Ara Shanlian Jr.

We love the latest downtown nightlife boom, but it’s still pretty hard to find a decent view in this town other than the Rooftop Bar at The Standard Hotel. Looking for a new view of the Los Angeles skyline? Maybe some sushi? Welcome to the Elevate Lounge, open alongside Takami Sushi & Robata Restaurant.

The two spots are 21 floors up, and their panorama wraparound balconies are big enough for a crowd, so you won’t have to worry about getting a peek at the city lights. Now if you could just get rid of that smog…

Better yet, retreat into Elevate’s open-air lounge, where you can check out the view in more comfortable surroundings. The oversized ottomans include trays for stabilizing cocktails during heavy lounging. The place even stays open for an hour after the 2 a.m. booze cutoff, giving you time to work off that Jager-Redbull and plan your next move.

At Takami, diners can sit at candlelit booths inside or out, or pull up a stool at the Italian leather and sandstone sushi bar. The Japanese influenced menu includes inspired twists like a Miso Caesar Salad and Baby Lamp Chops with soy truffle sauce. Their suggestion is the Rose Tea Martini—the ingredients of its house made rose liqueur are so secret the bottle gets locked up each night. (As long as there’s no urine in it, we’re fine.)

We won’t be looking too hard at the drink list anyway. We just spotted our cousin’s house in Westwood.

Takami Sushi & Robata Restaurant and Elevate Lounge, 811 Wilshire Blvd, 21st Floor (at Flower), Downtown, 213-236-9600

Ara Shanlian Jr.

LA is vast. You can’t enjoy the whole city in one night (no matter how much expresso you mix into your vodka). So it’s nice when a nightspot recognizes this and provides options to make you feel like you’ve hit up more places than you actually have. Hence, One Sunset.

This lounge is, as its name suggests, designed to be your one and only stop of the night. (It’s a restaurant, it’s a bar, it’s a four-room lounge with dinner service till 1 a.m.) You’ll start in the Champagne Lounge, a silky Moroccan oasis with a ten person table that should make meeting new acquaintances no problem. From there, you can push on to either the Centre Bar Lounge with cocktail style seating (again, making it easier to socialize), the Dining Lounge or the Candle Lounge, which features candles, of course, but also reflective mirrors (so you can see who is checking you out from any angle).

In all the rooms, you can feast on shareable plates such as the Celestial Platter (jumbo shrimp, oysters, Dungeness crab, lobster and prawns) and the Prime Beef Flight (pepper-crusted ribeye mignon, short rib and aged filet Oscar). And as your night grows increasingly festive, One Sunset’s ambiance seamlessly adjusts: Lights dim, DJ spins pick up, and dining tables drop to lounge level.

All of which means you can relax into the evening instead of fighting your way through it.

One Sunset, 8730 W. Sunset Blvd (between Horn and Sunset Plaza Dr), West Hollywood, 310-657-0111

=[] ,

The Speach Staff.