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Taking the Buss

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

The Kiss should be popular this summer. It’s where to go when all you wanna do is dance to a guaranteed great beat but don’t wanna hassle with ‘tude.

DJ Daniel, who seems never to fail to spin a pumping party, is the resident tune-meister at this Saturday promotion, which recently moved to Out of Bounds in Huntington Beach from La Mirage (formerly Moose McGillycuddy’s) in Long Beach.

Out of Bounds is a no-frills sports bar, smaller, grubbier and far less pretentious than its giant cousins, with old picnic tables and vinyl chairs instead of endless booths and swank stools. It doesn’t even have the painted palm trees of Gecko’s, up the street, so it promotes the same casual ethos, and then some.

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Some of Surf City’s fashion fiends looked fresh on a recent night, and the Kiss’ promoters (also behind Club Lunch and the Wreck Room, among others) attempt a touch of hip-notism by covering some of the walls with shiny black tarp and projecting psychedelic imagery on sports-less big screens.

But this 11-year-old hangout is too dark and hometown beachy to encourage any major efforts at dressing or preening. The majority appeared to care more about flying “Around the World” with Daft Punk than whether sweat might muss the ‘do. Clubbers also didn’t seem to much mind that the main dance floor is concrete, although carpet covers a small elevated wood stage.

That majority, by the way, is young; it’s an 18-and-over promotion. “I’m all, ‘You changed your hair again!’ ” said one patronette, sharing post-Gen X jargon with girlfriends as a mini-line began to form outside around 11 p.m.

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Out of Bounds’ kitchen stays open until 1 a.m. A small pizza goes for $5.50, large for $8.50. Chicken wings run $2.75, and a burger costs $3.25.

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Meanwhile, the West Coast swing dancers bumped from their regular Saturday gig at La Mirage have migrated a few blocks away to the Best Western Golden Sails Hotel, 6285 E. Pacific Coast Highway, Long Beach.

The dingy lounge has been overhauled and remodeled. The new Pacific Coast Club, as management calls it, has a larger dance floor, new lighting and paint and a large adjoining patio.

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Deejay Bob Brewer, a blues hound, does the honors Saturdays from 4 to 8 p.m. Cover is $5. Information: (562) 597-3255.

BE THERE

The Kiss, at Out of Bounds, 21002 Brookhurst Ave., Huntington Beach; (714) 968-9800. Saturday, 9 p.m.-2 a.m. Cover: $5 for 21 and up; $10 for 18-20.

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