One place where things are getting pretty ‘Ugly’

THERE’S a place where waitresses dance on the bar.

There’s a place where the barmaids wear denim shorts and cowboy hats, spray Jungle Juice on customers and mime mounting each other from behind.

There is such a place, and you don’t have to rent that coming-of-age epic “Coyote Ugly” (2000) to enjoy it. The place is Patrick Molloy’s, a rollicking boardwalk hangout tucked snugly inside the party artery of Hermosa Beach.

On Thursdays -- known as Coyote Ugly Night -- the Molloy’s staff puts a fresh, hip-hop spin on old-school burlesque: Six waitresses and bartenders equipped with bodies of varying natural delight hop onto the 33-foot-long wooden bar, and later onto tables in the center of the room, and gyrate to their hearts’ content, not to mention the content of the clientele.

Most of the evening, a DJ, poised at the summit of a steep staircase, spins tried-and-true favorites such as “Groove Is in the Heart” and “Hollaback Girl” to an airy warehouse full of exposed-shirttail preppies and their eager partners.

At 11:15 p.m. the giggling dancers assemble in a single line behind the club to practice the moves that Tricia Gomez, their Hype Studios choreographer, has taught them. Not surprisingly, dishwashers and busboys from nearby clubs choose this moment to take out the trash.

In a scene that sets the tone for the evening, a group of homies with shaved heads swaggers by. “Did you throw up?” one asks his weaving Sean John-clad compatriot. The man nods and flops into the backseat of a black Mercedes SUV. An hour later a group of security guards gathers to assess the status of another green-gilled customer. Given the ubiquity of $3 jello shooters, the condition of the afflicted is not surprising.

At midnight the dancers emerge and position themselves at the edge of the bar.

“Welcome to Patrick Molloy’s, the hottest spot in the South Bay,” the announcer’s voice rings, through bombastic bass-coated grooves. “It gets no hotter than this. Beautiful ladies. Beautiful ladies!”

The crowd lathers up like a fresh bar of Irish Spring, and in a flash the girls are standing on the bar, tan bellies gleaming, slim arms flexing, white smiles glowing, cowboy hats tilted.

A curly-haired boy sidles up to the bar beneath 26-year-old Ashley Brooks. Petite Tiffani Montgomery’s American-flag bra creeps into view. The ladies dance to all manner of hooting and hollering.

The audience is won over, if not a bit cowed.

After the show the girls stream excitedly into the second-floor office. Under the telltale fluorescent lights they are once again mortal: makeup melting, eyes pink-glassy and shining.

“That was so hot,” their slender blond manager, Jenny Lee, enthuses. “So hot.”

*

Patrick Molloy’s

Where: 50A Pier Ave., Hermosa Beach

When: 3 p.m. to 2 a.m. daily

Price: $5 Cactus Cooler shots, $3 jello shots, $3 well drinks, $2 domestic drafts

Info: (310) 798-9762