The best (non-happy hour) drink special in Weho

Getting drinks on a Saturday night in Los Angeles can be expensive., especially if you're looking to get a decent amount of alcohol in your system. At the trendy joints in Hollywood or DTLA a dose of "mixology"" containing an array of different fruit juices, spices and only a measly bit of tequila can run well over 15 dollars.

If you are out on Santa Monica Blvd. in West Hollywood however and see a vintage yellow or green trolley bus, hail it down (as I always do). The free municipal shuttle service (which runs from La Brea to Doheny) offers a shiny promotional card that includes three bargain drink deals.

Those on a tight shoestring can nick a generous "shot" of well whiskey or vodka at Fubar for just a dollar: the juice can certainly get you buzzed but is hardly better than the store-brand handles you once chugged at Tau Delta Frat parties.

 You get a far better bargain, in my view, with the half-price drink deals at Harlowe and the Formosa Cafe.

At the former bar, this means you can choose from a list of properly garnished craft cocktails curated by New York bartender Dushan Zaric, for a price range of 6 to 8 dollars, sans happy hour (Harlowe does an especially good job at classic whiskey drinks, like the Old Fashioned and Sazerac).

At the latter, you can enjoy one from a selection of surprisingly stiff classic cocktails, and a few tiki style drinks (in keeping with the bar's kitschy East Asian theme), for only $5.50 (11$ regular price). Formosa's Singapore Sling contains enough of the good stuff to knock you out for the night, if you are really looking to save.

For a discount pub crawl, hit up both Harlowe and Formosa or even add Fubar to the mix. You can down three cocktails for the price of one if you want to go crazy (though beware of consuming anything with the Singapore Sling) or alternate between a shot (at Fubar), cocktail (at Harlowe) and beer (Formosa has a great craft beer selection)--with similar savings--if you just want to relax.

As you use up discounts, the question will dawn: "where next?"

If you're visiting from out of town want to party big with the "industry" crowd (as well as the random D-List celebrity), you're within a mile of the Hollywood club scene. Harlowe does get some of the Hollywood club type later in the night as well--if you don't want to travel.

If you've had your share of alcohol and want to go crazy without the bombast (as I prefer), the New Orleans dance hall set-up at Sassafras (with its following of laid-back twenty-somethings) and the alt-rock performances at Harvard and Stone are each less than a 5-dollar uber journey away.

Finally, if you just had one mule at Formosa Cafe and are simply looking to relax, have some deep thoughts or engage in intimate conversation (potentially with someone of the opposite sex), a twenty-minute ride on the eastbound 4 bus (which stops at the corner of Santa Monica and Formosa) will take you to Silver Lake's cozy 4100 Bar, once cited by LA Weekly as one of the best bars for "hooking up".

Regardless of what you do, you've saved a lot on booze. The night is young, and in your pocketbook (and not that of some celebrity bar-owner).