Hayley Fox
Part Italian restaurant, part rock & roll bar where anything goes, Rainbow Bar & Grill seems to be single-handedly keeping hair metal alive. On any given weekend, legends such as Skid Row's Sebastian Bach can be spotted at this Sunset Strip landmark, often posing for pictures with giddy fans, his long mane of feathery hair alive and well. The Rainbow's crimson booths have seen more T&A than an Alice Cooper concert, and if cleanliness is next to godliness, then the Rainbow's bathrooms are closer to Satan himself. But there's a nostalgia to this grime, as it connects you to the decades of rock stars who partied and snorted drugs in this very restroom. The lore of this piece of L.A. history, as well as its lengthy menu of Italian staples (dominated by the beloved house pizza), draws a diverse crowd, including concertgoers from the Roxy next door and musicians from across the city. The bar is well-stocked but, thankfully, there's not a pretentious large ice cube in sight.
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