Hotel Café in Los Angeles, CA, for an Intimate Night with Great Live Music

This is a true rarity in Hollywood: it's an artist-friendly joint with a great, chill vibe and un-pretentious staff. The exact location is 1623 1/2 N Cahuenga Blvd Los Angeles, CA. Once you get to the venue that feels hidden, you'll walk into a strange, new, dark world.

Through another door, you'll see the amazingly small stage which makes the entire Hotel Cafe experience feel like home. The staff is always ready to answer questions, place an order for your food and take your drink orders. The sound is fantastic, mostly because it's not overly loud and you can actually hear the vocals.

The bar inside had a very cool vibe. There was a restaurant like section in front with tables off to the side. The bar was lit with low lighting but not enough to make you stumble.

It was sparsely furnished with a few tables but still enough and the bar was in the corner and was small but well stocked with enough liquor. The walls had that "old" look of brick peaking out of plaster. There was a small stage in the corner but for a small bar it had pretty good sound and acoustics.

I nearly thought that the crowd would do the more typical L.A. thing, which is to talk loudly throughout the entire set, but they soon went quiet and were actually listening to the music. It was nice to see that Hotel Cafe still books a good variety of bands/artists. If you love music, then this place is a definite must! The best part is that the ambiance is intimate and cozy and you can also mingle with the artists after their performance.

I'm not a big drinker so I can't say anything about their alcohol selection or price. The only thing I've tried on their food menu is the bruschetta and that was pretty yummy so I would assume that everything else tastes moderately good.

The club has gotten increasingly crowded over the past few years. They recently added online ticketing, which is convenient when popular artists are on the bill. Each set is ticketed separately, so on crowded nights, the bouncers clear the floor between performers. If it's not too crowded, you can usually just pay the cover ($10-15) and stay all night.

If you want to sit down during a show, you need to get there early and sit at one of the six tables. Each table seats four, so if you don't have four people, you'll have to be nice and share the table with other people. The sound was amazing, and I'm all about good acoustics. It was very romantic too, and I think it's a great date location.