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Photo booth bars

For the shots you don’t drink

Jane Pham

Special to Metromix
July 16, 2008

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In the flash (Credit: Aimee Brodeur)

Let’s say you want to capture your booziest memories, but Cobrasnake is nowhere to be found and your cell-phone cam makes you look like a washed-out fish. What to do? Take your glamour shots into your own hands at these bars where the photo booths are often the main attraction. After all, there’s something hot about being in a confined space behind a curtain, where you’re free to be as smiley, sexy, serious, or silly as you want to be—even if your time is limited to the span of four flashes. Add a few cocktails to the mix and you’ve got a pocketful of memories—and quite possibly a new photo for your Facebook and MySpace profiles. (Speaking of: have you added Metromix L.A. as your friend here and here yet?)

Alex's Bar

2913 E. Anaheim St. - Long Beach

562-434-8292

This Long Beach watering hole might draw a posse of pierced and tattooed punks, but they’re not too tough for the photo booth. There’s a full-length mirror outside the booth for perfecting every aspect of your look, from the scowl to the perfect placement of oversize safety pins. A strip of four black-and-white pictures costs $3, and since there’s always a chance of forgetting where you were last night, the bar’s name is written between each frame in an Old English font.

Backstage Bar & Grill

10400 Culver Blvd. - Culver City

310-839-3892

To the outsider, Backstage is just a dive bar for Culver City’s after-work crowd. For in-the-know regulars, though, it’s all about the bar food—especially the gourmet-inspired mac ’n’ cheese. What to do while waiting for your food? Hit up the seldom-used photo booth. It takes 10 minutes to print your black-and-white pics, just about the same amount of time it takes for your food to arrive.

Bar 107

107 W. 4th St. - Los Angeles

213-625-7382

This Downtown dive attracts loft dwellers and newbie hipsters, and it gets especially packed on weekend nights. Make your way down the narrow hallway to the back room and you’ll find one of the cheapest photo booths in town: $2 per strip. Since the bar gets crammed, you’ll probably have to wait your turn, but the strategically placed mirror allows you to spend the time freshening up your gloss or perfecting your pout. Two booths are nestled against the booth and obstruct the drying slot, so don’t get grab-happy and pull out the photos before they’re done—or else it’ll be smear city.

Beauty Bar

1638 Cahuenga Blvd. - Los Angeles

323-464-7676

“Beauty is your duty” at Beauty Bar, or so says the bar’s answering machine. So it’s no surprise this Cahuenga Corridor spot serves martinis with manicures and has a photo booth that sticks out onto the dance floor. It takes about four minutes for the machine to print out the pics, during which time you can dance to your fave indie-pop bands.

Cha Cha Lounge

2375 Glendale Blvd. - Los Angeles

323-660-7595

This dimly lit Tijuana-style bar draws a rock ‘n’ roll crowd, some of whom aren’t too cool to take pics in the photo booth. (This booth gets bonus points for being built into the wall!) Tied with Bar 107 for cheapest photo booth on the block, it costs just $2 for four shots. Even better, Cha Cha’s photos come in color.

The Gaslamp Restaurant and Bar

6251 E. Pacific Coast Hwy. - Long Beach

562-596-4718

If you don’t mind sweaty bodies rubbin’ up against you on the dance floor and music so loud you’ll still hear it in the morning, then you’ll love this hangout. Should you need to ditch that frat boy who won’t stop pestering you, though, the photo booth on the smoking patio provides the perfect hideout—and these $3 pics print in color.

The Happy Ending

7038 W. Sunset Blvd. - Los Angeles

323-469-7038

You might not be able to choose your fate at the Happy Ending’s drink wheel, which is like playing Russian roulette with booze-fueled specials, but you can decide if you want your photos in color or in black and white, or even with a different photo effect. The only bummer? Pics cost $5. Talk about inflation.

Key Club

9039 Sunset Blvd. - West Hollywood

310-274-5800

Sodas cost $8 at this Sunset Strip rock club, so it should come as no surprise that the black-and-white photos cost two bucks more than the $3 average. The good news, however, is that the booth is in the basement VIP lounge, where we’re always spying rock ’n’ roll celebs—from Pink to Paramore’s Hayley Williams. Maybe you can get one of them to snap pics with you.

Lucky Strike Lanes

6801 Hollywood Blvd. - Los Angeles

323-467-7776

If your name is Norm and you belong to a bowling league, you’ll probably hate this swanky spot that’s equal parts bowling alley, bar and restaurant. If you happen to look like a Playboy Playmate and are fond of handling big, bright balls, this is your spot. You’ll especially love the photo booth, which doubles as a make-out room. It’s $3 for one strip, but the memories are priceless.

Mixville Bar

2838 Rowena Ave. - Los Angeles

323-666-2000

Stepping into Mixville is like going back in time to the days when Western movie legend Tom Mix ruled the scene—the bar’s named after him. The patio is the best place to enjoy the retro cocktails, not only for the fresh air, but also because this is where you’ll find their $3 photo booth.

The Scene Bar

806 E. Colorado Blvd. - Glendale

818-241-7029

People don’t really come to this Glendale bar to be seen per se, but they do like to keep relics of their evening. Document your night by cramming a couple of your friends into the photo booth. The $3 strips are black and white (with a little brown residue around the edges), but if you come on Sundays, when ice cream is free and cocktails cost $3, you’ll feel as if you’ve gotten your money’s worth.

Short Stop

1455 Sunset Blvd. - Echo Park

213-482-4942

When ’90s-clad Eastsiders are in need new photos for their MySpace pages, they head to the Short Stop’s photo booth. Not only does the machine print out quality strips, but each photo is stamped with the name of the bar, perfect for earning cred.

The Standard Hotel

550 S. Flower St. - Los Angeles

213-892-8080

This Downtown hotel attracts a mix of trendsetters and go-getters thanks to a mod motif, electro dance nights and, yes, a stylish photo booth. You might not notice the black-and-silver machine next to the bathrooms in the lobby lounge because it blends in with the walls, but in-the-know regulars can’t get enough. Photos print in color and only cost $3 a strip. Best yet are the curtain options; we like to choose the strip of fabric that bears the Standard’s logo printed on it.

Jane Pham is contributing editor for Metromix Los Angeles.