What else is there to say about the Merc Bar? It's an old standard. I have been coming here for years... at one time it was the only answer to "I'm in a lounge kind of mood". There are definitely more options in the bar category these days, but that won't stop me from coming from the Merc. It doesn't hurt that it is close to where I live... and it is so pleasantly dark. Not just dimly lit. Dark. And randomly located. As you walk out of the parking garage through a swarm of high schoolers headed to the Harkins, you have that moment of WTF? And then you enter the Merc. I quite enjoy the contrast. Plus, a doorman there once paid me a really nice compliment. Ever since, I get warm fuzzies walking through the front door of Merc. Ah, the power of positive associations.