Feeling right at home

Bars like the Blu Monkey Lounge don’t exist on the east side of Hollywood. Not with swanky Moroccan decor, including two elevated areas on either end of the bar with plush red sofas, throw pillows and carpeting. Not with sofa benches along the main floor. Not with a serene smoking patio reminiscent of the outside garden at New York’s former Museum of Modern Art, or with a DJ booth set up, on this night, behind the couches in the center of the room.

No, bars like the Blu Monkey Lounge reside in West Hollywood, or maybe they’ve moved as far east as the now decidedly trendy Cahuenga Corridor, but not at Hollywood and Western, a few doors down from a Thai Fast Food stand that boasts a giant hot dog on the top.

However, that’s where you’ll find the Blu Monkey, thanks to the vision of four partners: brothers Vincenzo and Tony Moschella, John Seffker and Salvatore Lampasona.

“I saw Hollywood moving east,” says Vincenzo, who formerly ran Monte Cristo in L.A. and also owns a club in Rome.

“In Los Feliz we have $4-million and $5-million homes, so I thought it was the right space. Look what happened to Old Town Pasadena -- 20 years back, [the corner of] Colorado and Fair Oaks was full of prostitutes and drugs, now it is the hip place to be.”

Indeed, if you build it, they will come. Blu Monkey, whose interior was designed by Mary O’Grady (of the Figueroa Hotel), opened in December with several warmup events for friends and family.

Now on Saturday nights, the venue sometimes has a line outside by 8:30.

It’s become a hot spot for DJs, and the intimate space has hosted parties for hip-hop diva Missy Elliott and Blink-182’s Travis Barker, among others.

Even the owners have been surprised, albeit pleasantly, by the instant success of the lounge. “We have this conversation all the time. ‘Wow. What are we doing right?’ ” Tony says.

Seffker does have a theory on the venue’s popularity. “It’s word of mouth. That’s really what it came down to,” he says. “Everybody told everybody else, and it just spread really, really quick. The right people came in, we booked some parties early on, and those parties turned into just a mass spread-of-word.”

But Hollywood is littered with trendy spots competing to lure stars, their entourages and the wannabe glamorous. How Blu Monkey will fare against the glitter ravenous depends on whether it can retain its warm vibe.

Whether you enter through the front, from Hollywood Boulevard or through the back entrance where the parking lot is, there is no cover.

Inside, DJ Viktor Carrillo spins some righteously inviting and head-bobbing jazzy house grooves, forcing even the most sedentary drinkers to find their inner Elvis and sway those hips in a way that would make Ed Sullivan blush. Nearby the stylish twenty- and thirtysomething patrons exchange hellos, hugs and pleasantries as if they’re at a party at a friend’s house.

“The way I visualize it is it’s our living room -- everybody’s welcome, and we try to keep that atmosphere,” Vincenzo says.

If the Blu Monkey Lounge is like their home, the quartet of owners would pass any Martha Stewart test for effective hosting. They work the room like politicians, pressing the flesh, greeting patrons by name and drinking with the customers.

“We don’t want to be here for a year. So we drink with the clientele and everybody starts getting to know our names,” Vincenzo says. “That’s what we want to create, not just getting the money and go home. We’re part of the club.”

Patrons are responding to that. From an older gentleman who comes in every week and dances, (“We call him the dancing Frenchman,” Seffker says, smiling) to regulars like Chad, Jamie, Kristina and those who hang out by the DJ set-up, Seffker and his partners can point out almost everybody by name.

In spite of the Blu Monkey Lounge’s quick triumph, though, the bar is still admittedly finding its niche. That is particularly true when it comes to booking the musical talent that’s become the backdrop to the conversation and decor.

“We’ve had everything from drum and bass to lounge to ‘80s hip-hop,” Tony says.

“We try to feel the crowd. We actually go around at nights and say, ‘Hey, what do you guys think?’ We listen to people.

“We’re just trying to create a vibe where everybody’s going to feel comfortable.”

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Steve Baltin can be reached at weekend@latimes.com.

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Blu Monkey Lounge

Where: 5521 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood

When: 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. daily

Price: No cover

Info: (323) 957-9000