Farewell to Goa, and Other Club Closures

We take a week off for Best of L.A., and all hell breaks loose in club land. Well, not really, but there sure has been a lot of closin’ goin’ on. For one, Goa ain’t a go anymore. The Asian-fusion eatery/dance spot best known for its tight-roped Alliance-hosted Thursday-night parties has been bolted up for a few weeks now, and it apparently won’t be reopening, at least not in that incarnation. Same ol’ story: The permits were for a restaurant, not a club, and while they did try to put the focus back on food (even inviting press out for free grub a couple months ago), it just didn’t fly. Too bad — Goa’s genie-bottle décor made it one of the most striking boîtes in town. Plus side? Cahuenga Boulevard is just a li’l more chill these days. ... Over at Jimmy’s Lounge on Santa Monica Boulevard, Saturday’s Funky Sole got the ol’ heave ho, though we hear the soulful soiree might be relocating soon. Thankfully, Miles Tackett and company are still throwing The Rootdown gathering at the Little Temple every Thursday. ... Lil T’s big sis in Santa Monica, the Temple Bar, was always raging with rhythm,but alas, that club venue also bid adieu just last week. Look for the spot’s famed jams and funky fetes to pop up in the smaller Silver Lake space and at the owner’s other venue, Zanzibar. TB’s creative, communal vibe will definitely be missed.

Nightranger’s also got to say a very belated but heartfelt farewell to Silver Lake’s Rudolpho’s. Yeah, it closed earlier this year (Hillhurst’s Home restaurant has taken the location), but we can’t let the place of some of our wildest nightlife memories fade into obscurity without a little props, however tardy they may be. From arty rock bands and hilarious “Booze Clues” trivia nights to its biggest success, the cross-dressing hot-mess monthly Dragstrip 66, the Latin restaurant/club space owned by the Del Campo family (they still own the actual building) was one of the few rooms in town that actually had success as both a club and a restaurant (unlike Goa, and a zillion other Hollywood hangs). Rumor has it a lover’s quarrel between promoters of its popular gay salsa nights led to its demise as a club a few years back (when they split, the scorned ex may or may not have called the fire marshall to complain about the crowds), but the restaurant still hosted mellower fare till late last year. The family’s other eatery, Casita Del Campo on Hyperion, still thrives though, and its tiny theater, the Cavern Club, continues to host the sassiest — mostly gay-themed — productions around. Like the can’t-miss Hallow Eve show, Gruesome Twosome, from song-parody queen bitch Jackie Beat and Jer Ber Jones, running October 29-30.Cavern’s Mr. Dan and DJ Paul V now do Dragstrip at Safari Sam’s, and their seasonal shindig, HalloQween, this Saturday, October 11, should be the kickoff to a very scary and hairy month.

 
THE BASH THAT GOES BOOM

The vibe was merry over at Mr. V and promoters Adrian & the Mysterious D’s other club, Bootie LA at The Echoplex last Saturday night. We hung with the Indie 103.1 host, who had just come from L.A. Weekly’s Detour Festival,where hespun for the “Silent Disco” (in which the only ones who could hear him had Koss headphones on). “Surreal, in a Marlee Matlin on Dancing With the Stars kind of way,” is how he described it. (This week, Nightranger did Detour by day — ironic, right? — and focused on snapping all the kooky winter-weather getups. See ’em online in our slide show and the Style Council blog.) But back to Bootie. Former L’Trimm cutie The Lady Tigra performed a saucy midnight set, including “Phantom On The Bottom” (a mash-up of her music and Justice) and a surprise cut, “My Other Car Is a Beatle” (which imposed her old hit “Cars With the Boom” into Gary Numan’s “Cars” and the Beatles’ “Drive My Car”). Even more theatrically driven was the wacky dance show that followed from R.A.I.D. (Random Acts of Irreverent Dance), who donned metallic jump suits and swimsuits for a stunning choreographed bit set to The Illuminoids’ “Get It On at Le Disko,” Howie Pyro and Jells Mayhem’s mash-up of T-Rex and Detour band Shiny Toy Guns.This spectacle kinda has to be seen to be believed, and since the troupe is now a regular feature at Bootie, we strongly suggest checking out the next one on November 1. If our pal Paul weren’t busy enough, he’s also got the club version of his Indie show Neon Noise debuting at Medusa Lounge, on Friday, October 24, and with the new dance room we saw there recently — not to mention the friendly, fun crowd and pack of fresh promotions upping the place’s profile — the lines should be snaking outside.