Nitty-gritty lowdown chic

Only the Bolthouse crew could lure limos down El Centro each week. Not to mention the dozen or so paparazzi who descend on the gritty neighborhood at Santa Monica Boulevard and El Centro Avenue every Thursday in the hopes of getting shots of celebrities on the town.

Truth is, Bolthouse Productions is so strong, the company could decide to set up shop at a Fluff & Fold on Crenshaw Boulevard and a scene would be born.

Owned by 15-year clubland veteran Brent Bolthouse and his partner, Jenifer Rosero -- Hollywood’s fiercest door gal -- Bolthouse Productions was just tapped by Hard Rock Hotel & Casino owner Peter Morton to revamp Baby’s, a nightclub at his Las Vegas hotel.

(Bolthouse is following in solid footsteps. Morton originally invited Sean MacPherson [Bar Marmont/Swingers/Jones/El Carmen] to create Baby’s and now that it’s run its course, he’s turning to Hollywood’s current nightlife hotshot to reinvent the spot.)

Along with throwing high-profile parties for the likes of Cameron Diaz, Gwen Stefani and Jennifer Lopez, Bolthouse hosts shindigs at Joseph’s Cafe on Mondays, Concorde on Wednesdays and Avalon on Fridays -- star-studded scenes that are weekly tabloid fodder. After a successful two-year Thursday night run at the Lounge in West Hollywood, he and his partners decided to take their show to El Centro, a newly revamped nightclub located at a former transvestite bar in a lowdown part of Hollywood.

Despite some big ambitions, El Centro is still a work in progress. A punk club in the 1990s, the venue got an overhaul last year thanks to the owners of Concorde and Las Palmas. Although they’ve gussied up the interior and have plans to create a three-room boutique hotel above the boxy two-room club, for now, El Centro offers a place to take a load off and little else.

Still, it’s been a while since Hollywood A-listers have gone slumming, and there’s something very anti-chic about El Centro. For starters, it’s one of those scenes where you need to be in the know. Driving down Santa Monica Boulevard won’t help because there’s no sign of anything happening. Even when you take a left on El Centro, it’s hard to tell exactly where the party is. You have to go behind the building and through a parking lot to find the rope. That’s where you’ll see the blinding flashbulbs of the paparazzi, who stake out the sidewalk as the limos roll up.

We popped by around midnight on a recent Thursday, and showed up at the same time as Scarlett Johansson, Vince Vaughn, Mark Wahlberg and rocker Matt Sorum -- not exactly bad company.

You enter into an outdoor patio, a roomy smoking area with naked wood all around. The proprietors may have plans, but right now it’s like hanging around on the set of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” right after Ty Pennington and pals put up the framework.

The stripped-down space works to El Centro’s advantage; it seems everyone lets their hair down and gets comfortable. Inside the small club, the dance floor’s going off, as DJ AM gets everyone worked up with a creamy blend of hip-hop.

As with Joseph’s Cafe on Mondays -- at 3 years old, a Hollywood staple -- Bolthouse teamed up with promoter Pantera Sarah for El Centro. Sarah can be found hustling her way through the crowd to seat her guests in the club’s handful of booths. She personally takes the time to greet most guests.

“We have people who’ve supported us for a long time,” Sarah says. “There’s a familiarity when you come to one of our clubs; it’s like a comfort zone.

“With El Centro, we want you to feel like you’ve been invited to a cool house party.”

Apparently, it’s working.

“I feel like I’m at a backyard kegger,” says actor Chris Evans, star of “The Perfect Score.” “There’s a great mix of ‘80s music and hip-hop, and I’m always running into people I know. It’s like a common ground.”

Quite simply, it feels like Thursdays at El Centro is “anti-bling.”

Besides, conspicuous consumption is sooo last year.

Now where the heck’s my limo?

Heidi Siegmund Cuda can be reached at weekend@latimes.com

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El Centro

Where: 6202 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood

When: Thursdays, 10 p.m.-2 a.m.

Who: 21 and older

Info: Reservations required. Call Bolthouse Productions at (323) 848-9300.