Saturday at the Circus

It’s the line that first draws your attention at Circus: That on a Saturday night, a club could have a line that forms at 7 p.m., a snake of people that will be 50, 100, 150 feet long at times and won’t dissolve until well after midnight. “When it comes to Saturday,” says owner Gene La Pietra, “We are the Latin club. We don’t just have the business. We have all the business.”

Though he might exaggerate a bit, the line at the Hollywood club does speak for itself. Whether through tradition, door policy, music selection, or just smart management after 16 years in business--the equivalent of being more than 80 in club years--Saturday night at Circus is a phenomenon. “This is a place my older brother used to come to,” said Michelle Mariz, 22, of Maywood. Says her friend, Roxsanne Weil, 22, of Bellflower: “We know if we come here we’ll dance all night.” “Here” is in a 22,000-square-foot building hidden from view on Santa Monica Boulevard that could be a warehouse for disco memorabilia. Police lights, empty go-go dancer cages, TV screens playing cartoons, disco balls and Japanese lanterns all hang from black walls.

Though some of the memorabilia is passe, the music isn’t. La Pietra says his deejays play the cutting edge of hip-hop. “If it’s on the radio,” he says, “it’s not being played here. My philosophy is, why would you come here if you could hear the same music in a car or an elevator?” This is not elevator music. A hard-driving beat keeps two dance floors filled. The smaller floor is for those favoring a 1970s Donna Summers/Rick James style of music; the larger one moves to hip-hop. “This is a real dancing club,” says Michelle Ysais, 24, of the San Gabriel Valley, “At other clubs people just stand around trying to look good.”

Most Circus patrons come from the suburbs--as far away as Palmdale. Some come because they know their friends are here; others come just because it’s far from home. “I don’t want to see the same guys I went to school with,” says Ysais. “I had to stare at them for 12 years.”

There are additional enticements: On a large patio, free hamburgers are cooked over a charcoal grill. And there’s no charge to enter before 9:30 p.m. “You go out three nights a week and the money starts to add up,” says Al Gonzalez, 24, of Downey.

“We’re renting dancing space,” La Pietra says. “Everything else is secondary. People come here to dance.”

And to stand in line.

Name: Circus.

Where: 6655 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood, (213) 462-1291.

When: 9 p.m. (8 p.m. on Saturdays) to 2 a.m., Tuesday through Sunday.

Cover: $10. Free, 8 to 9:30 p.m. Saturdays.

Prices: Beer, $2.50; drinks, $3.50.

Door policy: Must be 21 or older. No dress code; no frisk, just visual security.