Santa Monica prices like the beach city it is — "$10 cocktails, $8 wine" turns up more than any other itemized price in town — so the value here is in knowing which places break the pattern. over 60 bars keep happy hours across the city, most opening at 4 PM with a solid 3 PM group, and the genuinely cheap prints are worth naming: $4 wells and $5 cans at Holey Moley on the Promenade, $4 draft beers and $5 wells at Barney's Beanery, 2-for-1 well drinks at Jameson's Pub on Main, all drinks 2-for-1 at Cabo Cantina, $5 craft pints at Santa Monica Brew Works.
This guide covers over 60 bars in Santa Monica, California, with over 60 listed happy hour deals. All data is from Happy Hour Map, updated regularly.
Main Street in Ocean Park is the best walk in the city — Jameson's Pub, The Library Alehouse's $2 off drafts, Basement Tavern, The Galley, Vamos. Vamos, and Tavern On Main sit within a dozen blocks of each other and skew older and cheaper than the beachfront. The Third Street Promenade and the blocks around it carry Barney's Beanery, Holey Moley, 1212, Cabo Cantina, and North Italia's $6.50 beers on 2nd. Santa Monica Boulevard is the pub row — Ye Olde Kings Head, The Britannia Pub's $7 domestic drafts, The Misfit, The Room, Busby's West, Offhand Wine Bar. Wilshire Boulevard runs inland with Chelsea, Citrin's $11 wine list, El Cholo, JP's, and FIG at the Fairmont; Ocean Avenue holds the view rooms (RED O, Casa Martin, King and Queen Cantina); Pico Boulevard is the local end with The Brixton, Upper West, Coast Beach Cafe, and Weary Livers' $5 daily drinks; and Montana Avenue keeps the quiet uptown set.
The classic happy hour move. Here are some of the best well drink specials in Santa Monica:
Draft deals are everywhere. Here are standout spots:
Margarita specials are a Santa Monica staple.
Walk Main Street or the Promenade, not Ocean Avenue — the ocean-view rooms carry the highest listed prices in the city and the two walkable strips a few blocks inland carry the lowest. About four in five of the over 60 listed deals are weekday windows, so plan Monday through Friday and treat weekends as thin. Watch the two-for-one listings specifically: Cabo Cantina runs all drinks 2-for-1 daily from 4 to 8 PM and Jameson's does 2-for-1 wells, which beat every flat price in town if you're staying for more than one round. And check the end times — several of the better rooms here run only 60 or 90 minutes (Citrin 5:30 to 7, Golden Bull 4:30 to 5:30, FIG 5 to 6), so a late arrival misses it entirely.
2-for-1 windows, the Main Street and Third Street Promenade walks, $4-5 wells and craft pints, weekday afternoons, and short early sittings.
Happy hour is the warm-up. If you're visiting Santa Monica, guided bar crawls and food tours are an easy way to hit several spots in one night — with someone else doing the planning.
Browse Santa Monica bar crawls & food tours on Viator →
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This article covers the highlights, but there are over 60 happy hour spots in Santa Monica total. Download Happy Hour Map to browse them all on a map with live hours, "happening now" filters, and one-tap directions.
Browse the full list on our Santa Monica happy hours page.
Happy Hour