New British-themed club Hooray Henry’s opens; with bottle service come tea cakes

Hooray Henry’s -- the new British-themed club from John Terzian’s h.wood group, which also operates SHOREbar in Santa Monica and Bootsy Bellows in West Hollywood -- soft-opened Wednesday night with a decadent dance party that attracted an impenetrable cluster of party people to an ironclad door.

Those who made the cut and wiggled past the massive doormen entered a mid-sized room filled with honey-colored wood walls, crown molding, gleaming brass accents and a wealth of mirrors. The center of the room is dominated by a wood parquet dance floor set beneath a massive custom-built 3-D wall programmed with outlandish psychedelic images of water, fire and, most noticeably, the female anatomy.

“That’s kind of intense!” one partygoer shouted at her date over the thump and thrum of dance music. “That nipple is getting closer.”

And indeed, a disembodied breast appeared to soar 10 feet out of the wall, as if trying to join the dance party. It’s a nifty effect and in perfect keeping with the overall theme of the club, which we’ll call London Manor Gone Wild.

“The whole point is it’s this posh, elegant estate -- the parents are gone and the kids have taken over,” said Terzian, who was dressed in a fitted black suit with a dapper bow tie and presided over the evening’s events like the seasoned host that he is.

His partners in Hooray Henry’s include Brian Toll, Markus Molinari and David Arquette, who helped shape the puppet-show-on-acid vibe of Bootsy Bellows.

As with Bootsy Bellows, Hooray Henry’s is fueled by a ribald sense of theatricality. Lithe models roam the the room and dance floor dressed like royalty, British guards and characters from “A Clockwork Orange.” Refreshingly, the characters are both men and women, and on Wednesday night the figure dancing on a platform next to the DJ booth was male.

“It’s most important for me to capture a moment in time with a new place,” said Terzian, adding that now that he has opened multiple venues he is keenly aware of how key it is to maintain a devoted customer base that frequents all of h.wood’s places. “They are a unique and sophisticated crowd and they have a lot of options.”

Terzian runs with a fast and accomplished group of fashionistas, artists and celebrities, and is increasingly design-focused when it comes to building out his venues. To make Hooray Henry’s come alive, he hired John Sofio of BUILT Inc., who also designed SHOREbar.

Sofio was present at the soft opening, as were Adam Lambert, David Arquette, Balthazar Getty, James Van Der Beek and Laura Carmichael.

Guests in tiny dresses, outlandish hats, too-tight pants and towering heels pressed up to the bar (which features a hand-painted wall of figures and friends that have helped Terzian throughout his career) to order mixed drinks, including four signature cocktails, all sporting Anglophile names like the Oxford Lad (gin, lemon, cucumber, honey syrup) and the East End (tequila, lime, pineapple, habanero syrup, chile-salt rim).

High rollers sat in rounded banquettes beside the dance floor, partaking of bottle service that came in giant, ice-filled brass buckets helmed by molded silver horses’ heads on tables piled with tiny tea cakes and lemon-lime garnish.

Throughout the night, Terzian watched closely to make sure the proceedings ran smoothly (a courtesy he could not possibly extend to the door, where a crush of hopefuls remained waiting even after the club closed for the night).

“At the end of the day I’m entertaining people,” he said. “I’m helping them let loose.”

8713 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, www.hwoodgroup.com.

ALSO:

Echo Park Lake cafe is now open!

Chocolate may boost brain health, new study finds

Happy hour at Riviera 31 for blue cheese puffs and $12 martinis