I thought it might be helpful for me to post information about the Open Mic venues about which I know in the Los Angeles area. For those of you in other counties, states, etc. if you have information about Open Mic venues in your area (or even LA venues I haven’t listed) please email me the info to post or simply share the info in a comment below!
*If the venue has a website, I have attached the link to the venue’s name.
The three venues I frequent are:
Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural
Open Mic: Every Friday, 8-10pm
Format: Sign-up; each person gets 2 pieces or 6min
Donations appreciated; no one turned away for lack of funds
Located at: 13197-A Gladstone Ave. | Sylmar, CA 91342 | Phone: 818.528.4511
Host: Nery Boche
Corazon del Pueblo (on Facebook)
Open Mic: 2nd & 4th Wednesdays, 8pm-12am
Format: Sign-up @ 7:45pm; each person gets 1 piece or 3min
$2.00 Donation appreciated; no one turned away for lack of funds
Located at: 2003 E. 1st Street | Los Angeles (Boyle Heights), CA 90033
Hosts: Busstop Prophet, et al.; Dj: Leon
A Mic & Dim Lights (on Myspace)
Open Mic: Every Thursday, 9:30p-11:30p
Format: Sign-up; each person gets 1piece
$3.00 at the door
Located at: 300 W. 2nd St. | Pomona (Arts Colony), CA 91766
Host: BessKepp; Dj: JB
Other venues I have yet to check out but hear are still pretty fresh:
Urban Culture
Open Mic: 1st & 3rd Mondays, 8pm
Located at: 370 S Thomas St. | Pomona, CA 91766
Da Poetry Lounge
Open Mic: Every Tuesday, 9:00pm – Midnight
Format: Sign-up–EARLY ARRIVAL IS A MUST; sign-up starts @ 7p
Located at: GreenWay Court Theater | 544 N. Fairfax Blvd. | Los Angeles, Ca 90036
Natural High
Open Mic: Every Tuesday, 9pm
Located at: 6039 Washington blvd. | Culver City, CA
Lionlike Mindstate
Open Mic: 1st & 3rd Wednesdays, 9pm
Located at: 5540 Schaefer Ave. | Chino, CA
Mozaic Venice
Open Mic: 3rd Fridays, 7pm
Located at: 1411 Lincoln Blvd. | Venice, CA
Host: Matt Sedillo
…a few minutes later…
Update #1:
I just found a cool website that seems to be a collection of Open Mic venues around the US & Canada, check it out! It’s pretty sweet; I just looked up California and it displays a calendar listing various cities and their venues. A co-worker and I could’ve used this site when we were in Sacramento on a work-related trip to facilitate our search for an Open Mic away from home; delightfully, we were able to find one anyway and had an amazing evening at the Mahogany Urban Poetry Series 
Update #2:
Another great resource for California residents is Poetry Flash; a collection of venues, publishers, workshops, author readings, contests, and so much more!
