NIGHT LINES

Hollywood celebrity hangout Les Deux has had a rough winter. Last week, TMZ.com dug up a lawsuit and posted a woman’s rape allegations online regarding one of the club’s co-owners, Lonnie Moore. The Dolce Group co-founder was hit with sexual assault allegations by a 19-year-old who claims she was raped inside the club after being served alcoholic beverages inside a managers room (replete with a bed) at the nightspot. “It’s a patently frivolous claim,” said Moore’s lawyer, Ronald Richards. “The matter was thoroughly reviewed by governmental agencies and was rejected as not credible.” (Meanwhile, no one at all seems shocked that the underage teenager was actually inside the bar . . .). In a separate incident late last month, two men were wounded in a shooting that occurred in a parking lot outside Les Deux around 2 a.m. . . . Glassell Park’s Verdugo (pictured) is back on the scene after closing (to remedy some permit issues) in late October, just weeks after its grand opening. The swank, Art Deco-inspired bar at 3408 Verdugo Road has drawn denizens of nearby Eagle Rock and Echo Park on weekends lately. Look for Verdugo, currently open only Friday through Sunday, to ramp up to seven nights a week in early ’08. . . . In Costa Mesa, the MOR Project (which owns Nacional and the W’s Backyard, among other venues) is debuting a Japanese lounge in early ’08. Irezumi (901 South Coast Drive) promises 20-foot-high ceilings, multiple plasma screens showing vintage samurai films and a wall featuring traditional tattoo art. Expect an expansive sake menu with signature hot and cold sake drinks at the tattoo-themed (“irezumi” means “tattoo” in Japanese) lounge and restaurant. . . . Downtown’s latest hipster dive, Charlie O’s, temporarily shut down earlier this month to resolve some permit issues. The Spring Street saloon, managed by the folks behind the popular Bar 107, has announced it is re-opening Friday, the owners having worked on the bar’s infrastructure, which famously features a dangerous-looking exposed ceiling. The venue is celebrating by offering free pool and live rock ‘n’ roll from the likes of Happy Dwarf, Red Exiles and Black Party Politics. Still in the works: further renovations that include a new smoking patio.

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Charlie.Amter@latimes.com