With summer comes the craving to head to the beach and savor a cold one in the sun -- but actually hit the sand with a beer, and risk getting a reminder that alcohol + outside = a call to your father's lawyer Bernie Levin, who's really much better with tax questions. Get all the sun without the lockup, at High.

Opening next Thurs on the 7th-floor roof of the brand new Hotel Erwin right off the Venice boardwalk, the 3,000sqft, open-air High's overflowing with cushy couches, lounge chairs, and graciously shady umbrellas, and delivers a nearly 360-degree view of the city, from muscle beach below, to Downtown, where some dude with a telescope's pissed you're not naked. For your boozing needs, they've got a full bar with creative, fresh-ingredient-loaded cocktails, including a Coconut Lime Rickey (Bacardi, lime juice, coconut syrup, and cream, served up), the Windward Ho (Bombay, lime juice, mint, ginger beer, on the rocks), and the Grey Goose/fresh lemonade/pomegranate/mint "Lifeguard's Lemonade", explaining Hasselhoff's problems with the sauce. For your stomach, they're serving tasty small plates & lunch-type stuff, including a tiger prawn cocktail w/ ancho chili sauce, pita & hummus, an Autostrada w/salami, cured meats, cheese, and red wine vinaigrette on a baguette, and "Oysters of the Day" (hopefully never coming: "Rocky Mountain Day").

In July, Erwin'll also open Hash, a tiny breakfast/lunch/dinner diner on the ground floor with dishes like a Kobe beef burger w/ aged white cheddar, slow-simmered balsamic red onions, and sour tomato jelly, and Morning Glory Hash w/ sweet potatoes, sausage, smoked bacon, and honey ham -- another encounter with pork Bernie Levin won't be able to handle.