How to Follow a Club Called Fetish
Sin-a-matic is the latest offshoot of the club Fetish, as well as that Sunday-night Silver Lake club with the four-letter name. It caters to much the same crowd--the young, the underground, the gay, the straight. . . .
To everyone, apparently, except the trend-sniffers at MTV. A few weeks ago, when an MTV video jock arrived at the door expecting a warm (and gratis) welcome, she was rebuffed. A week later, Sin-a-matic was running ads boasting, “As Seen On Club MTV . . . Not!”
What to wear to Sin-a-matic? Cardigan sweaters and Laura Ashley prints . . . not!
Instead, mix and match from the following: black anything, leather anything, vinyl or rubber anything, tattoos (from Melrose Tattoo), body piercings (from the Gauntlet), crayon-colored crew cuts, long tresses, short dresses, bandannas tied around the scalp, heavy black horn-rims, chaps, medallions, Doc Martens boots, stiletto heels, platform shoes, Converse high-tops, pearls, Queer Nation T-shirts and lunch boxes carried as purses.
The crowd moves to industrial dance music. Over the floor, go-go dancers go and go--backlighted by a slide show that includes Margaret Keane’s paintings of big-eyed children and erotica by Tom of Finland. Video screens broadcast arcane public-access television.
Drinks and cigarettes seem to be the essential aliments at Sin-a-matic, but for clubbies with the munchies, hot dogs, hamburgers and burritos are available.
In a back room, men and women shoot pool, bathed in red light from chandeliers. There are also weekly special events, like body painting. In one advertised and heavily attended spectacle, a large crowd watched a drag queen cover a young man’s bare feet with whipped topping and pancake syrup and lick them clean.
The club is about two months old, and the inevitable invasion of the curious and the press has begun; by midnight, there’s a line snaking down Santa Monica Boulevard. But for the moment, at least, Sin-a-matic is a safe Saturday-night haven for the evocative and the provocative.
Even if you have to wait outside for a while, the curbside action is as lively as anything inside--and you’ll get a good chance to eyeball everything you’ll never see on MTV.
Name: Sin-a-matic.
Where and when: Saturday nights at Peanuts, 7969 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood. (213) 654-0280.
Dress: Sinfully trendy.
Doormen: Efficient. 18 and over, I.D. required.
Prices: Admission, $8. Before 11 p.m., $6. Domestic beer, $3.
