Send 2023 Out with a Bang at the Best New Year's Eve Parties in LA

Welcome 2024 with a wild dance party, a tasting menu, or knocking back good beer on a chill patio.

party under disco balls at Sunset at EDITION in west hollywood
Photo by Loamis Rodriguez, courtesy of Sunset at EDITION
Photo by Loamis Rodriguez, courtesy of Sunset at EDITION

New Year’s Eve is a weird holiday—everyone wants to do something but no one knows exactly what, and the built-in expectations are so sky-high that they’re tough to meet and almost impossible to exceed. Not to mention that LA is so spread out that when you and your friends all blast out a barrage of “Where the party at?” texts you’ll end up spending more time chasing vibes around town than actually at the function. So this year, you might be better off skipping all that nonsense in favor of a New Year’s Eve party at one of the city’s best restaurants, bars, or venues.

Whether you’re a cutting-edge tasting menu dinner kind of celebrant, an elegantly debauched dance party type, in your family-friendly early-to-bed era, or you just want to kick back on a patio and crush some good beer, there’s a New Year’s Eve event for you. Here are ten of the best New Year’s Eve parties in LA this year:

New Year's Eve Parties in LA

West Hollywood, $125 and up
The wild, long-running, eternally stylish dance party A Club Called Rhonda is taking over Sunset at EDITION in West Hollywood this New Year’s Eve for a night of upscale chaos and respectfully messy dance floor debauchery. Past editions of A Club Called Rhonda have featured some of the best electronic musicians and DJs in the world, so the fact that they’re leaving the lineup a surprise is an enticing proposition. The dress code is cocktail attire, but you had best be prepared for it to end up in tatters by the time we hit 2024.

aerialist in a hoop at Mr. Wanderlust at Level 8 in downtown la
Photo by Michael Kleinberg, courtesy of Level 8

Downtown, $100 and up
We appear to be entering a new era of excess, and if you want to end 2023 and begin 2024 with that in mind, Level 8 is the place to be. The multifaceted new space at the Moxy Hotel is throwing a rager across all eight concepts, from restaurants and bars to clubs and lounges, and your ticket grants you four hours of open bar from 8 pm to midnight, passed apps, a midnight countdown with a champagne toast, and special surprise party favors. There will be performances by a wide range of artists, including aerialists, dancers, DJs, luchadores, live bands, magicians, burlesque performers, and more. If you’re ready to go particularly big, you can get a table reservation for groups of six–ten people to get situated at various special locations around the venue.

West Hollywood, $25
There will be endless fun in West Hollywood on New Year’s Eve, and every bar in the very dense stretch of town is up to some sort of revelry. At the laid-back, event-focused Stache, Eden LA has the run of things for the night, a party for queer womxn and friends that will include live music, burlesque, and a special surprise spectacle at midnight. It’s set to be the largest party for queer womxn in LA, and it’s sure to be a wild good time.

toasting cocktails under twinkling lights by a cactus at LA cha cha cha in the arts district
Photo by Adrian Martin, courtesy of LA Cha Cha Chá

Arts District, $50
If you’re looking for a party that has it all, the vibey arts district restaurant LA Cha Cha Chá is a great bet. If you want to kick back, enjoy a complimentary cocktail, get a tarot reading, and snack on passed trays of modern Mexican appetizers like tamales and aguachile shooters from their excellent kitchen, you can keep it low-key and get plenty full on the lovely rooftop patio. Or if you’d rather party a little harder, there will be a DJ, great drinks, and the crowd is always impressively stylish and fun.

Downtown, $130 and up
If a music festival is more your speed, Forever Midnight is taking over the Convention Center downtown for two massive days of electronic music. The event runs from 4pm–2am on both Saturday the 30th and Sunday the 31st, so you can end your year with 20 hours of nonstop thumping bass. Headliners include Jamie XX, Kaskade, Kaytranada, and more, and there will, of course, be plenty of craft cocktails on offer specifically designed for the night.

private table at meteora on melrose in LA
Photo by Irina Logra, courtesy of Meteora

New Year's Eve Dinners in LA

Melrose, $165
Celebrate this New Year’s Eve by transporting yourself to Meteora, Chef Jordan Kahn’s stunning and otherworldly restaurant that feels like eating dinner on the planet Vesta. The menu is characteristically wild, a six-course stroll through Kahn’s fantastic imagination that includes a dish of Pacific Moonfish with red papaya, macadamia nut milk, and habanero, a Risotto of Job’s Tears with smoked onion and macambo, and lots of luxurious supplements. The drinks are well worth your attention too, both the fun and interesting wine list and the unique cocktail list with ingredients like douglas fir, grilled blackberry, purple corn, and more.

Santa Monica, $110
Chef Bryant Ng is taking his brilliant Southeast Asia-inspired restaurant in a different direction for New Year’s Eve, showcasing the ingenuity and resilience of the Vietnamese immigrant community in New Orleans. The merging of Southeast Asian, French, and Louisiana cuisines is a beautiful thing, and the family-style meal includes dishes like a Muffuletta-style Turnip Cake with cured meats, provolone, and giardiniera, a Spicy Crawfish Étouffée, and vegetarian “Dirty” Fried Rice with walnut pate, salted duck egg, shiitake mushrooms, and peanuts.

interior of Pasjoli in Santa Monica
Photo by Wonho Frank Lee, courtesy of Pasjoli

Santa Monica, $95 and up
For an elegant close to 2023, the refined modern French restaurant from celebrated chef Dave Beran is offering several luxurious options. There will be two seatings for a full dinner, one early seating if you’d like to eat well before heading elsewhere, and a later seating with a couple extra courses and a champagne toast if you’d like to be there into the new year. Both options feature elegant dishes like a Caviar Amuse, Gnocchi Parisienne, and Prime Rib. But if you’re on more of a liquid-forward diet to end 2023, they’re also offering two seatings of a cocktail tasting menu at the bar. That will feature three cocktails, a set of snacks like onion éclairs and deviled eggs, and a champagne toast at midnight.

new years eve party at discovery cube in sylmar
Photo courtesy of Discovery Cube

Low-Key Things to Do on New Year's Eve in LA

Sylmar, $5 and up
Maybe it’s aging, maybe it’s parenthood, or maybe it’s just the general state of the world but somehow, every year midnight gets a little later. For folks with little ones at home and/or the early to bed crowd, there’s still a great way to celebrate the end of 2023. The Discovery Cube is hosting Noon Year’s Eve, a family-friendly New Year's Eve celebration with balloon drops at noon and again at 3 pm, apple cider and ginger ale toasts, a dance floor with a DJ, sparklers, and more. Your ticket also includes admission to the museum proper, so you can explore before, during, or after all of the other New Year's-specific activities.

Want more Thrillist? Follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and YouTube.

Ben Mesirow is Thrillist's LA Staff Writer, and an Echo Park native who writes TV, fiction, food, and sports. At one time or another, his writing has appeared in The LA Times, Litro, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Los Angeles Magazine, and scratched into dozens of desks at Walter Reed Middle School.