From the Circus to the Arena, Club Owner Makes Everyone Welcome

The night is still very early, but young club-goers are already drifting into the dance music bombast that is Arena. They shuffle in, brushing past the lobby’s gray limestone floor, marble walls and scattered artworks. They’re also shuffling past owner Gene LaPietra, smiling there in his black leather jacket, perhaps still marveling at the scale of his newest Hollywood nighttime establishment.

It’s Friday night, and LaPietra is in his element. In Arena’s first six months, the massive 22,000-square-foot club already has become a regular stop for local dance enthusiasts, while also hosting giant premiere parties for such films as Adrian Lyne’s “Jacob’s Ladder” and David Lynch’s “Wild at Heart.” One recent weekend, pop star Madonna even made an unexpected appearance.

Keeping this sort of company wasn’t always a possibility for the club owner and his longtime friend and partner, Ed Lemos. Back in the heyday of 1970s disco, LaPietra and his buddies were much like anyone else who worked during the week, waiting for the city’s weekend night life to relax and enjoy themselves. But at the dance clubs of the day, there was one recurring, distasteful element that always seemed to spoil their evenings.

“We had experienced forms of discrimination,” said LaPietra, 42. “Ed was Latin, and we would go to various clubs and were denied admission. At other places, he was required to show three pieces of ID, while I was required to show no ID. And he was two years older than me.”

One night, LaPietra, Lemos and five other friends were out celebrating a birthday when they arrived at a popular disco. None of the white friends was asked for any identification, but Lemos was asked for his, and the man at the door intimated strongly that the black member of the group was not getting in at all.

Then in his mid-20s, LaPietra was so outraged that he promised his friends that night they would soon open their own nightclub, allowing anyone in who was just looking for a good time. Taking their credit cards to their absolute limits, Lemos and LaPietra opened a club called Circus in a large building behind the Union Ice building on Santa Monica Boulevard. The partners repainted the walls and did much of the other needed work on the building. On opening night, LaPietra worked as the doorman, while Lemos did the busboy duties.

Circus has been a steady success since it opened 15 years ago, with 4.5 million people walking through its doors so far, LaPietra said. “In the nightclub business, that’s about 13 years longer than most,” he said. “We had a novelty, which nobody else was doing: allowing everyone to come in. That just was not heard of in 1975.”

After Union Ice decided to close its Hollywood branch in 1985, LaPietra and Lemos bought the huge freezer building on the boulevard. At first, the partners were most interested in the additional parking their club would have on the adjacent property. And plans were to lease the towering rectangular freezer to someone else.

When no one was interested in renting the monolithic structure, the Circus owners decided to open another club, promising themselves to use everything they had learned in their near-dozen years of business. By June, Arena was the result.

The old building was completely refurbished, with a grand new entrance placed below a 50-foot-high glass atrium of LaPietra’s own design. Inside, just past a wall of video screens, is the wide, wooden dance floor and a long ramp leading gradually to the second floor. On each level are a collection of full-service bars and a variety of colorful, submarine-shaped furniture.

Dinner is included with the price of admission, which can range from less than $10 to more than $20, depending on the night’s entertainment. Dancers can rest and eat at tables lining the second floor, below a row of porthole windows. A glass-walled room nearby allows people to escape the pounding dance rhythms, while still viewing the bustling dance floor.

But perhaps most important to LaPietra is the continuation of the open admission policy he first established years ago for Circus with partner Lemos, who died of a heart attack in September. This at a time when some other local clubs are now the subject of lawsuits brought by would-be customers stopped at the door.

With the opening of Arena right next to Circus, LaPietra said he’s now running a total of about 50,000 square feet of entertainment space on a single city block. But he said he is unconcerned that operating adjacent discos would dilute his clientele, while raising his expenses. He gets around some of that by focusing the clubs on different types of crowds on different nights.

While Friday and Saturday at the Arena cater mainly to a straight dance crowd, Sunday is intended for gay customers. Meanwhile at Circus, Sunday offers live rock ‘n’ roll.

At Arena on Fridays, from 7 to 10 p.m., is the “Singers” showcase. Featuring live rhythm-and-blues and gospel, the weekly show has featured such noted vocalists as Evelyn (Champagne) King, said Sean Hollingsworth, who books the program.

“Most of the singers are background session singers,” Hollingsworth said. “They’re the people you hear in the background on hit records. It’s like a jam session for professional singers.”

It’s part of LaPietra’s strategy for attracting customers for a variety of reasons. “People don’t go out as often as they used to,” he said. “Times are a little tougher and they’re more cautious with their entertainment dollars. So you’re not going to get the same people every single night.”

Marina Bilic, a Sherman Oaks leasing agent, has been coming to Circus for the past 10 years. But she has since switched her allegiance to the newer Arena. “I love this place,” she said, walking up the staircase into the club. “This is the best version of what Circus used to be. What that was, this is 10 times more.”

For William Wazmajian, who grew up in the Hollywood neighborhood next to the two clubs, getting inside was a long time coming. Not until he turned 21 in August was he allowed to see what was going on inside. “I always tried to get in, but they would never let me.”

LaPietra spends most of his nights at Circus. It’s home to him, as it has been since it opened. It was the final destination of a Providence, R.I.,-born youngster who left home to hitchhike across the country to Los Angeles.

“I enjoy it. You know, there really is nothing else for me to do in my life. This is it. I don’t enjoy watching sports on television. I wouldn’t know what to do with myself if I had to sit at home at night. Watch TV and drink beer? I’d rather be here. It keeps you young.”

Arena, 6655 Santa Monica Blvd. in Hollywood, is open 9 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. Fridays through Sundays. Valet parking. Admission varies depending on entertainment. Call ahead for the night’s entertainment and admission price, (213) 962-4485.