Tinseltown’s top bars to watch soccer at all times of the day and night
Only one of two cities with two clubs in MLS, the City of Angels has long held an affection for the round-ball game, George Best and Johan Cruyff running out for the Aztecs in NASL’s heyday.
The club’s short-term home back then was the Rose Bowl, where 94,000 gathered to watch the 1994 World Cup Final, the best attendance for the event in nearly 25 years.
For the 2026 finals, games will be played at the more recently opened SoFi Stadium in Inglewood. MLS clubs LA Galaxy and LAFC filled the arena to its 71,000 capacity in 2022, taking on the Mexicans of Guadalajara and Club América in a double-header.
While SoFi Stadium will host the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics in 2028, the football finals will be staged at the Rose Bowl, now accommodating just under 90,000 spectators.
Following the closure of venerable punkerati haunt the Cat & Fiddle on Sunset Boulevard, expat Brits in Tinseltown and local soccer nuts had been bereft of a focal drinking hole to catch those breakfast-time kick-offs beamed live from London, Liverpool and Manchester.
Happily, this hangover from the Laurel Canyon days has been revived in West Hollywood by surviving members of the original familial team, with matches shown and PG Tips tea served.
Long-established 33 Taps is still going strong on Sunset Boulevard, with three other branches across this sprawling metropolis, while live sports on surround-sound TVs are integral to cult bar, Drugstore Cowboy, another haunt on Sunset Boulevard.
Among the rich pickings towards Santa Monica, look out for Tiny’s Hi-Dive, a self-styled ‘Fine Diving Watering Hole’ opened in 2022.
1 cat & fiddle
The most legendary soccer-friendly pub in LA, particularly after it moved from Laurel Canyon to Sunset Boulevard in 1985, the Cat & Fiddle has been revived by the family of co-founder and former Rod Stewart bandmate Kim Gardner who welcomed so many of the city’s expat punkerati way back when. Its current iteration in West Hollywood is still a top place to catch the game, where Sunday roasts, vinyl Fridays and pub quizzes also feature, along with house cider, hazy IPA and, of course, PG Tips tea. 742 Highland Ave, West Hollywood, CA 90038
2 33 taps
Downtown LA where LA Lakers plays, 33 Taps surrounds customers with screens while serving top-notch wings, house vegan burgers and beer from, you guessed it, 33 taps. Happy hour on pints, food and pitchers runs weekdays 3pm-7pm, then daily from 9.30pm, and animal charities are supported. Other branches on Santa Monica Blvd, at Silver Lake and down in Culver City offer similar attractions, with all World Cup matches shown, no cover charge. 3725 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026
3 DRUGSTORE COWBOY
Cult bar Drugstore Cowboy on Sunset Boulevard beams the action on big screens while serving Western-inspired cocktails (Midnight Cowboy, Rick Dalton’s Big Mistake), and Michelob and Modelo on draught. The décor, too, takes its cue from the classic gunslingers of yore, the ideal backdrop to shooting a few games of pool as you knock back your Corona or Pacífico. A decent kitchen serves up Inglorious Burgers and a fine mess of chili, including a vegan variety. Open until 2am, happy hours Mon-Fri 4pm-7pm. 4330 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90022
4 fox & Hounds
This mock of a traditional British pub opens early on Premier League Saturdays to please a convivial crowd of expat and local regulars – it’s might be a 4.30am start for the foolhardy. They screen Championship games, too, plus all MLS.
A huge range of draught options includes Allagash White wheat beer from Maine, Firestone 805 and Hop Notch IPA brewed, in all places, Salt Lake City. Pub meals are served with garden or mushy peas and burgers are named after the Premier League, Division One, and so on. The F&H lies on shadws corner in Studio City well north of Hollywood and Beverly Hills but close to the attraction of Universal Studios. 11100 Ventura Boulevard, Studio City, CA 91604
5 barney's beanery
In West Hollywood in an original roadhouse on Route 66 dating back to 1920, lively Barney’s Beanery now welcomes beer drinkers, sports fans, pool sharks and anyone in need of a burrito. Where bowls of chili were once served to hungry Prohibition-era truckers, party-minded regulars gather in cosy booths to babble or plot up at the bar counter to take in the game. Unmissable and open till 2am. Find branches in Burbank, Pasadena, Santa Monica and Westwood Village. 8447 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069
6 founders ale house
Generous happy hours, TV sport and a friendly atmosphere typify Founders Ale House, halfway to West Hollywood on W Pico Blvd, rotating its craft beers and including vegan alternatives on its menu. Sport usually means NFL Sundays but the schedule has been cleared for the World Cup, with closing times of midnight, 1am at weekends. California beers – 805, Pilsner and Indica from the Lost Coast Brewery – feature among the more familiar names of Sierra Nevada and Lagunitas, with cocktails an attractive option. 8771 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90035
7 ye oldE king’s head
Opened in 1974, patronised by many a UK celeb whose photos festoon the walls of a traditional pub interior, this cosy sports bar is known for its fish ‘n’ chips, offering roast beer and Yorkshire pudding of a Sunday. Bass, Boddingtons, Newcastle Brown and Fuller’s London Pride are among the draught options (there’s also snakebite for those in a hurry), with early opening hours for Premier League games. The restaurant and ‘shoppe’ (do people really buy tins of Roses chocolates, even at Christmas?) feel like tourist central – you’re only yards from Santa Monica Beach and Pier. 116 Santa Monica Boulevard, Santa Monica, CA 90401
