Throughout the years they’ve become part of the fabric of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festivals as people search for clues and passwords online and then look for suspicious doors that seem out of place, long lines in unusual places or hidden signs throughout the venue as they try to find the festival’s various hidden bars and speakeasies.
A festival goer walks out of Sonny’s, a hidden bar, at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on Friday, April 19, 2024. The hidden bars are returning again this year with three planned so far. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Contributing Photographer)
The hidden bar hunt returns this year with at least three new spots to look for, and there may be some surprises that will make the hunt for these places more challenging than ever.
“Just because something exists on weekend one doesn’t mean it’s going to exist on weekend two. You might even find something new pop-up on one of the weekends. I’m trying to keep the patrons on their toes this year,” said Adrian Garcia, the food and beverage director for Goldenvoice Festivals, who puts together the hidden speakeasy bars.
Loren Murray, of Thousand Oaks, left, and Joseph Montoya, of Eastvale, hang out in PDT Tropicale, a hidden bar, at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on Friday, April 19, 2024. The hidden bars are returning this year with three planned so far. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Contributing Photographer)
The bars this year include Golden Hour, which will be a Parisian-inspired speakeasy.
“It’ll be one of those experiences that take people away from Coachella for a minute and brings them into a different experience for a moment,” Garcia said. Here people can expect drinks like spritzes, wines and other fancy cocktails.
Another planned bar is Mixteca, which Garcia said would be “an Agave oasis” with a food component that will give people a clue to its location.
“Just keep an eye out for some delicious tacos,” he said.
The third bar is the Tiki Bar, which could be the most hidden bar of them all.
“That’ll be a fun location. I always try to show people something they’ve never seen before on the ground and the Tiki Bar will be one of those locations that people never got to access on site before,” Garcia said.
While he’s not giving away their exact locations Garcia’s advice for the bar hunters is to do their homework and go online, especially on sites like Reddit where the hidden bars are a hot topic.
“Everyone likes to find something that others haven’t seen. They like to be the first one to post something, to be the ones to show your friends something else you found,” he said.
