Comments (0) Best Bar Bathroom - 2012
HMS Bounty Bar
The 3300 block of Wilshire, home to the HMS Bounty Bar, wasn't always sleepy. The fabulous Ambassador Hotel used to loom large across the street, and the Bounty is one of the last witnesses to its faded glamour, its ghosts felt in the old jazz jukebox, wood paneling and strong drinks. Legend has it that Winston Churchill once had a meal in the tiny space. If you have to use the facilities, however, things get complicated. The journey starts in the lobby of the neighboring 1920s-era apartment building, past a sleepy front-desk clerk, a wall of mailboxes and down a flight of stairs. The restroom is the only marked door in the eerie hallway, and the spooky room boasts drip-drip plumbing that probably hasn't been touched since Sinatra was crooning across the street. All the while, the laundry room rumbles next door. Maybe that's where all the ghosts wash their sheets. 3357 Wilshire Blvd., Koreatown. (213) 385-7275, thehmsbounty.com.
—Sean J. O'Connell
