Atlantic Ave.
Three words: SnoCorner holiday beignets. Oh yes, SnoCorner owner Ashley Monconduit—our finest purveyor of New Orleans sweets—has taken her locally famous beignets to the caroling season.
Even more, SnoCorner—the bright, tricolored snoball shop located directly across the street from Poly High School—is a remarkable tribute to the sweet treats of New Orleans. For Ashley, SnoCorner is more than just a sweet shop. It represents the fusion of two proud cities that shaped her—New Orleans and Long Beach—and the family legacy of Black small businesses that spans decades in the very space SnoCorner occupies.
Click here to read Brian Addison’s full feature.
The Attic on Broadway
What kind of Long Beach holiday hootenanny? The one that eschews the typical in favor of the bright.
3441 E. Broadway
The Attic on Broadway has unveiled its holiday cocktail menu, joining the wonderful plethora of spaces that are partaking in creating holiday menus.
And with it, eschews the excessive warmth that comes such cocktail menus—there is not a hot drink in sight to be found and while, sure, cinnamon is used, no drink drowns in the spice rack of nutmeg, cloves, pumpkin spice, or aromatics. Instead, you have a menu that is filled with acids, brightness, hints of nuts, apples, cherries, and more.
Recommendations: Rumple Appleskin; Pineapple Upside Down; Holiday Spirits
Broken Spirits
What kind of Long Beach holiday hootenanny? The Nightmare Before Christmas one.
300 The Promenade N.
Broken Spirits Distillery in Downtown Long Beach is getting into the holiday spirit with not jingly bells but in a more macabre way. The space has becomed filled with creepy takes on Disney characters with none other than Jack Skellington and the Oogie Boogie Man greeting you at the door.
On top of it all, a $75, five-course, three-cocktail, three spirit tastings, “Nightmare Before Christmas”-themed dinner will be served Monday through Friday nightly at 7PM.
For more information, click here.
Gusto Bread
What kind of Long Beach holiday hootenanny? The carby one.
300 The Promenade N.
Long Beach’s Gusto bakery, the Latin American-centric space that overtly overthrows Eurocentric ideals when it comes to baked goods, was officially a semifinalist for Outstanding Bakery earlier this year and keeps on winning in representing Long Beach as a carb-centric center.
Led by carb master Arturo Enciso and Ana Belén Salatino, the pair began offering baked goods out of their home and a clay oven that was in their backyard. Once they scored their brick and mortar on 4th Street, their game and reputation inherently changed: They not only began appearing rightfully at some of Long Beach’s best restaurants, they garnered national attention for everything from kouign ammans layered with nixtamalized corn—a dish that was on our Essential Dishes of 2023 list—and polverones with California walnuts to spelt flour biscuits and fruit galettes.
For the holidays? Fresh pantuflas, sesame flautas, pumpkin cream-filled medialunas, apple empanadas, and pumpkin empanadas.
The Stave
What kind of Long Beach holiday hootenanny? The Downtown vibey one.
170 The Promenade N.
The Stave is offering a six-holiday cocktail menu that features a Oaxacan mezcal old fashioned; a peppermint vodka martini; a rye’n’amaro Manhattan; a maple old fashioned; a cranberry bourbon muie; and an egg nog shot.
Roe
What kind of Long Beach holiday hootenanny? The one in the Shore.
5374 E. 2nd St.
Roe has been one of the Shore’s more underrated spaces ever since Chef Art Gonzalez opened it—and even after he stepped away (and following his sad, untimely death), it has managed to stay relevant and connected to the community thanks to the efforts of General Manager Gillian Poe. Whether it is her extraordinary spirit or wine dinners on the back patio or her constant push to evolve the menu, Roe is always fresh. And that very much includes their holiday menu.
Recommendations: Winter Thyme; Yule-Nog
