Hot Nights at the Beach

Manhattan Beach is typically known for its barely covered sunbathers and hard-to-find parking, not its night life. But scenesters seeking something scintillating need look no further than the bustling spot called H20.

With its pulsating sounds, gyrating bodies, loud music, live bands and long lines, this 4-year-old club is Manhattan Beach’s answer to Hollywood.

Located in the heart of downtown Manhattan Beach, just blocks up the street from the Manhattan Beach Pier, H20 is one of the city’s most popular nightclubs, since dancing is a fairly limited night-life option in Los Angeles’ seaside cities.

H20 is a funky hybrid of “American Bandstand” and “MTV Unplugged,” sort of Margaritaville meets Silver Lake. Or, maybe, Beck goes to the beach. Simply put, H20 takes two vastly different styles in its look and sound, mixes them up and somehow makes it work.

The multilevel restauraunt-bar-nightclub offers modern-day architecture and trends and serves them up beach style, combining a hip club atmosphere with a sun-kissed ambience that includes tropical drinks and an outdoor patio where the smell of salt air is a refreshing breather from the crowded club.

“This place is one up on Panama City,” said Richard Ira Blume, 24, a New York City native who spent spring break in Southern California. “I want to move here.”

The clubgoers are a decidedly wet bunch of twentysomethings who are as mixed as the music club design. Some don denim, others stretch toward spandex. Most everyone sports a tan and has an attitude that wreaks of, well, suntan oil. The clubgoers are typically local beachrats who treat every day like Memorial Day, even rainy nights in January.

The spacious complex includes a restaurant, cigar lounge, poolroom and dance hall. Live and deejayed music provides a constant background buzz so those seeking solitude--or at least a quiet place to exchange phone numbers--opt to spend the evening in the bar or restaurant, which offers lots of cozy booths.

H20’s decor mixes post-industrial architecture and high ceilings with fish tanks illuminated with fluorescent light.

The music is equally eclectic. While bands like Common Sense, the Young Dubliners and Goldfish play alternative tunes, the deejay spins hip-hop and rap when they break.

On Wednesday nights, H20 offers deejayed dancing, while Thursday gives way to the new Artists Group Network--which showcases new performers, mostly alternative bands. Saturdays are the most popular evening with a groove dance theme called Club Vox.

Count on long lines, the kind that wrap around the corner and move real slow, beginning at about 10 p.m. on weekends. The place gets so packed that clubgoers are left with little elbow room for dancing and even harsher conditions for talking.

BE THERE

H20, 401 Manhattan Beach Blvd., Manhattan Beach. (310) 545-6220. 21 and over. Cover varies.