There’s a certain elegance and sophistication to rooftop bars and restaurants captured in the American imagination.

I think about actors Scarlett Johansson and Bill Murray sipping whiskey and vodka tonics and swapping stories of marital struggle in Tokyo in the 2003 film “Lost in Translation,” a role that vaulted the former to stardom.

There’s also actor Jeremy Irons calmly carving a steak, drinking red wine and discussing the nature of financial collapses, including the one underway in the 2011 film “Margin Call,” to Kevin Spacey from a New York high-rise.

Personally, I used to dream about sipping a cocktail at LAX’s Encounter, the Jetsons-esque circular window-laden establishment at the heart of the airport, before it closed in 2013.

Whether you’re looking for romance, refinement or fun, my colleague Danielle Dorsey created a list of seven locales worth visiting from Long Beach and downtown L.A. to Pasadena.

Here are a few of her selections and thoughts from her full list.

(Danielle Dorsey / Los Angeles Times)

When one door closes, a window opens.

While famed West Hollywood rooftop E.P. and L.P. recently shut its doors for good, on the other side of La Cienega, a second-story terrace destination is now welcoming diners onto its sprawling indoor-outdoor patio with swaying string lights, climbing ivy and sunset views.

The menu at Blondie is the kind that you can spend hours working your way through — starting with French onion dip and lemon-pepper-coated Marcona almonds, followed by prawn toast and fried baby artichokes, and finishing with a flame-kissed spicy mezcal pasta or burger with sinus-clearing horseradish onions.

Oh, and don’t forget the eponymous Blondie bar that’s sticky with caramel and topped with a thick layer of vanilla cream. Hoping to stand out among West Hollywood’s fine dining restaurants, the relaxed rooftop prices its cocktails between $14 and $16, and bottles of natural wine are just $55 each, with wine by the glass for $15.

Look for live DJs on the weekends as the brand-new bar hits its groove.

(Brandon Barre Photography/Fairmont Breakers Long Beach)

Just blocks from the beach on the 14th floor of the Fairmont Breakers hotel is Halo, the highest rooftop in Long Beach, with jade tiles, arched entryways and vibrant, jungle-inspired wallpaper on the interior and a sun-drenched, glass-walled terrace with views of the nearby harbor.

The cocktail menu is short and sweet with playful renditions of classic drinks, like mezcal and banana bread old-fashioneds and a pisco sour garnished with Luxardo cherries.

If you get hungry, you can head to Nettuno on the lobby floor for seafood-driven Italian dishes, or make a reservation for the Sky Room, a historic fine-dining restaurant just one floor down from the rooftop that first opened in 1938.

(Osa Rooftop)

Pasadena’s only rooftop restaurant on the sixth floor of the AC Hotel, with sweeping views of Old Town and the San Gabriel Mountains, is Osa Rooftop.

Sushi by Scratch and Rokusho vet Carlos Couts heads a global menu that spotlights local ingredients, including charred strawberry gazpacho with goat cheese mousse, chorizo- and queso Oaxaca-stuffed arancini and grilled swordfish served over creamy Brentwood yellow corn, with gelato for dessert.

Cocktails take similar inspiration, including a cucumber vesper with California and French vermouths and Drop the Beet, a tart, garden-forward tequila drink with beets, raspberry and lime.

An olive tree with wraparound seating anchors the patio, while an interior bar with hanging plants offers TVs that screen live sports.

(Danielle Dorsey / Los Angeles Times)

Taking over a section of the former Cabra space on the 10th-floor rooftop of the Hoxton hotel in downtown L.A. is this Mediterranean-inflected lounge with comfortable seating and high-rise views.

The compact dinner menu features crowd-pleasing items such as grilled prawns doused in a harissa butter sauce, sumac wings sticky with Aleppo honey and steak frites with roasted garlic yogurt, while drinks take a light, refreshing approach, including the Sultan’s Emerald, a gin cocktail that glows gem green with kiwi puree, Persian cucumber and dill.

Here is the full list of bars and restaurants.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

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(Illustrations by Lindsey Made This; photograph by Rebecca Sapp / Getty Images for The Recording Academy)

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