A Fetish for Tuesdays

Club Fetish is exactly what its name suggests, but you have to know how to read literally.

Quite simply, it’s a new Tuesday night dance spot for party-goers who don’t want to wait for the weekend.

Club Fetish has a tropical atmosphere--complete with lawn chairs, umbrella-covered tables and thin streamers hanging from the ceiling--that helps create a mood of relaxed summer carousing.

Images of drunken sharks, mermaids, fish and crabs--spray-painted in exotic neon colors all over the walls--are enhanced by black lights, lending a “Little Mermaid”-meets-”Animal House” vibe.

On the dance floor, strobe lights and fog take you out of beach mode and into high gear, setting the mood for boogieing. You can dance comfortably on the huge floor to hip-hop, house, disco and KROQ classics spun by deejays E-Wahoo and C-Los. Plans for live band appearances are in the works.

Between dances you can play darts or pool or just grab a seat on a raised platform deck and gaze down at the merriment. Plenty of seating allows for mingling--or resting if you really work yourself on the dance floor.

Don’t feel obligated to dress up--except for gang-style clothing, all manner of attire is welcome. And you don’t have to be trendy to look good. You can pull on a pair of jeans or embellish yourself in your finest ensemble and still fit in.

It may be because it’s not the weekend or that people are just happy to be out, but the Club Fetish group--mostly energetic twentysomethings--seems a lot less stuffy than your typical Generation X lot.

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No one goes thirsty at Club Fetish. A massive bar and two smaller bars at either end of the club offer drink specials that keep everyone happy. There are $1 draft beers until midnight and $2 well drinks until 11 p.m. Check out the Jacuzzi bar occupied by a bikini-clad waitress serving up bottled beer.

You won’t go hungry either. Tacos are 50 cents apiece until midnight--as close to free as possible without being happy hour.

Whoa! Did someone mention the word “free”? Club Fetish also has music and fashion giveaways sponsored by P.R. Records, Phelony Clothing and LBZ clothing. Promoters Nick Bouse, Bryan Layne and Gerardo Ramirez hope the freebies will set Club Fetish above their chief competition--Cowboy Boogie in Anaheim.

Keep a careful eye out when coming to the club. Geckos is somewhat hidden from passersby. Be mindful when you leave too--you may have found a new fetish.

BE THERE

Club Fetish at Geckos, 279 E. Orangethorpe Ave., Fullerton. 8 p.m.-2 a.m. Tuesday. Cover: $5 after 10 p.m. 21 and over. (714) 446-8900.