Flavor that’s long-lasting

In the fickle land of Hollywood, where marriages that last five years are seen as bastions of stability and movies younger than preschoolers are deemed classics, clubs aren’t supposed to endure longer than most silicone breasts.

But somebody forgot to tell Chocolate Bar that after eight years, 4 1/2 of those at the same venue (Gabah), it was time for the night to take its gold watch and head into the sunrise.

The long-running hip-hop night is still bangin’ and poppin’. On a recent Saturday night, the line stretched around the block on Melrose onto Ardmore after midnight.

Inside, the place is just as jumping. While people sit at a bar to the right of the entryway, chill on couches behind a beaded curtain or hang on the outdoor patio, chatting and smoking, the heart of the club is the packed dance floor.

As one of the three rotating DJs -- Daz, Teelee and Hier -- spins a mix of hip-hop, reggae and soul from a stage at the back of the dance floor, the party is in full swing. A rainbow coalition of hip-hop heads clad in sports jerseys or T-shirts, jeans or skirts shouts out the choruses to familiar tracks by artists such as 50 Cent, raising arms with every yell. From the stage, the throng of dancers melds into one, with nary an inch of the dance floor visible underneath their shuffling feet.

If things in Hollywood move in dog years, Chocolate Bar would be in its mid-50s. And it should be wheezing its last breath, not shaking with the vigor of a teen. But the club is so hopping on this night, at 1:05 a.m., that it is shut down by the fire marshal for being overcrowded (an officer outside Gabah said it was the first time he could recall the night being ordered closed early).

Definitely more teenager than old man. So what exactly is the magic elixir that co-creators Shakespeare and Aurelito (they shy away from the term promoter) have found to keep Chocolate Bar eternally young? Patrons say it’s a combination of the atmosphere, the music and the people.

“To me all the other clubs in Hollywood, they’re OK, but they’re kind of bourgie,” says a patron who goes by the name Shaw. “They don’t play stuff like this. You get your reggae, your hip-hop, you get all types of music, that’s why I come here.”

Havana Joe, a street promoter who’s been frequenting the night since it launched at Pedro’s eight years ago, also says it’s the music. “This is pretty much the most reliable spot I can come to,” he says. “The DJs definitely know what they’re doing.”

The same is true of Shakespeare and Aurelito, the duo behind Chocolate Bar. Best known in L.A. circles as the DJs with the ice cream truck who drive around playing music at parties and in neighborhoods, the pair created Chocolate Bar as an extension of the house parties Aurelito was throwing in Echo Park.

“I’m from New York, and the first couple of parties I went to, all the guys out here drove me to Hollywood,” Shakespeare says. “Then I went to his [Aurelito’s] party, and it was amazing. It was like every cross of life, every kind of person. Later on I met him after that and I was like, ‘We should definitely do a party together.’ And we just ended up doing this.”

Eight years of running the same night inspires people to stretch creatively. So, during that time, the night has been housed in conventional halls, such as Zen Sushi in Silver Lake, as well as the more offbeat -- a boxing hall where the DJs were positioned in a boxing ring -- before settling in at Gabah.

But one thing that remains consistent is the vibe. Shakespeare and Aurelito, both of whom are often seen grinning (even the fire marshal incident doesn’t faze them), possess a laid-back attitude reflected in the night.

And they know exactly what they want attendees to take home from a night at Chocolate Bar. “We want people from different classes, different ethnic backgrounds, different cultures, different geographic areas to go home and know that everybody can actually go to a spot and not have any trouble,” Aurelito says. “And feel a little bit refreshed about people in L.A.”

Says Shakespeare: “We’ve always been on the basis of unity. It might be a party vibe, but this person will talk to this person. People that met here, that have become our friends, have kids now. We want them to take away a feeling of love; everybody grooving to the beat. There’s a feeling of unity that music can bring.”

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

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Chocolate Bar

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Where: Gabah, 4658 Melrose Ave., Hollywood

When: 10 p.m.-2:30 a.m. Saturday

Price: $10

Info: (323) 664-8913