Hook Up’s Jampacked Debut Is Backed by the Beat

Mondays can be manic all right--in a go-crazy, dance-and-party way. Ask any of the 1,300 who reveled into the morning at Hook Up’s premiere night at Roxbury South.

Credit the club’s success to the Beat (92.3 FM), which is behind the Hook Up and got the word out on the airwaves. The station’s Tre Black and his cohorts known as the Blacklist Crew host the weekly bash, and Louski (another radio personality and club coordinator) handles the finer details of making sure the party goes off.

The club kicked off this week with rapper King Tee and the harmonizing quartet IV Xample, both MCA recording artists. Staged in the restaurant, the mini, mini concerts, which will be presented weekly, are backed by a canned soundtrack. Next week’s artist is yet to be announced.

While those up front, near the stage, screamed in delight, the energy fizzed in the back, where patrons were in and out within a couple of beats.

On the other side, deejays Drez, Mark Luv and Davy Dave had the bar jampacked with a fabulous mix of hip-hop. Upstairs, the disco salon raged too, with contemporary dance music served by deejay Hideo.

Navigating through the thick crowd was one of the few drags of the evening. Another was the cover, if you came late. Ten dollars after 10:30? Please, this isn’t the weekend. Not that it seemed to dissuade the masses from piling in until midnight.

The security search at the door took a little too long, too. But it wasn’t as daunting as the walk-through by the Santa Ana Blue. Hmm, was that because the hip-hop audience was made up mostly of racial minorities?

They sure weren’t there to make fashion arrests. Style was the rule, except in the case of the ladies who shouldn’t be wearing the tiny hot pants.

The big question as the party raged into the wee hours: didn’t these folks have to work the following morning? Yeah, answered one patron, decked in silver boots and a backpack. “But that’s why there’s coffee.”

* THE HOOK UP, at Roxbury South

* One Hutton Centre Drive, Santa Ana.

* (714) 662-0880; hot line (714) 285-6061.

* Mondays only, 9 p.m. to 2 a.m.

* Cover: $7 before 10:30 p.m., $10 after.