Like Eastern Bloc, but chic

FEW would argue the point that the current boom in Hollywood night life dates back to two entrepreneurs: Jon Sidel and Sean MacPherson. The pair, whose cachet always seemed to be enhanced by the actresses on their arms, brought Hollywood such legendary watering holes and eateries as Small’s K.O., the Olive, Swingers, Jones, Good Luck, Bar Marmont, El Carmen and Dominick’s.

The bottom line is they were cool guys with good taste who had a lot of interesting friends. Sidel went on to marry and have a daughter with actress Rosanna Arquette, while MacPherson (who dated Gina Gershon and is now linked to Daryl Hannah) migrated east to New York to create the hip Maritime Hotel.

Seems everyone on the scene was thrilled when MacPherson came back to L.A. to open Bar Lubitsch, a new spot on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood. The location is the former Parlour Club.

The reason it was particularly exciting was MacPherson doesn’t do anything halfway. When it comes to themes and schemes, he’s among the best. Recall the winking parrot and running peacock at Bar Marmont, the waitresses at the Warhol-esque Swingers and the rock portraits at Jones.

But he’s been so successful in New York, there was concern he wasn’t coming back.

“I love L.A. and would never leave it,” he says. “In fact, I plan to start coming out and doing more here.”

It’s no surprise that Bar Lubitsch, with partner Jared Meisler, is already a smash.

The venue pays homage to the Cold War era with a design that is spot-on Eastern Bloc. “I wanted to pay respect to the Russian neighborhood,” MacPherson says, “as well as create something timeless.”

The bar riffs on the name of German-born filmmaker Ernst Lubitsch and signage dots the spot in Polish, Russian and German. Erotic paintings hang throughout, as well as vintage posters from a Polish circus. And what could be more Eastern European than 300 varieties of vodka? In addition to all those heady options, the trimmings are fresh, organic and yummy (think, cucumber gimlets with lime).

ON a recent Friday, David Schwimmer bellied up to the bar -- a good sign, as the former “Friends” star seems to always make his way to L.A.’s top establishments. (He was North’s lucky penny when it first opened.)

The design, which includes a partially enclosed front patio, brick walls and a tulip-shaped disco ball that Meisler extracted from MacPherson’s home, is warm and friendly. Somehow, it still maintains a stoicism that screams East Berlin when it was Commie. Its bathrooms are so spartan you feel as if you’re in an underground rail station. And check out the lighting fixtures in the DJ area: single unadorned lightbulbs.

The clientele is equally diverse. The Friday night crowd included two guys from the Czech Republic, an Argentine of Russian decent, an L.A. transplant from Chicago, a tourist from Thailand and a scenester from the Bronx.

“I came here last week for the first time,” said New York native Richard Kreger. “This is my new home now. I live two blocks away, and I’ve made so many friends.”

It’s by far the busiest bar MacPherson has ever premiered. Credit goes to Meisler, who was responsible for fulfilling MacPherson’s vision.

“I really wanted it to feel authentic, like you’d just stepped behind the Iron Curtain,” says Meisler, who hung turn-of-the-century black-and-white portraits of his Russian relatives throughout the two-room club.

Lubitsch continues to buck convention by not offering trendy bottle service.

“People keep trying to reserve tables by asking for bottle service, and we just don’t do that,” Meisler says. “We’re a neighborhood bar, and Sunday through Wednesday we don’t even have a doorman. If you want a table, come early.”

To be sure, the bar is slammed nightly. Now open for six weeks (a quick premiere last year was aborted because the city found the bathrooms were not up to code), people are loving the new spot.

“I couldn’t have picked a better place to bring my friends,” says Katie Huber, out on the town with her girlfriends. “We wanted something low-key but not too low-key. We still want to see cute boys.”

Just like the Olive and Small K.O., two legendary joints, hipsters hover nightly trying to get in. The reason there’s a crowd at the door on weekends is that management likes to keep it under capacity at all times.

“We really want people to feel like they can move and breathe,” says Meisler, who originally worked for MacPherson at Bar Marmont. “When we first envisioned the bar, we were angling for a more mature crowd. We keep the music at a nice level, we don’t play Top 40, and we don’t advertise. We really do cater to our neighbors.”

Just goes to show you, a little bit of Solidarnosc can go a long way.

weekend@latimes.com

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BAR LUBITSCH

Where: 7702 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood

When: 7 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Price: No cover; 21 and older

Info: (323) 654-1234