The year in L.A. bars: 2008 openings

If you're like me, you're a creature of bar habit. When you feel like going out for a drink, you go to the same place. You probably even sit on the same stool and order the same drink (I'm not telling you mine -- it's too boring).

If you want to shake things up a bit (I know I do), you might be interested in this very cool photo gallery by The Guide's bars-and-clubs impresario, Charlie Amter. The man is a bloodhound when it comes to sniffing out new places to drink, and he's put together a roundup of the most exciting bar openings of 2008 -- just in time to help you shed the tedium of your predictable last-year ways.

--Jessica Gelt