For Pop Tart Fans With a Clue

It’s hard to keep your hip credentials intact year after year. In a city that changes as fast as L.A., a club either disappears or suffers a kind of entropy and begins sliding toward the mainstream.

Not so, Jabberjaw. This kitsch-cluttered, alcohol-free, coffee and rock ‘n’ roll establishment has been bringing in the cutting edge--both in performers and clientele--since it first opened on a lonely stretch of Pico Boulevard four years ago.

So what’s their secret?

“We try to keep it low-key around here,” says Gary Dent, who along with co-owners Michelle Carr and Erik Niles opened Jabberjaw as a place where the underage of the underground could hang out.

“We didn’t make this place for the mass majority of people. We do it for the kids with a clue.”

So don’t expect to see any ads for Jabberjaw. You can call them up, but rarely does anyone answer and there’s no machine. “We do the kind of thing where 90% of the people hear about the show afterward,” Dent says.

For the comfort of that 10% with a clue--as well as for the house kitties (yes, real cats), Dickie Dallas and the recently abducted Taffy Maybelliene--they furnished the place with an intimate TV room and added a mural in the back patio and an impressive collection of Keene paintings over the coffee bar. Besides java, they serve fun fare on the order of brownies and Pop Tarts to help rock the night away.

But the real draw here are the bands. Dent and company make maximum use of friends and friends of friends from around the country to book the best of the beyond-alternative scene--often for what is their only L.A. appearance.

Those who show up are a loyal bunch who prefer Jabberjaw over any other venue, either because they like Jabberjaw’s small size--allowing greater proximity to the bands--or because they’re too young to get in anywhere else. One regular even went so far as to make up Jabberjaw hats.

“Jabberjaw’s been so non-mainstream, so non-commercial, it’s like a home for a lot of kids that just have no other place to go,” says Bobby Gerry, who, in addition to making Jabberjaw hats, runs a tiny, independent record label.

“There’s no other place in this city you’d want to see Jesus Lizard, The Cows, and God and Texas. Granted you can probably catch them at some other venue, but this is, like, the real place.”

* Name: Jabberjaw

* Where: 3711 Pico Blvd. (between Arlington and Crenshaw), Los Angeles. (213) 732-3463 (but don’t bother calling).

* When: Days vary, hours vary. Admission is “never more than $5.”

* Prices: Coffee $1, espresso $1.50, cappuccino $2, brownies $1, Pop Tarts 50 cents.