Barfly: Carbon

Have you ever heard the expression "you can never have too little of a good thing"? No, you haven't, because no one says that. So at a bar, where you expect to meet and mingle with a plethora of strangers it's called socializing, I believe the last thing you want to find is no motherfucking strangers. As much as we all hate parking in LA, a vacant lot is never a good sign. And so I was admittedly apprehensive when I walked down the long, red-luminated hallway into a bar that had exactly two people in it.

But Carbon, Culver City's most secret weekday getaway, was a grow-er, not a show-er.Carbon has more parking, more empty space, and more red lights than any bar I've ever seen even the TV screens are red. It also has less music, fewer people, and no real.

Thankfully, it also lacks a cover, wait times, and expensive drinks.The bar's happy hour-and-a-half lasts from 8:30 till 10, and features $3 wells and beers. Read that again:Three.Dollar.Drinks. That's good news. The better news is that after happy hour, the beers only go up to five bucks and the wells only jump to six.Not twelve. Not eight. Just six.

The news is that when happy hour ends, the Monday night football games are replaced with live DJs (in this case, Dam Funk).

"This is literally our best night of the week," warns Alabama Kim, who's got a Southern-enough charm and a heavy-enough hand to pretty much keep the bar afloat all by her purty little lonesome.

For the full effect, read the following in your best Dixie accent: "I like to bring in my peeps. It's all locals and regulars commin' in for happy hour. After Monday night football, we get slammed.By elevenish Packed. After midnight? Forget about it. And they are Not stripper dancing good dancing. Like, iPod commercial dancing."

If you're looking for super-sized satisfaction on a weekday, Carbon has parking spaces galore just get there before ten. Drink some cheap booze. Enjoy the game. Let Alabama Kim sweet talk you into more shots than you should possibly drink on a school day (even though she admits, "We love college students especially during those midterms!").

Most of all, meet some strangers, cause when the floodgates open around 10 p.m., if you don't have someone to dance with, then brother, you've got too little of a good thing.