UP ALL NIGHT : The Time to Think Small

A young woman with jet-black hair, a nose ring and a pierced belly button (an inny with a ring through it) sits with friends at the bar at Small’s and discusses the merits of having a likeness of Bart Simpson holding a peace sign tattooed somewhere on her body.

She leans across the bar and says, “Hi,” to a friend and asks him, “Do I look like I’ve been here for a long time?”

“No,” he replies, “you just kind of act like it.”

It’s near 10 p.m. on a recent evening at Small’s, one of L.A.’s night-life way stations, a place to hang while going to or coming from another nighttime locale, or just a place to hang. It has the advantage of simplicity--it’s not a bar/nightclub, a bar/restaurant, a bar/performance art space, but just a bar. As in 21 or older to get in.

There’s vintage Beastie Boys on the CD player right now as the place starts to fill up, this being absurdly early still for the after-dark crowd.

Inside it’s somewhere between a dive and too nice. It’s comfortably stark enough with its long bar, dim lighting and casual assortment of booths and tables against brick walls. The outside is devoid of neon signs, catching only the residual blue light from the Astro Burger sign across the street.

Jon Sidel and Sean McPherson are your hosts, two amiable nightclub veterans who also own The Olive (a.k.a. Tiny’s), the mid-Wilshire dinner club with its own small bar that is experiencing peak hipness right about . . . now.

Small’s has survived for a little more than a year and a half, admirable longevity for L. A. nightspots. It’s still attracting its share of young, no-lines-in-their-faces celebs, such as Justine Bateman, Donovan Leitch and Deborah Foreman, who occasionally wander in for a beer. With no back room, no secret VIP hideaway, Small’s is the great equalizer.

Name: Small’s K.O., 5574 Melrose Ave., (213) 469-8258. Open 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. seven days a week.

Cover: None (must be 21 years old).

Doormen: Yes; some come with attitude, some don’t.

Price of a beer: About $2.