At Tempest, Swank Dining and Disco

Tempest, which celebrated its one-year anniversary last weekend, has managed to weather the Sturm und Drang of Clubland ’96 to land with its dancing shoes on. The swank supper club and discotheque has a number of things going for it. First off, it’s located at the Beverly Center. Admit it. If you live in L.A., you like malls. Chances are, you love malls, and what could be more convenient than pulling into the Beverly Center’s spacious, safe parking structure to begin your evening’s revelry?

Tempest, which is located at the former site of Ava’s and Tramp’s, manages to recall the dine-and-disco scene of the ‘80s without pandering to the synthetic drug crowd. In fact, Tempest manages to attract a wide variety of night-clubbers, with a wide age range and an ethnic mix reflective of L.A.’s multicultural community.

The club is composed of three rooms: a cozy cigar lounge that features a variety of torch singers and other music acts along with a floor-to-ceiling library; a large dance floor, with the quality sound and lighting appropriate for an upscale club; and a dining room modeled after a ‘20s-style supper club, with large, comfortable booths, rich-looking drapes and ample mirrors for the Beautiful Ones to eyeball.

And no L.A. disco would be complete without the Beautiful Ones, who at Tempest arrive in the form of young women dining on the tabs of the producer types. But hey, a girl’s got to eat. And if there’s one thing this city’s club life needs right now, it’s the promise of meeting a S.A.P.--someone who’s both Single and Productive. At Tempest, it’s not difficult to bump into a prospector.

The dance floor offers a high-energy mix of contemporary dance music, hip-hop and club classics, and on Monday evenings Tempest has offered a rebirth of the China Club Pro-Jam, one of L.A.’s legendary pickup clubs. It will resume Jan. 6 after a brief hiatus.

* Tempest, 8522 Beverly Blvd. (ground level of the Beverly Center). 21 and over, cover varies. Closed Tuesday and Sunday. (310) 659-7904.

The Buzz: Promising a Vegas-style show that “sizzles at the beach,” on New Year’s Eve, Carmen Miranda’s great-niece Miranda Cunha stars in “Havana Meets Rio at Carnival” at the Penthouse Showroom in Santa Monica’s Holiday Inn Bayview.

* Holiday Inn Bayview, (310) 399-9344.