THAT SWING THEY DO

Sinatra’s on the stereo; the olives are loaded into martinis, and party-goers are dressed like Dino in wingtip shoes. Nevermind that this is Orange County in the ‘90s; there’s a new breed of rat packers who swing like it’s Vegas in the ‘50s.

Those who weren’t even born when Sammy and Frank ruled the Strip have taken to imitating the swingers of the era. They’re sipping cocktails, swing dancing, driving old Chevys, playing golf and going bowling--all the things their grandparents did. All the things their parents hated.

“These kids are 20 to 25. Their parents are old hippies. It’s the perfect rebellion for them,” says Dan Miller, 36, leader of the Dan Miller Orchestra, which plays swing music Monday nights at Birraporetti’s in Costa Mesa.

Miller has seen the dance floor on swing night become crowded with hipsters, most “dressed to the nines” in ‘50s dinner jackets, hats, Evita-style dresses and other vintage fashions.

“They’re mixing up their decades--they’re dancing to ‘30s and ‘40s music but adopting the style of dress and attitudes of the cocktail movement in the ‘50s and early ‘60s,” Miller says.

Most swingers don’t care if they confuse their music and style trends; they just want an alternative to all of the polyester, platforms and ‘70s retro that Madison Avenue has been hyping to the mainstream.

Jim Zaslaw, a 30-year-old computer consultant from Newport Beach, fits the swinger profile: He likes to golf; he listens to oldies on the radio; he goes swing dancing and hangs out with his bachelor friends.

“It’s not just the swing; it’s the style,” he says.

Last year’s movie “Swingers” chronicled that style. The film followed a group of guys on the make in Los Angeles, prowling for “babies,” speaking swinger lingo, wearing cool rat-pack clothes, dancing to swing bands and hanging out in bachelor pads.

“It didn’t seem that far off from the life of me and my friends,” Zaslaw says. “We’re just like those guys, going to the Lava Lounge and the Dresden in Hollywood and saying stuff like ‘You’re so money.’

“It’s the same attitude--going to parties, talking about girls, all the way down to playing Sega hockey before they go out to drink beers. We did that Friday and Saturday night. And look how old we are.”

Vanessa Schram, 21, also has a circle of friends who wear ‘50s fashions and go to nightclubs where they can sip cocktails and swing to ‘40s music.

“It’s fun. You work up a sweat. It’s better to dance with a partner than bopping around by yourself,” says Schram, a Costa Mesa resident.

Local swingers frequent the Rhino Room in Huntington Beach or the Twin Palms in Newport Beach, which have swing nights every Wednesday. A swing band plays Sundays at the Red Lion Hotel in Costa Mesa. If they tire of the local club scene, the swingers head to Los Angeles, to places such as the Derby, where they can hear pioneers of the swing revival such as Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.

“When we go out, a lot of my friends wear knee-length skirts, little blouses and scarves,” Schram says. “The girls do their hair in ‘40s styles, like Veronica Lake. They wear red lips and pastel makeup.”

To find a retro dress or suit that’s “money,” swingers shop at vintage clothing stores, especially the Front End in Newport Beach or Ragztop in Fullerton.

“They all have their own look. The girls get the swing dresses, and the guys are in gabardine shirts and ‘50s jackets,” says Natalie Tass, owner of the Front End.

Swingers aren’t just making a fashion statement. Many like the styles of the past because it helps them forget present-day pressures. They want to go back to simpler times, before drugs, AIDS and guns became commonplace. Consider a group of local hipsters who call themselves the Wanderers:

“We’re about 20 guys in high school and college, and we’re interested in the whole ‘50s thing,” says Mahyar Bader, a 19-year-old Dana Point resident and student at Cal State Fullerton. “I mostly wear white T-shirts and Dickies, and I wear my hair in a pomp.”

When the Wanderers started four years ago “it was more like a gang, but that element has left,” Bader says. Lately he and his fellow Wanderers have been going to Johnny Rockets and learning to swing dance.

“I like the ‘50s because back then when people fought, they fought with their hands. They didn’t do drugs. It was a lot cleaner era,” he says. “And they had style.”

For Zaslaw, simpler pleasures take his mind off of work.

“It’s a great stress release to step out from the music and entertainment of today,” he says. “It gives you a happy, warm feeling of a time when things were pretty simple and everyone enjoyed themselves, although we probably have fonder memories of it than the way it really was.”

Steve Poynter likes ‘50s things because they recall a slower way of life, before an impersonal age of voice mail, faxes and microwave dinners eaten on the run.

“When my parents were growing up, things seemed a lot different,” says Poynter, 24, of Santa Ana. “They grew up in the Midwest, and 30 years later they still keep in touch with their friends. Family life seemed different in the ‘50s. There was more family [emphasis].”

He worries that the rat-pack revival will become just another exploited, overexposed trend. Years before swing became trendy, he liked listening to ‘50s music, fixing up hot rods and rolling his blue jeans.

“People were looking at me funny,” he says. “Now it’s the cool thing.”