In the 1920s when Prohibition in America took hold many American expats took solace at the opulent bar at the Savoy Hotel in London. This also happened to be around the time that one of the patron saints of cocktail time, Harry Craddock was running the bar there.
Set on the roof of the Standard Hotel in Downtown L.A. this bar has an amazing 360 degree view of the city.
Part of the McMenamin's empire of hotels, restaurants and bars, Kennedy School is a renovated old elementary school that has been turned into a complex of restaurant, hotel, bars, movie theater and brewery. The result is a fantastically odd and fun experience of school themed decoration, including a bar called detention, and hotel rooms with chalkboards in them.
The Hotel Mosser is similar to small budget hotels you'll find in Europe. The building is old and the rooms are tiny, but the decor is a fun, funky mix of antiques and hipster furnishings.
Great accomodation, 3 tube stops from Tottenham Court Road.
The Hotel Utica is a Clarion Hotel but surprisingly it is also a National Historic Hotel. It was built in 1912 and has been recently restored.
At the forefront of modern mixolgy in San Francisco, Alembic has a wide selection of whiskeys and bourbons, and a huge list of classic cocktails.
There is a restaurant and a beach area at Chambers Landing, but most people come in the summer to hang out on the pier and drink the Chambers Punch. You can bring a boat and tie up next to the pier, but it gets crowded on most summer weekends.