CLUB REVIEW : Velvet Room’s the Latest Must-See Place

L.A.’s insatiable hunger and affection for all things new is one of the most distinguishing characteristics of our local clubland. If you’re not on your toes, the hottest spot in town will disappear before you’ve figured out what to wear.

So you may want to hurry over to the happening Velvet Room before its sparkle begins the inevitable fade. The Velvet Room, with live music on an average of about five nights a week, is the new alter ego of Primavera Restaurant in Los Feliz.

Depending on the night’s music, which varies from alternative bands to the blues, the Velvet Room attracts a lively, arty crowd that’s just about as intriguing as its featured performers.

Once you’ve paid the nominal cover--usually $3 or less--and passed through the bar area just beyond the entrance, guests find themselves in a spacious room draped lavishly with red velvet. The club also offers an ample supply of cocktail tables and a good-sized dance floor. The roomy raised stage and the comfortable, neighborly tone of the entire venue allow bands a chance to ham it up a bit, as garage-rockers Glue proved at a recent performance. Fronted by the lovely drag diva Sean D’Lear, who wisely insisted that management turn on the dormant disco ball before he/she made a glitter-drenched entrance, Glue gave the hipster crowd just what it came for: a velvety underground experience.

* The Velvet Room at Primavera Restaurant, 2138 Hillhurst, Los Feliz. 21 & over, cover varies. (213) 666-1932.

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Club Buzz: The latest dancing hot spot is Garage, a week-old site in Silver Lake at 4519 Santa Monica Blvd. Garage’s stable of nightly deejays spins a variety of house, disco and funk to a lively gay/straight crowd, with DJ Victor Rodriguez’s soulful Saturday set already a highlight. . . .

The unlikely four-month marriage between Fabiolus, an Italian restaurant on Sunset Boulevard, and Trenchtown, a reggae club, continually packs ‘em in each Saturday as its deejays opt for obscure reggae tracks over the more accessible roots and dancehall hits. To be sure, two of Trenchtown’s deejays just returned from London armed with a new stash of contemporary reggae mixes to groove to. . . .

The Roxbury has come a long way from the Brenda years (the era when Shannen Doherty and pals were escorted into the West Hollywood club while droves of “undesirables” were turned away). Now there’s “Persian Night,” the moniker for a month-old Sunday night dance club at the Roxbury dedicated to Persian music, with live bands and deejays spinning the latest sounds from Iran. Possibly the coolest thing to hit L.A. since Hideo Nomo, and we mean it.

* Garage (213) 683-3447. Trenchtown (213) 467-2882. Persian Night (213) 656-1750.