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THE ENABLER

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The Snow White Cafe, founded in 1946, is nestled across the street from Hollywood & Highland -- a mall complex at the corner where bored character actors in rubber masks have terrified children for generations.

Last week, the bustling block was also the site of Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama’s genial debate at the Kodak Theatre. The Snow White, with its vintage murals of cuddly dwarfs and their rosy-cheeked madam, seemed a prime spot to nurse a $7, 32-ounce jar of semi-flat Stella Artois at a sidewalk table (atop Bing Crosby’s Walk of Fame star) and watch the melee.

Chants of “Run and tell your mama, we votin’ for Obama,” mingled with shouts of “Oh, my God. That’s where they film ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’!” A man in a Hulk costume consorted with Darth Vader by a woman plastering her pug with Hillary stickers.

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If one wanted to rebut claims of Hollywood’s reputation as a bastion of liberal eccentricity, the Snow White is a bad vantage point. At night, the strip becomes a cavalcade of $20 martinis and doormen with necks bigger than their thighs.

But for the bipartisan act of drinking a cold beer and soaking up a carnival of media-saturated humanity, the Snow White is one of the best seats going.

6769 Hollywood Blvd., (323) 465-4444

-- theguide@latimes.com

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