Hollywood, we have liftoff

WHEN you’re hot, you’re hot.

Case in point: LAX nightclub, a new spot on a sizzling stretch of Las Palmas Avenue, smack in the heart of Hollywood.

The place has flow, flair and even a bit of vision. Most important, it has that ever-so-necessary nightclub staple, celebrity cachet.

“It’s a funny thing, but celebrities like going where there’s other celebrities,” says Loyal Pennings, who owns LAX with partner and celebrity DJ Adam Goldstein, a.k.a. DJ AM. “If Nicole Richie’s there with Mischa Barton and Lindsay Lohan, then Leonardo DiCaprio and Wilmer Valderrama are gonna be there. It’s just how it goes.”

And truly, the gang’s all there. Week in, week out, it’s a paparazzi free-for-all. But if the club didn’t have a backbone, the stars would only be there for a minute before taking their famous faces to the next trendy locale.

LAX seems to have the goods. At a capacity of 400, the one-level club is not too big and not too small. It’s easy to fill it up but guests don’t feel crushed. The club has a breezy flow, with two outdoor patios, an intimate dance floor and an open-air, velvet-curtained VIP area that was built around two palm trees.

“This is one of the few places that lives up to the buzz,” says Samantha Wong, a hairdresser who club-hops weekly. “I really like how everything feels airy and open, like you’re part of a perfect party.”

“I’m a huge DJ AM fan,” says Dotty Smith, who blew into LAX from Orange County on a recent Wednesday. “To get to see and hear him spin in a club this small is really cool.”

Goldstein says he’s grateful to finally have his own spot.

“I have always worked in clubs,” he says. “It just seemed like the natural next step to own one.”

He credits good luck and timing for his current success as a party DJ.

“I was just in the right places at the right time,” he says. “Don’t get me wrong, I worked very hard taking every gig I could get for 40 bucks a night and practiced for countless hours. But I just got lucky.”

LAX is also a first for designer Alejandro Rivera, who has designed events for Motorola, Bacardi and MTV’s Video Music Awards. He can now add nightclub to his resume. Rivera opted for a fluid style. The club’s design includes Venetian plaster, which gives the walls a concrete-like look, and it pays homage to the real LAX with two hydraulic lift doors that conjure up airport hangar openings in miniature. The only reminder that the club had a past life is the jellyfish tank behind the bar, a holdover from its last incarnation at Las Palmas nightclub.

“The only guideline Loyal gave me was, ‘Don’t change the jellyfish tank,’ so everything started from the fish tank,” Rivera says. “It became an organic form that just took place and grew from there. I wanted something aerodynamic, sleek and sexy, and that’s where the doors came in.”

“I don’t like things hidden or tucked away,” Pennings says, “because people never find them. I wanted a room where you could walk in the door and see what all your options are.”

Like DJ AM, Pennings, who also owned Las Palmas and such venues as Concorde and El Centro, is at the top of his game with LAX. He credits the school of hard knocks for its success. His first club, with partner Chris Pike, was destined to fail. The duo teamed up when both were in their 20s to open a nightclub in San Luis Obispo called Loco Ranchero.

“Opening a big nightclub in a little town taught us a lot,” says Pennings, who says they ended up taking all of Ranchero’s equipment down to Hermosa Beach, where they opened Sangria restaurant and club. “We learned you have to know your audience.”

He also got schooled at Garden of Eden, where he worked as the general manager before selling his grandfather’s Jeep Cherokee to get the down payment to buy Las Palmas -- a club credited with revitalizing celebrity interest in downtown Hollywood.

Now, in its newest embodiment as LAX, it joins a stretch of Hollywood that’s popping nightly. Next door to LAX is Rokbar, a super-friendly spot modeled after a Miami bar. And just below Rokbar is Bella, the latest dining experience from Adolfo Suaya and the Dolce Group.

LAX’S splashy debut party in August was hosted by promoter Brent Bolthouse, who could probably get A-listers to come to an opening of a Porta Potti.

“I don’t think I can get people to go just anywhere,” says Bolthouse. “But it’s like anything, if you put together an evening with great music at a great venue, and we’re doing our part, working hard to create a positive experience, then it all comes together.”

Goldstein also credits good lighting to keeping his celebrity pals content.

“I keep it very dark so you don’t feel like a fish in a fish tank,” he says. “I just want all people, celebs or not, to be comfy and happy.”

With AM at the turntables, Bolthouse’s crew hosts Wednesdays every week -- just as they did when it was Las Palmas. And each week, you’ll find young Hollywood mixing and mingling with top industry professionals. You can smell the deals going down as you walk through the room. Just last week Prince was on the scene, as was Eddie Murphy, Ryan Phillipe, uber-agent Patrick Whitesell and his TV host wife, Lauren Sanchez.

Fridays also pack a wallop, as promoter Michael Sutton hosts a weekly dinner party with the likes of Donald Trump, Eva Longoria and DiCaprio, all sampling from LAX’s fun airport-style menu (think small, fast and simple).

The only downside to the club is that to rest your rear, you have to buy a bottle. Translation: To actually sit at a table or a booth, you and/or your guests have to cough up the dough for bottle service, which is usually $300 and up. Although not unique to LAX -- it’s a trend that has taken over Hollywood in the last year -- it’s the only glitch in an otherwise fine time.

“Bottle service is just the price you pay to hang out where the whole club is VIP,” Wong says. “But you’ll usually find me on the dance floor anyway. That’s still free.”

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

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LAX

Where: 1714 N. Las Palmas Ave., Hollywood

When: 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. Wednesday through Saturday

Price: Cover varies; 21 and older. Valet parking available. Advance reservations recommended.

Info: (323) 464-0171; for Wednesdays, (323) 848-9300