Visions: Plenty of Good Times in Site

Even the most cutting-edge club promoter has to admit it’s a dream: marketing a concept successfully for eight years under the same name, a club event that continues to attract crowds weekly. It might lack the coveted label of “underground,” but among the county’s trendies, promoter Danny Aguilar’s Visions still stands for nonstop good times.

Aguilar’s gig has had “temporary” stints (sometimes lasting three years) at various nightclubs around O.C., where he would set up shop one or two nights a week. At the Warehouse in Newport Beach, Visions celebrates its first anniversary this week, with lines still clamoring to get in every Thursday through Saturday. The two-story club keeps maximum occupancy at around 525, with about 800 to 1,000 patrons walking in and out the door on any Visions night.

An interior remodel spearheaded by Aguilar last year breathed new life into the Warehouse, which overlooks Newport Bay. The promoter drew from Coppola’s recent “Dracula” flick: crimson velvet draped everywhere, the walls sponged in gold, classic art prints in gilded frames and miniature statues of gargoyles and Roman Renaissance figures also painted gold.

But regulars from any Visions era will also recognize signature trappings: video footage of the previous week’s frolics flashing on TVs scattered throughout the club, a well-oiled staff and a slow moving line outside.

On the lower level, patrons can check out cover bands churning out numbers from Nirvana, Bob Marley and Black Crowes. Others wrap around the bar for the evening’s drink specials--offered downstairs to balance out the crowd, which tends to stay upstairs otherwise. Thursday’s specials are Zima, domestic drafts and glasses of the house wine for $1 each, plus $2 you-call-its throughout the club. On Fridays and Saturdays, Zima, domestic drafts and house wine sell for $2. Regularly, domestic brews sell for around $3 and imports are about $4. A glass of wine is $2.75 to $4.75; wells, $3.25; sodas, $1.25.

If you get hungry, the kitchen serves fresh seafood, pasta and steak dinners ($5.95 to $20.95) until 11 p.m.; appetizers ($3.95 to $9.95) are available until midnight. There’s also a taco bar, offering three for $2 right up till the club closes. And if it’s too noisy inside to dine, try the large outdoor patio, complete with heat lamps and a bay view.

Indeed, it can get too noisy to even have fun in several spots throughout the club. It’s a nightmare zone around the first-floor bar, where the music from upstairs filters down and clashes with the live sounds from the band room nearby. No number of cheap Zimas can better the situation. Upstairs too there are sound problems, especially opposite the dance floor, where the bass buzzes so loud that it turns songs into electrified mush. How the pool players there take it is beyond understanding.

Of course, the pool players have some other concerns, since half of the eight available tables are lined up too close together in a narrow space that doubles as a walkway. Then there is the $10 hourly rate.

Still, the party rages heavily upstairs, with deejay John Elliot at the helm moving the jampacked floor with a mainstream mix of old school, house and hip-hop. On the two-level floor, trendies, bodybuilders and plenty of beach babes cram the space. Bring a hankie, because it’s a sweat pit.

VISIONS

* At the Warehouse, 3450 Via Oporto, Newport Beach.

* (714) 673-4700 or the Visions Hotline, (714) 239-4336.

* Thursdays through Saturdays, 9 p.m. to 2 a.m.

* Cover: $5 after 9 p.m.