October means something different depending on who you ask. For some people it’s the fall leaves and pumpkin spice. For others it’s spooky season and a time to get into the Halloween spirit. For a growing number of others, it’s 31 days without a drink.
Sober October traces back to 2010, when the Australian nonprofit Life Education launched “Ocsober” as an alcohol-free fundraiser. It picked up real momentum in 2014, when the UK charity Macmillan Cancer Support turned it into “Go Sober for October” — and since then it’s become less about any one charity and more of a general, no-pressure reset that people do just for themselves. It’s a chance to take a month to step away from drinking and everything that comes with it and just get back to being yourself.
It overlaps with something bigger: the Sober Curious movement, which is focused on questioning your relationship with alcohol without necessarily swearing it off for good. You don’t have to be doing Sober October, or identify as sober at all, to be sober curious. It just means paying attention to why, when, and how much you drink — and being open to a night out that doesn’t revolve around it. Drinking is so woven into American culture that most people never even think about life without it. The Sober Curious movement challenges you to see beyond what you know and try the possibility of life without it.
Wherever you land on that spectrum, the hardest part in LA usually isn’t the willpower. It’s finding somewhere to actually go. Most nightlife here is still built entirely around a bar. Beyond nightlife, it’s hard to even find a place to have a nice lunch, dinner, or just hang out without some form of alcohol present at any given time. That’s the gap Dry County exists to close.
A few places to start this month:
- Browse alcohol-free bars & bottle shops if you still want the bar experience, minus the alcohol
- Check out cafes & tea spots for something lower-key
- See what’s happening on alcohol-free events — including Early Birdz’s next Coffee Rave, Flight 013, at Pluto LA on October 4th
- Or look through everywhere we’ve verified across LA County — there’s a ton of fun spots out there if you’re just willing to give them a try!
Every listing is hand-checked — nothing served, nothing brought in — so wherever you end up, you know it’s actually alcohol-free, not just alcohol-optional.
Thirty-one days is a fine place to start. Where you go from there is up to you.