Seductive Crimsin is designed for intimacy

IT’S not the spelling that seduces you at the new San Pedro lounge Crimsin, it’s the hue.

In a dreamy vermilion haze accented with tabletop votive candles and accent lights, Crimsin’s patrons make themselves comfortable on ultra-suede high-backed couches, opposite-facing love seats separated by beaded curtains and glossy little tables that are obviously intended to accommodate twosomes and discourage large groups.

The 10-foot-high liquor cabinet next to the sleek bar waits to fill up with name-tagged, key-locked bottles from Crimsin’s rapidly growing regular clientele. The smallish dance floor in back permits people to experiment with moves that are too intricate, too experimental or too downright silly to ever showcase in a Westside club.

Not to be confused with flashy Hollywood celebri-lite magnet Crimson, this South Bay newcomer is inviting, low-key and as suggestive as a first kiss. It woos not with glitz and half-nude bar girls, but with Impressionist art, distinctive mood lighting and respect for the patrons’ privacy.

“There are lots of dive bars and drinking bars in San Pedro, but nowhere you could go on a date,” owner Tino Khvang says.

Having lived in the port city for 11 years and frequented the space’s previous incarnation Tommy’s, Khvang jumped at the chance to reinvent it for his crowd.

“I think there are a lot of classy people in San Pedro, and there should be a place they can go have fun,” he explains. “It’s a place where my wife and I could go for a date, an after-dinner cocktail, a place to dance.”

Yes, he acknowledges, “I built this bar for women.”

A glimpse at the cocktail menu is telling: You can’t really imagine the average San Pedro cargo man coming in for a Three Olives Cherry Cosmo (Three Olives cherry vodka, Grand Marnier, cranberry juice and lime) or a Crimsin Kiss (Three Olives cherry vodka, amaretto, Razzmatazz, cream).

However, it’s possible they might enjoy the all-night shot specials – every hour offers a different, 10-minute $3 shot special, with choices like “Greed” (vodka, Malibu, Midori, cranberry, 7-Up) and, most appropriately for Valentine’s Day, “Lust” (Malibu, watermelon, apple, 7-Up).

Crimsin’s beyond-reasonable drink pricing – $9 specialty cocktails, Coppola Director’s Cut by the glass, a wine list that’s mostly under $40 a bottle – spans all gender bridges.

And its VIP bottle club (buy a bottle and they’ll save it for you and offer a permanent front-of-line pass and table reservation) indicate that this lounge intends to remain a local favorite long after the first blush.