Far away from Hollywood

Hollywood, 1994. The scene is dead, or so I’m told. Nothing but a few back-alley bars light up the black night. Streets are empty except for hipsters in the know and random crackheads, who occasionally stop you to enlist some help finding a dropped rock in the gutter. Joints like Bar Deluxe, Three Clubs, Lava Lounge, Lingerie and the Room are key destinations -- each with hot weekly promotions causing folks to run into each other night after night.

Ah, the good old days. You could park in front of the bar of your choice without being hijacked for cash by a guy in a red jacket.

Ten years later, the heart of Hollywood is overrun with showy nightclubs and their accompanying PR machines, both working overtime to lure in besotted starlets so it can be featured on the next edition of “Celebrities Uncensored.”

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

But the scene had a special appeal when it was dead, when you felt as if you owned the night.

Which brings us to Little Cave, the antidote for Hollywood gluttony. This bar is so far off the beaten path you may as well be spelunking in Kansas.

Located in Highland Park on a funky stretch of Figueroa Street, a block from the offbeat music haven Mr. T’s Bowl and next door to the Korean-owned novelty shop Mas Precio Loco (more crazy prices), Little Cave is a diamond in the rough-riding neighborhood.

A creation of Bobby Green, a former art student who’s made his living creating such eccentric sanctuaries as Atwater Village’s Bigfoot Lodge and West L.A.’s Cacao, Little Cave is a ‘60s-styled Goth-disco lounge with plenty of funk in its trunk.

Green and his business partners, D’mitry and Dimitri -- two Russians who also own the clothing lines Komarov and Kiska, took over a ‘60s biker bar called Richard’s Hofbrau, which in recent years had devolved into a den of iniquity. Green, however, saw potential. Taking a page from the Bigfoot Lodge’s history, when he banked on turning an elderly gay bar in Atwater Village into a cheeky ski lodge-themed lounge, he believed Highland Park might have partying potential.

“You just have to take a gamble and hope your instincts are right,” Green says. “Then you kind of accelerate it by opening a bar in the area and by doing that, you create your own destiny.”

With the success of Bigfoot Lodge, Little Cave’s already got a built-in crowd, many who already live on the Eastside and who are willing to head to Highland Park because they know Green’s bars deliver.

“He just has a gift of creating a place that’s really fun to congregate,” says Linda Husjord, the owner of Frenchy’s, a hip Burbank beauty parlor. “Bobby’s bars allow you to have dialogue with people, more so than in Hollywood. It’s not about who’s who and who you know, it’s about who you are, which is something I really appreciate.”

Jaz Dringenberg appreciates the drink prices, which are way below the current inflated Hollywood prices.

“I can get two drinks for the price of what one cocktail costs in Hollywood,” Dringenberg says. “I know I’ll be back.”

Little Cave’s already attracting a cool collective of gearheads, rockabilly scenesters and indie music lovers. It’s made for a comfortable hangout for artists from such bands as Weezer, the Panty Lions and the Postal Service.

The bar’s entrance boasts an original sign from a 1940s Sunset Boulevard bar of the same name, which gives it the feeling of a place that’s existed for years. Upon entering, you step into a roomy smoking patio, with the inside bar and lounge area on your right. Leaving many of the ‘60s features intact, Green tweaked the lighting to create a red-light district feel. The T-bar domed ceiling sparkles with silver glitter, and there’s even a make-out room.

Behind the main lounge is a brick-lined room with dark snuggly booths, where people hide away from the music and mayhem.

Little Cave is open nightly, and there’s no cover charge (wow, another novelty). Wednesday through Saturday are considered dance nights, where such turntablists as DJ Garon spin a brew of New Wave, electropop, punk and rock, while Tuesdays and Sundays are indie music nights, where you get to hear underground L.A. bands first.

“Every time I go there, I realize I have a chance to meet such an eclectic group of people,” Husjord says. “They’re there to have fun and not to be seen. It’s all good.”

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Little Cave

Where: 5922 N. Figueroa St., Highland Park

When: Open nightly, 7 p.m.-2 a.m.; 21 and older, no cover

Info: (323) 255-6871