Hot-Flooded

It is late Sunday evening, and the noise and crowded parking lot on Lincoln Avenue west of Beach Boulevard signal that you have spotted El Calor, a pulsatingly hot Latino night spot.

This place was languishing three years ago, before contractor John Adger took it over, renovated it and revitalized it with lively entertainment and a series of unusual promotions.

The gaudy neon sign is visible half a mile down Lincoln, twinkling like a small galaxy in the Anaheim night. If it is after 9 p.m., expect to see a sign indicating that the parking lot is full.

I park next door in a mini-mall featuring a taqueria, El Batan, known locally for delicious, 80-cent carnitas tacos. When it’s my turn to cross the velvet rope, a security guard frisks me lightly at the door and ushers me inside. I am immediately swept up by whoops, flashing lights and the thump of an electric bass. On stage is the band Coloso, and the dance floor is elbow-to-elbow.

Coloso, performing every Friday through Sunday, is terrific, as the crowds attest. The band is composed of a keyboard player, two guitarists, a drummer and a lead singer. They play a mix of Latin dance music including salsa, cumbia, merengue and rock en espanol.

Decor at El Calor is basic and cheerful: green fluorescent frogs suspended from the ceiling, a neon Pacifica beer sign behind the bar, red balloons decorating the tables surrounding the parquet dance floor in front of the stage.

The young men and women who jam the place come dressed to the nines. Dancing Sundays--when the club holds a dance contest--continues until 4 a.m., until 2 a.m. on the other days the club is open.

There is no shortage of refreshment, either. Margaritas are $1.50 before 9:30 p.m., and a yard of Budweiser is $5 all night. The only food per se is light snacks--corn chips and pretzels--in plastic bowls on tables and at the bar.

When a huge stream of stage fog comes shooting out of the front of the stage, the crowd lets out a roar. Meanwhile, a flower vendor, arms loaded with roses, asks if I want to buy. I shrug and tell her that I have left my wife at home. I wonder silently whether she works the room Wednesdays, when El Calor has its noche de transvestite, described by Adger as the club’s “alternative lifestyles” night.

I guess I’ll just have to stop back here on a Wednesday.

BE THERE

El Calor, 2916 W. Lincoln Blvd., Anaheim. 8 p.m.-2 a.m. Wednesday-Saturday, 8 p.m.-4 a.m Sunday. $5 cover Friday-Sunday. (714) 527-8873.