Brent Bolthouse’s Opium Den Gasses Up Sound System

When club promoter Brent Bolthouse took over the Gaslight three months ago and re-christened it the Opium Den, one of his objectives was to get rid of “the Gaslight stigma”--namely the two-level music club’s association with a terrible sound system.

Although many fine bands performed at the once-vital Hollywood club over the years, usually they didn’t sound so great. Bolthouse, a fixture on the scene with his popular Saturday Night Fever dance club as well as several other projects, was tired of hearing local bands sound lousy, so he put his money where his ears were and created his own space for them to play.

The Opium Den, which opened quietly two weeks ago, is a promising new space. Renovations include a beefed-up sound system, a crescent-shaped stage and an added lounge room, an airy, curtained interior and a new entrance. Brick walls that once obstructed views of the performance area have been removed or are in the process of being removed. When the Geraldine Fibbers perform Jan. 29, just one such wall will remain.

On evenings when live music isn’t scheduled, a curtain covers the stage area, reducing the club in size and giving it a more intimate, lounge-like appeal. On such nights, customers won’t be charged a cover fee, and can expect the club’s rotating roster of deejays to spin everything from acid jazz to old-school soul. And Men’s Room aficionados, don’t despair--the hotter-than-hot gay club is back every Thursday.

* The Opium Den, 1605 1/2 Ivar Ave., Hollywood. 21 and over, cover varies. (213) 466-7800.

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Club Buzz: In more Bolthouse news, Saturday Night Fever is scheduled to relocate from Hollywood’s Diamond Club to the Roxbury in West Hollywood on Jan. 27, and will also celebrate its four-year anniversary that night. . . . Silver Lake’s underground hot spot, the Garage, has invited Fresh Produce--one of the biggest rave promotion teams--to take over each Thursday beginning next week. Fresh will focus on deep house and breaking new acts, and new deejays. . . . The Gem, an upscale Melrose district nightclub, is the new home of the China Club on Mondays. . . . If you missed them the first time around, New Wave sensations the M-80’s will be back at the Viper Room every Monday in February for more of the best (and worst!) of the ‘80s.

* Roxbury (310) 278-9457. The Garage (213) 662-6802. The Gem (213) 932-8344. Viper Room (310) 358-1880.