The Association — Local services in Los Angeles

Saturday Night Review

10pm-No line,11pm-Line-----Good thing the door man remembered me from earlier and let me skip right into the place, yay! It pays to be a girl sometimes, right ladies?! The location is a little hard to find if you've never been there; it's on 6th street, just east of Main on the south side. Make sense??? laughs Just look for the depressed stairways!

Be warn, this place is daaark! I couldn't even see anything when I first stepped in. It took me about a good 5 minutes before my eyes adjusted. The place was packed with a diverse crowds and electro music popping in the background. The place is small, but it has plenty of seating for ladies with weary feet. They have a long bar with about 3-4 bartenders working that night....Matthew was my bartender for the night and he made my drinks quite stiff in a good way! Although he picked on me, I really liked him cause he reminded me of an old crush that did the same thing. Plus, he made my drinks extra delicious!

Tonight, I tried the Pisco Sour (Pisco, lime juice, simple syrup, & 1 egg white with a dash of bitter.) and the Indian Summer. Both were delicious! I love any drinks with egg white as part of the ingredients because it gives an extra frothiness. Get it if you're a fan like me! If you want something refreshing that's similar to your favorite liquor with soda, get the Indian Summer! It was light and tasty with a hint of grapefruit in it. The only downfall is that the Indian Summer is so easy to drink that it'll go as fast as your water, except you'll be super buzz!

Can't wait to come back for their Happy Hour! (Mon-Fri 5pm-10pm with their specialty...

Came for a tequila cocktail making class (8-9pm) & stayed for happy hour (9-10:30pm) last Saturday. There's a different theme/alcohol each Friday and Saturday class. Class was entertaining and informative. Loved the history they shared and all 3 drinks were delicious. Wish we could've made them ourselves instead of just watching the bartenders. Also would've loved to take the recipes home since they weren't traditional drinks you'd find everywhere but overall it was a good time, worth the $40 and a fun way to spend the night.

Happy hour was $10 a cocktail and the cocktails were great! Atmosphere is cute and chill. There's roped off areas and then the bar area. I can imagine the bar area gets pretty crowded later in the night as it's not very big. Overall it was great and I'd come back especially for another class.

Parking: there's metered parking on the streets nearby. Meter we parked at on 6th didn't need to be paid after 8pm. There's also a parking lot on Main with attendants if that's your preference.

Area: It's downtown so expect the smell of pee, tents on the streets and a number of people roaming around. No one bothered us but worth knowing if you don't frequent the area

Entrance: the entrance was hard to find from the car in the dark. There's a black door with a lion on it just below street level with steps leading down to the door. It's pretty easy to spot...

The Low-Down=-- Friday Night, No Cover, Poppin, Dark!

Rolled into The Association on a Friday Night and this place is packed, but fortunately there was not a line at the door. The entrance is unmarked and the bar is unlabeled, but know that the entrance to this place is a big solid door and shares the same depressed stairways as Cole's.

Inside was pretty poppin, but this place could be the darkest bar I've ever been in. So dark that your hand would disappear if you stretch it out in front of you. Regardless, there was a crowded cushy seating area which took up about half this place, and the other half would be a standing room that surrounded the single bar. It wasn't dancy, booty-bass music that was playing, and it wasn't too loud either, because I could remember having conversations, and actually remembering what I heard.

Once I made it through the crowd to the bar, it was not long before I was helped, so big plus for that. The bartenders paid a lot of attention to their drinks, but the price also reflected with an average of 11 to 12 bucks per drink. I tried the New York Sour, and it was not too shabby with plenty of stiffness. There were other specialty drinks that I'd probably have...