‘It’ today and gone tomorrow

The List used to be long and laborious. It’s now just a formality. The bouncers were robotic and unforgiving. These days, they are friendly and inviting. The secret patio’s sexy cabanas were exclusive hideaways for superstars such as Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Lopez. They now are within everyone’s reach.

It may seem hard to believe that this is the Sunset Room, the elegant supper club that hailed celebrities and their entourages for smashing movie premiere parties and exclusive celebrations less than four years ago. With its 1930s Hollywood nostalgic glitz and contemporary celebrity zing, the club on Cahuenga Boulevard made an international name for itself by ushering Hollywood’s biggest guns back to the city’s night beat.

But in a town that habitually turns flavors-of-the-month into “icons” and tosses them aside just as quickly, nightclubs have a way of burgeoning into bigger-than-life phenomena as soon as stars appear, then fizzling into virtual obscurity when they disappear. By no means has the Sunset Room died, but its buzz sure has.

“People at work said it’s wack here, that it’s played out,” said Michael Oliver, a 28-year-old public relations executive who dined and danced at the Sunset Room for the first time on a recent Friday. “But the friends I came with really like it here, and it’s a nice, attractive crowd and a good-looking club. Clubs are hot in this town based on hype. It’s about who you know and who will get you in. For me, it’s just about having a good time, and I’m having a good time.”

For club-goers like Oliver, a good time may be enough. But for club owners, especially those driven to be at the top of the game, creating a “good time” isn’t nearly enough.

The business itself is tough, fast-turning and still mainly a guy’s game. Hollywood’s core club scene -- the one that lives and dies on the allure of the celebrities who dance and drink through it -- is run by its own brand of celebrities: Chris Breed, Ivan Kane, Loyal Pennings, John Nixon, Alan Nathan and Anton Posniak among others.

When their clubs are hot, so are they. Whatever style they’ve determined is the style gets copied by clubs around the region and, increasingly, the country. When the chill sets in, their power cools along with it. Only those who figure out the right mix -- location, concept, design, entertainment and that elusive energy that will bring the stars back -- survive.

Since the Sunset Room was unveiled in November 1999, 15 nightclubs and bars have opened in Hollywood -- all of them self-proclaimed specialists in catering to celebrities and their whims. The Sunset Room, with its capacity of 1,000 and multi-room, Old Hollywood layout, fast became the favorite for flashy Oscar parties and private bashes.

Mexican-themed Las Palmas, in its heyday two years ago, regularly hosted Hugh Hefner and his bunny girlfriends in a booth near the jellyfish aquarium. At deep, the nightclub known for its naughty dancers in mirrored boxes and featured in “Ocean’s Eleven,” George Clooney and Brad Pitt chatted and drank at the bar while other A-list stars sequestered themselves in gritty VIP rooms.

This season, Hollywood’s mega-stars -- and everyone who wants to be around them -- are flocking to the Sunset Room’s 4-month-old sister, White Lotus, an Asian-themed supper club on Cahuenga Boulevard, featured in three national magazines in June. The third annual Angels on the Fairway charity event June 12 drew dozens of celebrities, ranging from Leonardo DiCaprio to “Baywatch’s” Traci Bingham to Bill Maher. On the outside patio, where a giant Buddha sits on a lotus pond, a group of reality television stars, including “Survivor” contestants Alex Bell and Jenna Morasca, and the now-famous “Blind Date” twins, mingled at a table.

“The music and the atmosphere is what makes a club,” said A.J. McLean of the Backstreet Boys, who dined with Rene Elizondo Jr. (Janet Jackson’s ex-husband) on the White Lotus patio. “In L.A., it’s true that the celebrity clientele helps because if celebrities are coming to White Lotus, that’s where people want to be. Since I got sober, I don’t go out very much because it grosses me out to be around people who are drinking and doing drugs. But this setup is very classy.”

White Lotus’ white canopy tents may be new to the Hollywood landscape, but the vibe inside is familiar to movers and shakers who party in Hollywood and West Hollywood, where three dozen bars and clubs have opened with a red-carpet, paparazzi bang in the last five years.

“Those are the single best parties to go to,” said financial advisor Peter Coroneos, 25, who goes to White Lotus on Thursdays. “The club owners put a lot of money into the launches, and only the A-list and the coolest people get in. I only go when I have a connection. I won’t wait in line.”

Indeed, designer-clad throngs wait for up to two hours to cross the velvet rope and party with Colin Farrell or Jennifer Garner, or to catch a trace of Britney Spears or Bruce Willis in a VIP booth. As supermodels and other famous babes, such as Elaine and Diane Klimaszewski, better known as the Coors Light Twins, pose for photographers on the red carpet, wannabes on the sidewalk work their cell phones for a shot at being part of the frenzy.

For three to six months.

Then another new door opens around the corner and the trendsetters are gone, leaving nightclub and bar owners with the task of keeping their venues alive without the help of the hippest. That can be an intense challenge in a city that is home to more than 700 nightclubs, bars and lounges, and in an image-based industry that is thriving even if the general economy is tanking.

“Nightclubs are no different than any product out there,” said Stephen Huvane, a partner at PMK-HBH, an agency that represents over 100 celebrities, including Jennifer Aniston and Demi Moore. “Celebrity drives the consumer right now. L.A. is no different than any other city in that clubs do have a cycle and there comes a time when they need to be regenerated.

“But, particularly in L.A., what separates you from the crowd is if you can get a celebrity into your club. The nightclubs that last are the ones that are well run because they can only survive on the celebrity hype for so long.”

To be sure, nightclubs in Los Angeles have two life spans: The first marks the amount of time a venue flourishes as a talk-of-the-town spot, the kind of place the rich and famous make desirable through their mere presence; the second measures how long a nightclub can compete and turn a profit. The savviest club owners know how to make the transition from the first phase to the second, and later are quick to recognize when their venues need a quick fix or a major overhaul in design, entertainment or both.

“People are always looking for the next new thing, but once that honeymoon is over, it actually becomes a more profitable business,” said Loyal Pennings, who co-owns Las Palmas and Deluxe and is about to open Concorde, a minimalist supper club that is threatening to dethrone White Lotus from its top spot. “There’s only a certain amount of business that each club can do, so there’s always room at the top. But it’s going to make Hollywood a very lean animal.”

Once celebrity hype cools and Hollywood’s hippest are no longer curious, most club owners -- or at least the ones who are in for the long run -- reach the same crossing. Do they spend money on nips and tucks and new entertainment, like John Nixon, who recently added a Vegas-style beauty lounge with restored chrome hair dryers to the 3-year-old Beauty Bar, and Tricia LaBelle, who spent $250,000 doubling the size of the battered but esteemed 61-year-old Board- ner’s on Cherokee Avenue? Or do they tear down their party havens and start again as brothers Allan and Art Davis are about to do at West Hollywood’s 10-year-old supper club, the Gate.

“We’re like a theater,” said Art Davis. “If the show closes, you don’t close the theater. It’s just time to bring in a new show.”

Ivan Kane, one of Hollywood’s more seasoned impresarios, has taken both of those roads. His first Hollywood bar, Kane, lasted five years on Melrose Avenue until he gutted it last year and created the sexy back-alley lounge Forty Deuce. It has earned international notice with its burlesque dancers and three-piece jazz and bump-and-grind combo.

“Rather than wait for Kane to maybe die out or spend the money on a new club, I decided to build Forty Deuce there, which was a concept I had anyway,” Kane said. “Whether it’s an existing spot or not, it’s all about concept and execution.”

Kane learned that lesson when his regulars at deep, the risque dance club that drew movie stars to the fabled Hollywood and Vine corner for the first time in decades, moved on to Nacional and Ivar after deep turned a year old. He spent thousands of dollars in December giving deep a minor makeover, but quickly realized it would take more than red lighting, new artwork and curtains to build the business he wanted.

Reluctantly, Kane, who still insists on controlling his guest lists, turned to those who get paid to organize parties in nightclubs and bring in the heat: promoters.

“Deep was celebrity-driven because I refused to sell out and open my doors to anybody,” he said, while he smoked a cigarette in the same booth that Dustin Hoffman used to conduct his business with Ed Burns in “Confidence.” “I want to keep that demographic to the young, beautiful, A-list movers and shakers.”

Michael Oliver is easy on the eyes, but that wasn’t enough to get him into White Lotus a few weeks before he gave the Sunset Room a shot. Oliver and his friends thought being on The List mattered. Instead, they stood in line for 90 minutes before they decided to salvage their night elsewhere. “Are you on The List?” is the most common and dreaded question facing L.A.’s night crawlers. Even when the answer is yes, it doesn’t guarantee entry. Promoters size up their prospects in terms of beauty, style, who they are and who they know. Then they settle on timing as if it were a military operation. New faces enter the party according to the promoter’s strategy for the night. It’s a game nobody likes but everybody plays.

“A lot of owners in L.A. open their doors and think things are just going to happen, and that’s kind of sad,” said Brent Bolt- house, co-owner of Bolthouse Productions, a 15-year-old company of promoters in Hollywood. “They don’t understand the importance of building different nights in your clubs and taking care of your clientele. We really cater to young Hollywood, and we carry a particular crowd from place to place with different DJs and different formats.”

Most club owners agree that promotions are the strongest factor in longevity. For that reason, the business of creating ambience and tailoring a particular vibe to a venue -- that is, choosing a DJ, a theme for the night and inviting the right crowd -- can be lucrative.

At Beauty Bar and Star Shoes, where you can get martinis and manicures or booze with vintage shoes, owner Nixon is working hand-in-hand with promoters to “bring Beauty Bar back to its retro-chic glory and its rock ‘n’ roll essence.” A music lover and talented DJ, Nixon has changed his musical format to include country and rockabilly, psychedelic and Mod, and metal and punk classic rock.

“Opening what appears to be an architectural marvel is not enough in this town,” Nixon said. “People love being in creative environments, and, to me, the music comes first when you’re trying to do that. That’s why the entertainment is in my hands.”

Nightclub promoters also are largely responsible for generating the “Hollywood scene,” the circle of celebrities and hipsters who move from club to club on particular nights to socialize, promote themselves or be discovered. The rhythm of the night currently goes like this: Mondays at Les Deux or Joseph’s, Tuesdays at Deluxe or Nacional, Thursdays at the Lounge, Fridays at White Lotus and Saturdays at A.D.

“That’s the true challenge,” said promoter T.J. Hoban, a partner in the venture that will replace the Gate on La Cienega Boulevard this fall. “All of these clubs have one special night, but then what happens the other nights? That’s what separates the truly successful clubs from the rest. How do you transfer that energy?”

Tait Chatmon, a 26-year-old event planner who moved to L.A. from Manhattan three years ago, agrees that promoters -- and the people attached to them -- make or break a club night. “There are a bunch of circles that are intertwined and interact with each other in Hollywood,” she said as she celebrated her mother’s birthday at Les Deux recently. “People hear things word-of-mouth or they follow promoters, like Bolthouse, who guarantee good parties. For me, the crowd and the music is what make the club, not the place itself.” For screenwriter Andrew Calder, the selection process is simpler. “Any scene that I go to, I go because I’m hoping to meet a hot chick,” said the 39-year-old Canadian native. “So, whatever is the mythology of the scene, if it meant hanging from a tree, or standing in 2 inches of mud and drinking from plastic cups, I would still be there if the hot chicks were there.”

Beautiful people, especially women, are Jenifer Rosero’s specialty. As Bolt- house’s partner, it is her job to work the door and create what she calls “a crazy bowl of fruit” that will give club-goers a memorable night.

“It’s like a math game and then it’s also an art,” said Rosero. “You start with the beautiful women because they sell anything, but I like to create a delicatessen of flavors that could consist of rockers, the hip-hop crew, dancers, gay stylists and, we’re in L.A., so you have to include the Beverly Hills spoiled brats. Keeping the numbers to capacity and having the right mix is challenging. Nobody is undesirable.”

But that depends on the stage a nightclub is in. When the A-list is still interested, hotspots are at their most homogenous. Just ask Elaine and Diane, the Barbie-like Coors Light Twins who used to kiss bouncers to make the rounds before selling beer made them famous. Now, the sisters are among the most coveted scenesters.

“Going out in L.A. is intense and uptight,” said Elaine Klimaszewski.

“Everybody has to be diva-decked-out. And on top of that, you’re on the prowl. It’s about who you are and what you do.”

“It’s like a show,” said her sister, Diane Klimaszewski. “Who looks the hottest and who looks the best or you’re not getting in. There is a certain look they look for.” And that is?

“You have to have the biggest lips and [breasts] possible, and they better be showing,” said Elaine, laughing.

“The McDonald’s aesthetic,” added Diane Klimaszewski. “Super-size it all: the hair, the [breasts], the lips and the tan.”

Once hipsters get bored, a club’s clientele almost always becomes more diverse, whether club owners seek that or not. These days, clubs such as the Highlands and Century Club, attract Persian and Armenian club-goers while the Sunset Room and A.D. draw more Latinos and blacks.

“When the club starts to slow down, you get the B- and C-lists coming through,” said Coroneos, who moonlights as a bouncer at El Carmen. “That’s when you can just walk right on through. I stop going when that happens.”

Sarhan Mheni, a finance student from North Africa, has been partying at the Sunset Room for three years. Although he wouldn’t categorize himself as a member of the B- or C-lists, Mheni appreciates that he no longer has to worry about befriending promoters. Secondly, the private cabana that used to cost him $700 to $1,000 to reserve now is worth one bottle of liquor.

“We’re Mediterranean people and this is how we like to party,” he said, referring to the many bottles of liquor he and his friends were enjoying in a private cabana. “The people here have changed. There used to be more white people and famous stars. I have seen all the stars, so I don’t care about that anymore. Here, they let all my friends in and I’d rather be here with them than with all of the stars at White Lotus.”

Mheni’s friend, who would only give his first name, Momo, laments the shift in clientele. The 22-year-old Egyptian student said he prefers to party among the elite at White Lotus but knows that a group of single guys would never make it past the bouncer. “I liked it better before because the prestige of the people here is not as high as it used to be,” he said. “The style is totally different.” Although the Sunset Room is thriving in its new sphere, its owners, who are reveling in the newborn glory of their other spot, White Lotus, plan to gut the Sunset Room by year’s end to build an upscale steakhouse and dance club that will operate as two businesses.

“It has lost its appeal to the ‘it’ crowd because they’ve been there, done that,” said Breed, who co-chairs Hollywood’s nightclub committee. “I could continue making money there for 10 years if I fill it with promoters and shave down the menu. But this is personal for me. I want to be in the limelight. I like to see people enjoying themselves, and I like the idea of creating something new that the hippest want to check out.”

The biggest challenge to “giving the old girl a face-lift” will be in generating interest for the A-list to return to the same space, said Breed, who designs the clubs himself. “But I think it will be all right because people want to see changes. I don’t think they want to be in the same place doing the same thing all of the time.”

As Craig Trager, who owns Daddy’s Lounge and the Well, and Kane have proven, even the hippest will return to a space when they are given an enticing reason.

“In hindsight, it wasn’t a drawback at all,” said Trager, who closed his jazz supper club, Lucky Seven on Vine Street, and reopened it as Daddy’s three years ago. “You’re only going to be the new kid on the block for so long. We live in the most affected city and the most flaky city, so if you want to make it in this difficult business, I think you just have to be consistent.”

And even when the A-list crowd departs, nightclubs can last, says 20-year veteran Chris Pike, who owns several nightclubs, bars and restaurants in Hollywood, Beverly Hills and the South Bay.

“It’s a given that the new place will have its impact, but things can recirculate and you can still have a steady crowd,” he said. “Even with the best promoters in town, there will come a time when the crowd thins out, and new people need to be brought in to keep it fresh and create ambience. But if the venue itself is special and you have the right staff, you can settle into a decent business that is not as insane and is a lot more manageable.”

Although Concorde on Cahuenga Boulevard, with its ‘60s decor and high ceilings, is being billed as the next to-die-for destination, the buzz is already building for the nightclub that is sure to topple it. Hollywood’s largest and most complex addition will be unveiled in stages during August and September at the site of the Palace on Vine Street.

Owners John Lyons and Steve Adelman, who are partners in clubs in New York and Boston, are building a 1,400-capacity venue that will offer a main nightclub for dancing and live performances, a separate bistro, and the Spider Lounge, an exclusive 200-capacity bar that will cater to celebrities.

“There are so many places to go to now,” said Elaine Klimaszewski. “I remember when I used to stop and think about the places I wanted to go to because I thought so-and-so celebrity was going to be there. It’s kind of cool to be on the other side of that now. We’re working so hard and traveling so much that when we go out, we want it to be as easy as possible.

“We have never stood in line. I’d rather be home chillin’ with a glass of wine.”

“You’d rather be at home with a Coors Light,” corrected her other half, Diane.

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The hot list

A.D.

836 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood. Open Thursdays through Saturdays. Cover varies.

(323) 467-3000.

Beauty Bar

1638 N. Cahuenga Blvd., Hollywood. Open seven days.

No cover. (323) 464-7676.

Boardner’s

1652 N. Cherokee Ave., Hollywood. Open seven days. Generally no cover.

(323) 462-9621.

Concorde

1835 N. Cahuenga Blvd., Hollywood. Open Wednesdays through Saturdays. Cover, $10. (323) 464-5662.

Daddy’s

1610 N. Vine St., Hollywood. Open seven days. No cover.

(323) 463-7777.

deep

1707 N. Vine St., Hollywood. Open Thursdays through Saturdays. Cover varies. (323) 462-1144.

Forty Deuce

5574 Melrose Ave., Hollywood. Open Wednesdays through Saturdays. Cover, $10.

(323) 466-6263.

here lounge

696 N. Robertson Blvd., West Hollywood. Open seven days. Generally no cover. (310) 360-8455.

Ivar

6356 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood. Open Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Cover varies.

(323) 465-4827.

Las Palmas

1714 N. Las Palmas Ave., Hollywood. Open Fridays through Sundays. Cover varies.

(323) 464-0171.

Nacional

1645 Wilcox Ave., Hollywood. Open Tuesdays through Saturdays. Cover varies.

(323) 962-7712

The Sunset Room

1405 N. Cahuenga Blvd., Hollywood. Open Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Cover varies. (323) 463-0004.

Star Shoes

6364 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood. Open seven days. No cover.

(323) 462-7827.

The Lounge

9077 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood. Open Tuesdays, Thursdays through Saturdays. Cover varies. (310) 888-8811.

White Lotus

1743 Cahuenga Blvd., Hollywood. Dinner Tuesdays through Saturdays. Club open Wednesdays through Saturdays. $20 cover. (323) 463-0060.

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TOP DRINKS

HYPNOTIQ (cognac, vodka and fruit juices)

FLIRTINI (Absolut Kurant, Triple Sec, fruit juices, champagne)

RED BULL AND VODKA LYCHEE MARTINI (lychee, pineapple, vodka)

THE SOPHIA (white grape juice and Absolut vodka)

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TOP HOT CLUBS:

WHITE LOTUS

FORTY DEUCE

THE LOUNGE

IVAR

BEAUTY BAR

NACIONAL

STAR SHOES

A.D.

HERE

DADDY’S

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TOP FASHION

Anything red, white and blue

Women: low-rider jeans or slacks with belly shirts; ‘80s mini-skirts with rainbow waistbands; drawstring Capris that tie at the calves or knees; tennis shoe pumps

Men: vintage sports T-shirts and jeans; classic Adidas or Puma sneaks

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TOP SCENE CELEBS

Demi Moore on the arm of Ashton Kutcher

Leonardo DiCaprio

Justin Timberlake

Britney Spears

The Hilton sisters

Maria Elena Fernandez can be contacted at maria.elena.fernandez@latimes.com.