The dive bar’s stone façade and blazing neon sign have long been Culver City staples, the towering sign above the front door a slightly more recent addition emblazoned with an “I Love Mom” tattoo-like logo that includes the phrase “dedicated to pleasure.” Living up to their motto, Backstage Bar is open every day without exception, runs a 4 PM to 8 PM daily happy hour and distributes free quesadillas at midnight to anyone still in the building. A photo booth can be found in a corner of the dive bar to document the night’s progression and generally speaking the open floorplan lends itself well to a communal, drink-drenched evening.
Backstage Bar’s menu is more extensive than the typical dive bar, offering an extensive set of entrees, sandwiches, burgers and appetizers. The drink menu is equally intense, a number of signature cocktails with entertaining names offered to fuel late night karaoke. But there is a dive bar here under the cobb salad and Grace Jones pineapple rum cocktail, drink prices affordable by Los Angeles standards made all the more so by a happy hour that knocks prices down even further. The exterior in particular has been left to its own organic devices, allowed to show some of the wear and tear that comes with decades of operation.
The biggest crowds assemble for karaoke of course, the clientele running a bit younger on those evenings, making for even more eclectic than usual song selection. There isn’t so much stage here as there is an “area” designated for karaoke where a fixed DJ booth sits next to a patch of flooring reserved for the singer of the moment. Lyrics are broadcast throughout the building, encouraging massive singalongs that probably don’t need much encouragement as the hours tick by. With so little separating singer and crowd, the feeling here is very much a community, let’s-butcher-this-song-together vibe, which only adds to a night of karaoke.