New bars around Pasadena to know this month

Three newer cocktail addresses are earning their place on the Pasadena-area bar map this fall. Sid's Bar pours cocktails and spins records inside a restored 1928 schoolhouse in South Pasadena, Good Neighbor Bar brings a moody, nearly 30-cocktail lounge to quiet Altadena, and Cannonball, Matt Molina's cocktail-forward bistro, keeps the brick-lined corner of Mission Street humming. I am Alejandro Espitia, a Broker Associate and REALTOR with Apex Realty and Investments, licensed in California (01213999) since 1996, with 200+ homes sold serving Los Angeles, San Bernardino, San Gabriel, and Riverside, fluent in English and Spanish. I keep a running list of the best new places in the neighborhoods I serve, and every spot below comes from the venue's own site or current local reporting, with sources at the bottom of the post.

Sid's Bar: a cocktail-and-DJ bar inside a 1928 schoolhouse

Sid's Bar is the cocktail-and-DJ neighborhood bar from Sid the Cat, the long-running indie concert promoter, and it lives at 1020 El Centro Street in South Pasadena, inside the restored 1928 former elementary school that also houses the Sid the Cat Auditorium. The bar sits in one of the old classrooms, with rotating signature cocktails, Japanese whiskies, natural wines, and beers at friendly prices, plus DJ nights most evenings. It opened late last year and was the first business inside the schoolhouse complex. Hours run nightly from 5:00 pm, closed Mondays unless there is an event. More on the Sid's Bar page and the Time Out write-up.

Good Neighbor Bar: a moody cocktail lounge in Altadena

Just north of Pasadena, Good Neighbor Bar at 2311 Lincoln Avenue in Altadena is the cocktail lounge from hospitality veterans Randy Clement and April Langford, the owners of Silverlake Wine. The room is low and moody with a long Brazilian quartzite bar, and the menu leans into nearly 30 cocktails plus beer and natural wines, with a patio, too. Happy hour runs Tuesday to Thursday, 5:00 to 6:30 pm; the rest of the week it is open Tuesday to Thursday 5:00 pm to midnight, Friday and Saturday 4:00 pm to 1:00 am, and Sunday 4:00 to 10:00 pm, closed Monday. The phone is (626) 704-0164. Hours and directions are on the Good Neighbor Bar site, with a full look in Eater Los Angeles.

Cannonball: Matt Molina's cocktail-forward bistro in South Pasadena

At 1010 Mission Street in South Pasadena, Cannonball is the collaboration between James Beard Award-winning chef Matt Molina and operating partner Joe Capella, opened in May 2025 inside the historic Edwards and Faw building, where original brick walls frame a bistro-styled bar and dining room. The drinks side carries an extensive vintage wine list plus cocktails, and the kitchen keeps the room full with buttermilk biscuits and honey butter, a single-patty burger on an egg brioche bun, and plates like fideos with clams and chorizo. It is as much a place to drink well as to eat well, and it has settled in as one of the area's most-loved newer rooms. More in Eater Los Angeles and Pasadena Magazine.

More names on the list

If you like your bar early, Bu Pastry Bar at 380 S. Lake Avenue, Suite 107 in the Burlington Arcade is the daytime counterpart worth knowing: small-batch French-style pastries with a subtle modern Asian turn, including caramelized canelés, madeleines, and dacquoises, poured alongside a Cloud Matcha or iced hojicha latte, generally open daily around 9:00 am to 6:00 pm. And the hot lists keep shifting as new places open, so the freshest wave of names lives on the Yelp hot new bars page for Pasadena, with Bu Pastry Bar on the Visit Pasadena directory. Earlier this month we also rounded up hidden new bars and new cocktail bars in Pasadena, if you are working through the new wave.

A note on details: bar hours, kitchen times, and small-plate menus can shift, and a few of the names on the hot lists move locations or change hours quickly. Please confirm directly with each spot before you head out, and use the links below for the latest. If you have a favorite new bar around Pasadena I missed, text me and I will add it to the next edition.

Sources: Sid's Bar, Sid the Cat Auditorium, Sid's Bar, Time Out, Good Neighbor Bar hours and location, Good Neighbor Bar, Eater Los Angeles, Cannonball, Eater Los Angeles, Cannonball, Pasadena Magazine, Bu Pastry Bar, Visit Pasadena, and Yelp hot new bars, Pasadena.