[Drazen]

I agree, Santa Monica would be your best bet. Stay as close to the 3rd Street Promenade as you can afford. From there you can go to bars/lounges in SM/Venice, take the Metro Rail to Downtown LA pretty easily as well which also have some casual bars. Aussies tend to do really well in Hermosa Beach, but its kind of further away from anything else. If you are there for a while, its probably worth an uber over there on a Thursday night.