A place that’s fit for two kings
Since some of the plaster cherubs posted above each booth at the Continental Room look upward, they may see Elvis Presley’s soul gyrating in heaven. But those who gaze downward into the bar awash in lava-red light spy double Elvi.
Owners Carlo Terranova and Sean Francis, both 32, employ two Elvises. It’s not that they are connoisseurs of all things Presley. It’s just that everything must be just so at the Continental Room -- even if that means keeping an understudy Elvis on the payroll. Or, spending two years tweaking the decor.
“Most people would have been more speedy with opening the bar,” said Terranova, who opened the Continental Room in Fullerton with Francis in 2002. “It made no monetary sense. Some people might call that crazy. We call it being pure.”
They spent around $500,000 remodeling the bar, which was a speak-easy in the 1920s. They scoured America and even England to find the perfect flocked wallpaper, the precise candelabras and the ideal red Naugahyde booths.
Their efforts ensured the place would look like a club where Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin -- and maybe even an Elvis or two -- would party.
Patrons such as Allison Zunich, 28, a student at Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, felt they hit their target.
“It’s kind of like a time warp,” Zunich said. “It has the grittiness of an English pub without the cigarettes. There’s glamour here too.”
Other Orange County clubs, such as Vegas in Costa Mesa, strive for that Rat Pack feel. Sutra in Costa Mesa caters to an upscale dance crowd. To check out the latest underground rock band, people go to Detroit Bar, also in Costa Mesa. But those who want the whole enchilada -- a classic drink like the Grasshopper served by veteran bartender Bob Salem, underground music and a celebrity lounge lizard vibe -- make it a point to stop at the Continental Room during their pub crawls.
Hanging out in the curved booths are rock stars such as Jeremy Popoff, guitarist for Lit, and Dramarama frontman John Easdale. They might catch a rockabilly like Deke Dickerson, who occasionally plays on weekends, or some more experimental sounds.
Last year, Ikey Owens, keyboardist for the Mars Volta, graced the place with a performance by his avant-garde jazz/hip-hop band Free Moral Agents. The Millionaire, former guitarist from 1990s lounge-core band Combustible Edison, has spun exotica tracks here as well.
Fans of soul, bossa nova and Latin jazz crowd this club Tuesdays for Behind the Red Curtain night. Some of the music crowd have followed Terranova and Francis across the street, where they started their first Fullerton nightlife venture, the Hub, an all-ages cafe. Lit and Easdale performed there for concerts such as the Earth Day Festival.
“They could have a much bigger place,” Easdale said. “But they decided to do a place that was much more esoteric. They had a vision and they didn’t compromise.”
After leaving high school early -- they were both bored by their classes -- Terranova and Francis started a business refurbishing and repairing vintage motor scooters. The money they raised helped them lease the Hub in 1989. A decade later, they itched to build a venue that adults would appreciate. Make that discerning adults, according to one of their patrons, Sam Moonitz, a 24-year-old chef from La Mirada.
“Other bars are filled with people you went to high school with,” Moonitz said. “Over here, it’s the people who want to avoid the crowd.”
Francis and Terranova still hold the lease on the Hub property, and plan to reinvent it as the Slide Bar, a restaurant-bar with a rock ‘n’ roll theme.
They’ll open next year.
As long as things are just so.
*
Continental Room
Where: 115 W. Santa Fe Ave., Fullerton
When: 2 p.m. to 2 a.m. daily
Cost: No cover
Info: (714) 526-4529