Changes Help Dragonfly Spread Wings

Hollywood is making a comeback. It’s all about tearing down walls--literally. The Opium Den removed a brick wall last year to expand performance visibility and emphasize live music. The big news, however, is the changes over at Dragonfly, which closed in October for a monthlong face lift that entailed raising the ceiling, eliminating an inside wall to create a big, open music-viewing area and giving the sound system a boost.

Aiming for a New York, SoHo-style vibe, the owners hit the mark with a sort of postmodern polish. The club now has booths in both the main room and the former pillow room. The seating areas in the big patio, one of Dragonfly’s coolest features, have been reupholstered, and the club was repainted in cobalt blue, silver and burgundy, with Mylar draperies offering a shiny, low-budget accent.

Like the Gaslight and Club Lingerie, Dragonfly was a favorite hang in the early ‘90s, and with the changes it has a chance to fulfill the legacy of Club Lingerie, which was one of Hollywood’s greatest live-music clubs before it was transformed into a cheese-ball disco hell.

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The Dragonfly stage can now be used to more dramatic effect, as San Francisco’s Merv illustrated last week in performing operatic, punk-rock arias whose impact would have been lost in a smaller space. A good time to check out the club for yourself is New Year’s Eve, when the Sugarhill Gang--the original old-school rappers--claim the stage.

* Dragonfly, 6510 Santa Monica Blvd. 21 and over, cover varies. (213) 466-6111.

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The Buzz: Another good sign for Hollywood night life: The struggling Hell’s Gate--located in the difficult Yucca/Wilcox area of Tinseltown--was purchased by actor Glenn Quinn (“Roseanne”), who renamed it Goldfinger and turned it into a cool little piano bar. . . . Union and Martini owners Steve Edelson and Greg Morris recently purchased the Garage (original co-owner Paul Rossi remains a partner) and are in the process of doubling the venue’s capacity, with plans to begin offering live music nightly starting next month. “It’s our first Silver Lake venture and we plan to go after Spaceland vigorously,” says Edelson, challenging the area’s reigning club. Additional changes include a cigar lounge in the club and a record store in the building.

* Goldfinger, (213) 962-2913. Garage, (213) 662-6802.