Customers Happily Kept in the Dark

What’s great about old barrooms is the distinct decor that harks back to an America when martinis were consumed with religious zeal and cigarette holders were a standard accessory. Ladies and gentlemen visited these classy joints that offered tables just big enough for two cocktails and semi-dark corners where intrigues could unfold.

The Fling Cocktail Lounge in Tustin is not only a classic, but has been excellently preserved since its doors opened two decades ago. It’s all here: the brownish-red tuck and roll booths, the teardrop chandeliers, the candles in red jars. Burgundy canopies drape over the main bar, with its bottles of libations and stacked clean glasses lined up against the mirrored back wall.

Red velour wallpaper covers most of the place, the patterned kind so much a favorite of 1970s baroque interior design. Along these plush walls hang paintings of voluptuous women in the style of the Old West meets the 1960s--the way women looked on such TV shows as “The Big Valley” or “Bonanza.” The risque portraits, each one with its own spotlight, aren’t bad, and its unfortunate that a couple are showing signs of smoke damage.

Within this red-lit, smoky room, a tale of international intrigue was exposed about seven years ago, according to the regulars, when it was revealed that a Soviet agent secretly met his contact at the bar.

Spy excitement aside, this is a working person’s bar, so weeknights are comfortably crowded with friendly regulars letting their hair down, and on Friday nights the place is packed.

A second, smaller bar wraps around an even smaller stage, where solo musicians sing to the accompaniment of their guitars. On a recent evening, a performer with a dreamy bass voice sang countrified oldies with the assistance of a synthesizer that kept the beat and a tape that supplied backing female vocals. The regulars took to the floor during the more romantic numbers.

Live entertainment is scheduled nightly, so the jukebox, which holds a range of singles from material by the Andrews Sisters to Sade, sits quiet most of the evening.

The Fling Cocktail Lounge, 2370 N. Tustin Ave., Santa Ana. (714) 834-9872. Open daily from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m.