NIGHT LINES

Hotel bars are still the rage in Los Angeles (see Teddy’s, Bar Nineteen 12, Hopscotch at the Custom Hotel, etc.), and now the scene is about to get even hotter with the arrival of several new players this year. Midnight on Sunset, the forthcoming bar inside the new Sunset Strip hotel the London West Hollywood (formerly the Bel Age), promises to be the best of the lot, with inspired design from London-based David Collins Studio. The firm has already designed one bar in the U.S. for the London NYC (pictured) and will do two bars at the L.A. property (Midnight on Sunset in November and a restaurant-adjacent bar, projected for June. No word yet on if the design of the London LA’s restaurant bar will be similar to the New York outpost. . . . Hotel bar fans need not wait until November for a swank lounge experience, however. The Palomar Hotel’s new restaurant (with a separate bar/lounge component), Blvd 16, will open in April. The cozy lounge will offer more than 120 wine labels and promises “seasonal cocktails made from freshly squeezed juices and locally grown herbs.” Lead designer Laura Rogers from Beverly Hills-based Cheryl Rowley Design says the bar is “intimate” with Wenge floors and a cream/chocolate color scheme (including a chocolate marble bar). . . . And Avi Brosh, the man behind the Custom Hotel’s Hopscotch Lounge, has a hit on his hands with his other new hotel in WeHo, the Palihouse (its French-inspired restaurant/lounge the Hall is a new WeHo favorite). Several fashion-week parties took place there this week, and tonight the cast of “How I Met Your Mother” is celebrating an early St. Patrick’s Day with a Jameson-sponsored bash. . . . Long-running burlesque club Forty Deuce will have its last dance Saturday on Melrose Avenue. Owner Ivan Kane says he plans to reopen the bar downtown in 2009. The Las Vegas outpost at Mandalay Bay Casino remains open. . . . Finally, Fairfax Avenue venue Largo is moving in May. More details next week.

--

-- Charlie.Amter@latimes.com