Hollywood antithesis hiding in plain sight

SO you don’t want to go to Hollywood but you still want to be in the mix, knock back a couple of cocktails, maybe meet somebody, hit the dance floor.

And you’re not looking for a sea of losers, more like a seaside paradise, maybe even with a few famous faces to ogle.

If this sounds like your cup of nightlife tea, then the Hideout in Santa Monica’s got your back.

“I love the laid-back attitude here,” says Diane Tang, a grad student who hangs at the Hideout each weekend. “I can go outside under the stars and have a conversation with someone.”

Located a stone’s throw from the beach on Channel Road, the 2-month-old nightclub is a hotbed for singles looking to make a little night music.

“It’s great for a date,” says Matt Cooper, a Santa Monica ad executive. “You can take them to the Hideout and then walk across the street and dip your toes in the sand.”

Key to the Hideout’s early success is its good-looking clientele of professionals, young and middle-aged, who are out on the town to specifically let their hair down. They’re not there to be seen, they don’t want any lists, no covers, no ‘tude. They just want to flip an ID and head in for some merriment.

There’s no doubt that some of its success is dumb luck. Its owners, Mark Verge and Kevin Miller, did little more than a few nips and tucks when they took over the former gay bar called the Friendship, which had been on the block since 1986. They dubbed it the Hideout, after a nickname Will Rogers bestowed upon the joint in an earlier incarnation.

By simply painting the exterior, which includes a rockin’ bow of a ship, gussying up the interior and enclosing an outdoor area to create a patio, a scene was born. Who knew there was a hot Santa Monica bar crowd just waiting for a venue? Some of the gay customers still trickle in, but it’s mostly young sophisticates who are enchanted with the bar’s legendary history.

“Every time people come in here, they’re blown away by a piece of driftwood above the bar,” says Miller, an Ohio native who moved to L.A. five years ago. “It’s 80 years old, and all the regulars, including Will Rogers himself, signed it. There’s a lot of history here.”

You feel it when you look at that relic, which contains the ghost of entertainment’s past. The bar started out in 1923 as Doc Law’s drugstore, but if you knew Doc’s secret password, he’d lead you to the moonshine. Rogers and pals got jiggy during Prohibition, and it later became a favorite hang of Marilyn Monroe.

It’s ironic that a place that started off as an exclusive speak-easy is now on the map as the alternative to H-town elitism.

It’s probably why such iconic celebs as Sean Penn and Jennifer Aniston fancy the spot.

“It’s off the beaten path and functions like a neighborhood bar,” says Joey De Pinto, a film and music producer who’s a Hideout regular. “It’s not a typical Hollywood pickup joint.”

OWNER Verge, who also owns Casey’s in downtown L.A., says he works hard to make it comfortable for everyone.

“I figured if I’m going to do another bar, it’s got to be a place I can bring my parents to,” says Verge, who owns Westside Rentals.

Regulars say Verge’s parents like to get down on Tuesday’s karaoke night, its most popular weeknight scene -- although others fancy Martini Mondays, when martinis are half off all night. On weekends the bar brings in DJs such as Jake Hoffman, whose biggest fan is his dad, Dustin, and by 11-ish, they start cranking out the ‘80s hits, which makes it nearly impossible to not get that body in motion.

All the activity has added a bustle to the teensy stretch of Santa Monica, a strip teeming with valets. It even smells sweet in the neighborhood -- the combined efforts of the great Pacific and the famous Italian restaurant Giorgio’s (Il Ristorante di Giorgio Baldi), a favorite celebrity haunt, nearby.

“I was a lifeguard on this beach most of my life,” says Verge, a third-generation Santa Monican. “The best part of my gig here is getting people down to the beach.”

“It’s a hike, I admit it,” says Tang, who makes the trek from the Valley.

“But I really like the crowd, and, come on, the beach is right across the street. You can’t beat that.”

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

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The Hideout

Where: 112 W. Channel Road, Santa Monica

When: Open nightly, 6 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Price: No cover. 21 and older. Valet parking available.

Info: (310) 429-9920 or www.santamonicahideout.com.