Keeping it real amid Melrose artificiality

Opened in 1991, when its style and moniker presumably made more sense, the Snake Pit now sits on a stretch of Melrose Avenue in which each block, each denizen, pledges its allegiance to one pop icon or another: Von Dutch, retro-’80s or Asian glam, and other flavors of the month.

But with its pool-hall ambience, exposed brick, food that tastes great after two beers and nondescript mix of collegiate types, western shirts and metalheads, this place is ... what?

Do you still define yourself by the bars you attend? If so, avoid the Snake Pit. Unless your pop culture radar is finely honed, you won’t be able to figure out what this place is really about. It ain’t fancy, but it’s not quite dirty or cool enough to be a dive bar. It has big screens showing the day’s games with the sound off, but the beer selection is a bit too artsy, too full of Brit and microbrew options, to make it a sports bar. It’s got a Ms. Pac-Man machine by the door, but it’s not retro. The Smiths are on the jukebox, but it’s not indie or Anglophile: They’re sharing space with Rush, Metallica and Foreigner’s “Cold as Ice.”

Barry Manilow’s “Mandy” even makes the occasional appearance.

This is, mostly, a good place to get a beer. Not a bad option when drafts include Stella Artois, Shiner Bock, Red Hook, Guinness, Boddingtons and many others. It’s a friendly place with a decent happy hour and a good, not great, range of liquors.

The surrounding neighborhood, of course, is defined by the model-magnet Erewhon and its obscure vegetable extractions, many sleek mid-century modern furniture stores, the ironic Jewish cool of Canter’s on Fairfax, and Beverly Boulevard’s muted and tasteful restaurant row. In part because of residents’ efforts to keep the area from turning into Sunset adjacent, the number of bars is surprisingly low. Those that are here are pricey.

The Snake Pit, by contrast, could sit outside Dubuque.

The bar talk on a recent night, when happy hour allowed some domestic beers for $2, was about the religious commitments and sexuality of Tom Cruise -- just as it surely is all over the country. The Doors’ “Love Me Two Times” blasted on the jukebox and a guy in shades and dyed black hair sat in a corner nursing a bottle. Preppy twentysomethings flirted after work.

In a nutshell: If you are still trying to pick women up at bars, the Snake Pit would be far from my first choice. The women down the street at the Authentic Cafe, for instance, are much more stylish and knowing.

But as Los Angeles has gotten more and more niched, more and more design-driven and upscale -- as the city’s middle class gets forced out -- it’s a throwback to a less self-conscious L.A.: A bar in the middle of town content to play it straight down the middle.

Scott Timberg can be reached at weekend@latimes.com.

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The Snake Pit

Where: 7529 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles

When: 11:30 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily

Info: (323) 653-2011