BUZZ CLUBS

Hoist one for a lost landmark

Another one bites the dust. With the recent destruction of the Ambassador Hotel, barkeeps Andrew Meieran and Marc Smith (Three Clubs/The Vault) teamed up with the Los Angeles Conservancy to host a memorial party for the legendary hotel, the site of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy’s assassination and the famed Cocoanut Grove nightclub. The event takes place tonight at the HMS Bounty and Gaylord Apartments, across the street from where the hotel once stood. “If they can tear down the Ambassador, what’s to stop them from taking anything they want?” says Smith, whose company Liquid Trust is building bars in historic downtown buildings. “If we have no sense of our past, how do we look to the future?” Among those expected to attend tonight’s memorial are Johnny Knoxville, Vince Vaughn and Hilary and Haylie Duff.... Wilmer Valderrama celebrated his 26th birthday Sunday at Level 3, a nightclub holed up in the Hollywood & Highland complex. Among the party people were Scarlett Johansson, Taye Diggs, Matthew Perry, Omar Epps, Nick Lachey and Jesse Metcalfe....Although dozens of phone calls to owner James Sinclair were not returned, word is the new nightclub Element is closed indefinitely for permit violations.... Last Thursday’s choreographer’s ball, “Carnival,” brought such gyraters as Janet Jackson, Carmen Electra, Jessica Alba, Justin Guarini and Wade Robson to the Key Club on the Sunset Strip.

It’s e-love on V-Day

This Valentine’s Day at downtown’s Broadway Bar, the high-tech matchmaking service OneKeyAway is hoping to make some love connections (your personal preferences are loaded into a gadget that lets you know if there’s a compatible comrade in the house).... In more V-Day news, the masked wrestlers and burlesque dancers of Lucha Va Voom are taking over downtown’s Mayan Theatre Feb. 14-16 for three nights of “Love, Mexican Style.” ... Saints and Sinners nightclub in Culver City plans a “Devils and Angels” Valentine’s gala with “aphrodisiac” drink specials.... Serena Williams hung out with Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Byron Leftwich and running back Chris Howard last week at Cozy’s nightclub in Sherman Oaks....

Making noise

Actor Joaquin Phoenix kicked it at On the Rox last Monday, and Matthew McConaughey and gal pal Penelope Cruz checked out Texas crooner James McMurtry at the Troubadour on Thursday.... Promoter Brent Bolthouse is hosting a post-Super Bowl party in Detroit for PlayStation and throwing the William Morris Grammys party on Wednesday at the Summit Estates on Mulholland Drive. You’ll also find him on the small screen in upcoming episodes of MTV’s “Laguna Beach” spinoff “The Hills.” ... Beauty Bar debuts its fifth Beauty Bar location on Sunday in San Diego, with a bus ride/field trip to the new joint, departing from Hollywood.

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-- Heidi Siegmund Cuda