Culver City is suddenly cool. Once just for surround-sound movies or the mall -- or merely something you drove through en route from Beverly Hills to Venice to avoid the freeway -- it now has some of the most exciting new bars, restaurants, and art galleries in Los Angeles. Enter Akasha. Six months ago, the restaurant was opened by chef Akasha Richmond, a woman with a lot experience cooking for fancy vegans and vegetarians and committed to featuring local and organic produce. The menu offers some of the most interesting and well-prepared food of any new place I've been in the months since I moved to LA. But since this is a mixology report, let's down to the libations.

When Craft opened in Century City last year, the talk was all about the food. The LA outpost of the popular New York restaurant opened by Top Chef star Tom Colicchio promised to be a surefire success, particularly because the menu concept is California-friendly. Instead of subbing, say, greens for grits, you could customize your entrée with pricey side dishes. The calorie-conscious poured in from the surrounding office buildings, only too happy to dine in the shadow of the Death Star (aka CAA). Now, they're going for the cocktails, particularly on Thursday nights -- most of the 8,000 employees who work in the surrounding offices have three-day summer weekends.

It could have been the San Francisco Sex and the City premiere party. Last Saturday night, over 1,000 people were turned away at the door, while 3,000 made it in, decked out in decidedly more flashy outfits than typical for the fleece-and-crocs locale. It was the grand opening of the new Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco, and a celebration of the holiday Shavuot rolled into an all-night cultural arts festival called DAWN. The $47.5 million building (designed by Daniel Libeskind as an addition to a brick, circa-1907 power company substation) opens onto a new public plaza across the street from the Yerba Buena Gardens, just a block away from the SF Musem of Modern Art.

Summer’s here, which means blockbuster movie time. In Hollywood, that means making a big night out of going to the Arclight (a fantastic movie theater where you can reserve a specific seat), followed by dinner at the Hungry Cat. The chic, intimate restaurant is known for its raw bar and extra-fresh produce; there’s no proper bar, though there is a raw bar where you can sit on a stool and order food and drinks. Plus, the Cat's got some of the best mixology around, enhanced by local produce from Schaner Farms, McGrath Family Farms, and Vicki Bernard of Bernard Farms.

There are many reasons to visit Comme Ca in LA's West Hollywood, but the best is the beverages. Trained by the school of Milk & Honey, the bartenders blend fresh produce and top-shelf liquor into dreamy combinations. Cocktails take such importance at the restaurant that they are featured on the main menu, listed between "Fruits de Mer" and "Sides."

S. Hector Bury, bartender at Joe's Restaurant, likes to name his cocktails after David Bowie songs. Rightly enough, his “Lady Stardust” seems like a song in a glass—one popular on the radio during summertime, like Beyonce’s “Crazy in Love.” The combination of top-shelf champagne and fresh citrus makes for a light, crisp cocktail that's deceptively light. Use it as a chaser between "strong" drinks at your peril. (I did, and I have the hangover to prove it.)

On a recent Friday night, I headed to downtown LA bar Seven Grand with some friends in the know who swore by the cocktails. I was surprised to see a velvet rope and line outside—it was almost enough to make me turn around and go home. I’m of the strong opinion that patience is a virtue best untested when it comes to nightlife. My cohorts convinced me stick around, and after about five minutes (what was the point?), we were granted access. It was worth it after all. Seven Grand’s exceptional cocktails fit right in with the bar’s gentlemanly hunting club theme: strong, classic, distinct. There’s nothing girly about the combos of fresh fruit, top-tier liquor, and expert mixology. It doesn’t come cheap, though. The cocktail menu includes $10 juleps plus a $15 deposit required for the silver cup, crustas, punches, fizzes, and sours.