Trendy Nightspots Helping to Rejuvenate Hollywood

Shoes, Paul Devitt figured, would be the way to stand out in the recent rush of new bars and clubs in Hollywood. Take a former tattoo parlor on Hollywood Boulevard, stock it with 80,000 pairs of pristine, vintage women’s shoes for sale and serve margaritas, beer and wine.

Adding a shoeshine stand, shoe-store chairs and a deejay booth, Devitt created a new “concept” bar last month called Star Shoes. He’s unconcerned that the club’s come-on is aimed at twenty- and thirtysomething women.

“Hey, guys go where the girls are,” the 43-year-old businessman said, “and they follow them in.”

So far, the gimmick seems to be working. On a recent Friday night, patrons in a crowd of nearly 100 raved about Star Shoes. “This is a great place,” said one twentysomething girl, who declined to give her name. “If it’s dead here, I can walk to other places.”

That’s just what Hollywood boosters want to hear. Nearly two dozen new bars and nightclubs, many with unusual themes, have opened in central Hollywood in the last four years. An additional 10 or so are expected to open soon, helping to create an excitement and a bustling, walkable street life--along with some attendant problems, closures forced by police and neighborhood complaints that too many liquor licenses are being issued.

The bars’ contribution to Hollywood’s more recent revitalization may not be as well-known as that of the tourist-oriented redevelopment projects underway. Those include the $615-million TrizecHahn shopping and entertainment project at Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue--the new home for the annual Academy Awards ceremony--and the $90-million retail project under construction around the Cinerama Dome on Sunset Boulevard.

But the revived night life from the clubs may be just as important, officials say, in turning Hollywood away from the turbulent 1980s and ‘90s, when prostitutes, drug dealers and runaways were the most visible visitors after dark. Many abandoned storefronts, scarred with graffiti, became a jarring sight for tourists expecting Tinseltown glamour.

So many of those storefronts are being fixed up as bars and restaurants that some locals fear an outbreak of alcohol-related troubles unless strict limits are enforced. They complain that the rush for economic success is threatening the peace of nearby residents.

For now, boosters prefer to talk about the new clubs’ positive impact. Kerry Morrison, executive director of the Hollywood Entertainment District, a city-approved business improvement group, said the new spots are following the formula that turned around San Diego’s once-seedy Gaslamp Quarter.

Night Life Leads Way for Other Businesses

What particularly excites local business leaders like Morrison is that many clubs are close enough so patrons can stroll from one to another and that their presence may persuade hesitant investors to buy into the area. The new clubs are mainly concentrated along Hollywood Boulevard and on nearby side streets between La Brea Avenue and Gower Street.

“The night life blazes the trail for new businesses coming into a revitalizing area,” Morrison said.

Dave Wilcox, an independent economic consultant who monitors Hollywood for the improvement district, said Los Angeles business license tax records show that the new clubs and nightclubs--euphemistically called “dance halls” by the city--have shown a 14% increase in combined gross revenues in Hollywood since 1999. He called their growth “dramatic” and said the clubs “are chic. They’re smart. They’re the places to go.”

That seems true for Star Shoes.

Devitt said he didn’t hesitate to pull together about $200,000 to overhaul the storefront on Hollywood Boulevard between Cosmo Street and Ivar Avenue into the vintage-shoe club.

A partner had access to thousands of shoes by Joseph LaRose, a famed East Coast designer who made footwear for such Hollywood stars as Joan Crawford and Jayne Mansfield. Some of the shoes are in a front-window display and in glass cases along the walls. Potential buyers can try on shoes, which range in price from $100 to $400 a pair. An Art Deco-style bar is in the rear.

Although business has been hurt by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Devitt insists that Star Shoes will succeed. “It was easy to do and I know this is going to work,” he said.

Last year, Devitt opened another Hollywood hot spot, the Beauty Bar on Cahuenga Boulevard, featuring old beauty parlor chairs and hair dryers from Bakersfield. Although customers can’t get their hair done there, they can get a manicure and martini combination for $10.

Some will try just about anything. Across the street from Star Shoes, in a former bank building, a new club, AsiaLA, plans to employ “gender illusionists,” more commonly called transvestites, to serve customers.

Investors Not Hesitant to Offer Start-Up Funds

David Gajda and Jose Malagon said they have invested more than $3 million to turn around several other storefronts on Cahuenga and Hollywood boulevards. A computer-coffee bar, which may eventually acquire a liquor license, is set for the ground floor of their Hollywood Media Center Building. They also are planning an industry-themed club called CineSpace, which will have state-of-the-art equipment to show vintage movies, music videos or accommodate video conferences.

Kimberly Herrmann, CineSpace’s managing partner, said investors didn’t hesitate to put up $1.5 million to start the club.

“We’re extremely confident,” said Herrmann, who lives in Hollywood. “I walk around daily and I can already see the growth in the area.”

Next door, yet another club, the Improv Olympic West, featuring comedy stage acts, just opened.

But amid the bright prospects, some Hollywood residents have sounded a cautionary warning that too many bars are opening too fast.

They complain that Los Angeles Police Department officers should be cracking down more on bar owners, who they contend violate state and local liquor laws by serving drinks to minors and by failing to cut off inebriated customers. Critics say the police concentrate too much on arresting customers for drunk driving and public drunkenness.

At the same time, they worry that the LAPD’s Hollywood Division doesn’t have enough manpower to adequately deal with the crowds the clubs are attracting.

“I believe Hollywood should be jumping, but as long as people are safe,” said Joe Shea, president of the Ivar Hill Community Assn., a group of 300 residents, merchants and some club owners. Most of its residents live between Franklin Avenue and Sunset Boulevard, close to many of the clubs.

Shea recalled a recent evening in August when Hollywood Division officers were called out to three clubs, including the Palladium, where fistfights broke out. Officers restored order and several arrests were reported.

Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg (D-Los Angeles), who as Hollywood’s representative for eight years on the Los Angeles City Council encouraged experienced club owners with good track records to come to the neighborhood, dismissed Shea’s assertions. She said her office blocked owners with chronic problems at other locations from getting a Hollywood liquor license.

Capt. Michael Downing, commander of Hollywood Division, agreed that the new clubs’ “robust” business has meant more visitors and more work for his 330 sworn officers. He has asked for 18 more officers but isn’t optimistic the request will be granted.

Still, Downing sought to refute some of Shea’s arguments. He said the number of violations involving club owners and employees may be down partly because his officers in recent years have routinely held sessions to remind club owners about state liquor laws, city regulations and other law-enforcement issues.

“If we cite one or two club owners,” Downing said, “word gets around pretty fast to the others. They may be competitors, but they know one another. It’s a better environment when you have business owners as a partner with law enforcement.”

To underscore that point, he said most owners of the new bars have joined a police advisory committee to explore ways to confront problems, such as unruly people who may cause trouble after they leave bars. The group met last week to consider hiring private security for nighttime patrols to supplement LAPD patrol units. At least nine club owners said they would consider paying for supplemental private patrols.

Vice Officers Close 3 Clubs for Violations

In the last six months, Hollywood Division vice officers have closed three clubs--the Opium Den, Club Leggs and Vesuvius--for violations ranging from excessive noise to lack of dance permits. Another bar, Club Blue, can no longer serve alcohol after midnight because of repeated offenses.

Shea and two other residents are challenging five of the 10 liquor license applications pending for the TrizecHahn project. Eighteen liquor licenses, including one for the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, already exist within a 1,000-foot radius of the development.

In response to critics’ complaints, officials with the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control in Sacramento admit that there is an over-saturation of licenses near that corner of Hollywood and Highland. But they point out that an exemption in a 1963 state law allows officials to override a limit on licenses in a particular census tract for the sake of “public convenience and necessity.” That is the case in such a major Hollywood tourist spot, said Manuel R. Espinoza, the department’s interim director.

But he stressed that his agency has worked closely with city officials on setting conditions for new clubs on such issues as parking, capacity and hours of operation.

Roxana Tynan, who served as Goldberg’s point person in Hollywood, dismissed concerns over an over-saturation of liquor licenses. She said Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica and Old Pasadena have higher concentrations of licenses than Hollywood and that those two districts are considered models of success.

To open Star Shoes, it took Devitt nearly a year to obtain a liquor license and conditional-use permit that requires security guards and off-street parking. But that wasn’t the main hassle; it was finding the right concept and location.

Devitt said the new concept bars appeal “to the culture of L.A., Hollywood.” And reactions from patrons at Star Shoes seem to bear out his optimism.

On a recent night, computer salesman Brad Morris was chatting with a friend and trying to attract the attention of two female shoe browsers he had struck out with earlier in the evening.

“This is definitely different,” he said. “I’d never think of coming to a place like this. But I heard it was a nice place so here I am. The girls are nice too. . . .”