Thank you, Bettie Page

I love Lucy’s. And apparently so does everyone else.

The new lounge and restaurant at the former Money Tree, an old Rat Pack haunt in Toluca Lake, is a bona-fide hit in an area that’s still trying to wrap its head around nightlife.

Aside from some hopping restaurants and a smattering of bars, Valley nightlife is fielding mostly misses, but Lucy’s 51 figured out what locals want: A swanky spot that’s welcoming, adult and a touch whimsical -- kind of like the Valley itself.

“It was a necessity,” says Tammy Talbot, a stylist who frequents the 5-month-old venue. “It’s very representative of the people who live here -- young and hip, who go to Hollywood and the Westside. It’s just really nice for us to have a local spot now, and it’s got a great history.”

That history caught the attention of owner Richard DiSisto and manager Paul “Rican” Garces. “This was New York away from New York,” says Garces, who grew up in the Big Apple. “It was incorporated in 1951 as the Money Tree, and it became a famous jazz club that Marilyn Monroe and Frank Sinatra hung out at.”

When it came up for sale last year, the Money Tree’s Italian owner bonded with DiSisto, and DiSisto scored the property. A similar bond brought Garces and DiSisto together -- each time they’d run into each other at local cafes, they were decked out in New York Yankees gear. They connected over baseball and became friends. Their goal with Lucy’s 51 was to celebrate the past with an East Coast/West Coast flair.

“We wanted it to feel something like, if Bettie Page came to Toluca Lake, how would she design it?” Garces says. “So we went with romantic, retro, naughty and fun.”

The fun starts before you even enter, as a giant ringside pinup in boxing gloves hovers above the club’s entrance.

Once inside, you’ll see gold frog statues hopping on the ceiling (an Italian symbol of luck), with dozens of 1957 Cadillac taillights illuminating the venue. The booths are covered with leopard fur and the color scheme is red, red and more red. The men’s room is adorned with a parking meter and a vintage handrail that came off a New York subway. (The women’s room used to have multiple Bettie Page photos, but they couldn’t keep them nailed down.)

“It’s got a Hollywood crowd, without a Hollywood scene,” says Richard Blue, hanging out at the bar on a recent Saturday. “The women are great, the music volume is good for having conversations and the place just has a lot of style.”

Even though the owners are not targeting Hollywood A-listers, they seem to find their way to Lucy’s anyway. Among the club’s recent patrons were Kirsten Dunst, Laurence Fishburne, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Scott Weiland and Andy Garcia.

The name, says Garces, is a homage to the 1950s and the 51 custom martinis on the menu. Among the most popular is the “Freakin’ Rican,” a mojito-style martini that pays tribute to Garces’ Puerto Rican heritage.

“I’ve worked nightclubs, dive bars and restaurants, and nothing compares to Lucy’s,” says Nikki Popkow, a cocktail server who’s been with the lounge from the get-go. “No one’s in a bad mood, the atmosphere and the energy is really good, and we get a high concentration of locals, so I feel like I know everyone.”

Ultimately, says Garces, he’s grateful their first venture worked out all right.

“People in this business go for the home run all the time,” he says. “They gotta go for the hit. We went for the hit.”

Spoken like a true Yankee.

weekend@latimes.com

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Lucy’s 51

Where: 10149 Riverside Drive, Toluca Lake

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

Info: (818) 763-5200; 21 and older, no cover

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A neighbor:

Right next door to Lucy’s 51 is the new wine bar Eight-18, another place that gets packed in Toluca Lake. But how’s the food? Page 50