Party like it’s 1959

A 6-foot martini glass is a rare sight indeed, and the 6-foot martini glass sitting in the middle of Vegas, Orange County’s swinging new nightclub, is no barfly’s mirage.

It’s the centerpiece of a swank pad, the kind of place Frank and Sammy could have slipped right into. Their music may have been eclipsed by rock and hip-hop, even here, but their well-tailored style is still inspirational. And as strange as it may seem in Orange County, where the nightlife tends to the avant-garde rock ‘n’ roll of Detroit Bar or the ribald excess of Rubber, Vegas is a homage to that suave era.

Entrepreneur James Raven, 36, poured $4 million into transforming a basement space in an old savings and loan building into a hopping lounge scene that opened in mid-February. It’s caught on. On a weekend night, he said, about 2,000 people fill the space.

The mix of thumping progressive house music, ‘70s funk and dance classics that resident DJ Markos H spins doesn’t veer far from the sounds heard across Southern California’s clubland. But early in the night, the crowd is a little more mature, ranging from mid-20s to 50s.

“It’s not a teenybopper thing,” said clubgoer Rob Rice, 31, a sales engineer from Newport Beach. “There’s not a bunch of kids running around acting stupid. It’s more mature.”

True, few wear anything wilder than designer jeans and a sports shirt. And the celebrity factor so far has run to Kevin Costner and Mighty Ducks’ hockey players Garrett Burnett and Joffrey Lupul.

But they make up for it with a decor that’s lounge lizard with taste, from the faux leather chairs to the walls covered in a vintage red satin fabric marked with the fussy detail of a Victorian cravat.

Nights begin in the front room, where the giant martini glass presides. The bar is called the Stardust Lounge, and it attracts a crowd with stiff Cosmopolitans (yes, there is such a thing) and good conversation. By 9:30, the main room opens, enticing the crowd with loud music and blue and red spotlights playfully bouncing off the blue oval dance floor.

The crowd gets younger as the night drifts by, but prices are still very adult. Those Cosmos are $12; beer is $8 (at least the crew of 13 bartenders makes sure no one has to wait).

High rollers shell out $500 to $1,000 to reserve tables in a VIP Lounge perched above the dance floor. These price tags should be a magnet to the smugger denizens of clubland, but the unseemly scent of Rat Pack excess doesn’t taint this place. Maybe it’s just the personality of the owners: Raven runs the Vegas with his mother, Heather Rooney, 62, a former folksinger.

While he’s schmoozing inside the club, she’s doting on the guest list at the front, planting the seeds of good behavior with her modest clothes and disarming laugh.

Raven said he started building Vegas for the sake of his patrons. Many have been going to his nightclubs since the mid-1990s, when he owned the now-defunct Newport Beach clubs Atlantis and Tsunami.

It took him more than two years to get the city of Costa Mesa to approve his nightclub -- the city hadn’t given the green light to a nightclub in a decade, he said.

“It’s just as hard for a nightclub to get an approval as it is a strip club,” Raven said. “The bottom line is a lot of people in municipalities think entertainment is a nuisance.”

In 2002, the city planning department recommended rejecting his plans. Then he hired a lobbyist to help him pitch Vegas to the planning commission, which had the final say on the club. Eventually they gave him thumbs up in December, and he got his adult playground, fit for a PG-rated version of the Rat Pack.

“It’s what Orange County needed,” said Beatrice Evans, 24, of Newport Beach, who was sipping vodka on the rocks on a recent night. “It’s a Los Angeles/Las Vegas nightclub in Orange County. It’s wonderful, but it may be ahead of its time.”

Quite a feat for an elegant nightclub with a foot in the past.

Andrew Asch can be reached at weekend@latimes.com.

*

Vegas

Where: 1901 Newport Blvd., Costa Mesa

When: Tuesday through Thursday, 7 p.m. to midnight; Friday and Saturday, 7 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Price: Free before 9 p.m.; $20 after.

Info: (949) 548-9500, www.clubvegas.us