THE NIGHTLIFE

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA has several dozen accredited senior universities and colleges, but this week you might be forgiven for thinking it has just two schools. As UCLA and USC get set to battle on the football field Saturday at the Rose Bowl, one’s inner Bruin or Trojan inevitably comes out, even if you’ve never set foot on either campus.

But for all the hype over this weekend’s game, it is only football -- merely one aspect of the influence both institutions have had on the pop cultural (and, not to mention, academic) landscape here. That means, for those of us who don’t have our noses in the books, they offer a variety of extracurricular activities.

On campus, each university presents arts and entertainment programs. Off campus, each school serves as a hub for night life. Fortunately, you don’t need to shell out tuition and fees (in the ballpark of $7,000 at UCLA, and more than $33,000 at USC) to participate, and you don’t need to wear the right colors when you show up. On the following pages, you’ll find slices of life from a few realms of the crosstown revelry.

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PICKING a favorite watering hole is as much a collegiate right of passage as deciding on your third change of major. And like everything else that Trojans and Bruins fans bicker about, the rivalry over who parties harder is a contentious issue. UCLA fans mock their USC peers for flashing daddy’s American Express Black card at Greek mixers, while USC faithful simply shrug and ask, “Wait, doesn’t Westwood have a 10 p.m. curfew?”

We scoped out a few notoriously student-heavy bars around downtown and the Westside to see how Los Angeles’ young scholars are really spending their student loans.

Heading downtown

The big trend of the year in USC nightlife is one of migration. As local dives such as the 9-0 (a.k.a. the 901 Club) and fraternity row on 28th Street have become played out and heavily policed, students are flocking north into a gentrifying-by-the-hour downtown. Barely-legal film studies and economics majors are staking claims on the Golden Gopher, Cole’s P.E., Bar 107 and the like, much to the chagrin of the financiers and art-damaged hipsters who’ve set down tentative roots in downtown’s burgeoning nightlife.

“There’s not a lot of bars near them, they didn’t have anywhere to go,” said Daniel Ness, manager of the Golden Gopher. The variety, proximity and affordability of downtown’s bars are natural draws for a student population with little to do in its own neighborhood, save an administration-approved pint at the on-campus bar, Traditions.

“The soul of the city is downtown,” said James Michael, a 22-year-old USC business major celebrating his birthday amid $2 cans of beer and jokey taxidermic jackalopes at Bar 107. “I want to be around the construction workers, the people on the street. The soul of L.A. isn’t at a college.”

USC students have never been averse to hopping the freeways into Hollywood or Santa Monica to go out at night.

But having comfortable options close to home has been a godsend, said David Yu, a 25-year-old recent USC graduate and Bar 107 patron. “We come here because it’s not Hollywood,” he said. “I don’t want to wait in line and I don’t want to be around fake people.”

The proprietors of the new downtown bars certainly appreciate the USC crowd’s discretionary income. But they’re not necessarily thrilled by the vibes students bring with them.

Students are “a lot more aggressive,” said Dave Whitton, a Golden Gopher bartender who has worked there since its 2004 opening. “You try to steer them away from the vodka and Red Bull.”

Ness agrees that most downtown nightspots like Golden Gopher and Broadway Bar aren’t aspiring to become “USC bars” at all. “We don’t need to cater to them,” he said. “You don’t want a bunch of frat guys spilling Jagermeister everywhere.”

Golden Gopher, 417 W. 8th St., L.A. (213) 614-8001

Bar 107, 107 W. 4th St., L.A. (213) 625-7382

Not just Westwood

Whereas the nightlife vacuum around University Park sends Trojans scurrying across town, UCLA students have it easier. Though far from a destination neighborhood, Westwood does have a few bars and clubs within a bike ride of campus.

One of the most popular, Westwood Brewing Co., is bedecked in beer company-sponsored Bruin pennants. On one weeknight visit, the staff was busy escorting a flailing young man who was shouting, “I did nothing wrong!” out the front door.

“The stereotype is that USC students are rich, but UCLA students do it right,” said Ryan Aarnaes, a 21-year-old UCLA senior, over shots of a pink liquor that he couldn’t exactly identify.

Although Bruins fans will eagerly disparage the Trojans for any number of reasons, UCLA students seem to grudgingly concede that on the whole, their crosstown rivals can best their drinking prowess.

“I guess I should say that UCLA parties more,” said Lizzie Dodd, a 21-year-old senior. “But UCLA studies harder.”

Several students at Westwood Brewing Co. also recommended Maloney’s, an Irish pub and sports bar a few blocks away. Yet on the same night that Westwood Brewing Co. overflowed with drinkers, Maloney’s was practically empty.

“Brewing Co. and Maloney’s are popular,” said Elaine Tzou, but the 21-year-old UCLA senior has no love for either place. On this night, she’s shooting pool at Q’s, a sports bar in West L.A. “So many USC kids come to Westwood to hit on UCLA students.”

Indeed, the best compliment that many UCLA students can give about the local nightlife is that it’s “more mellow, you go out with friends,” Savransky said. Yet Bruins still seem content to stay within spitting distance of the 405 -- including hotspots along Sawtelle Boulevard and in Santa Monica -- if for no other reason than that they need to get home to hit the books.

“We party and we study,” said Tzou. “But it’s getting old. There’s nowhere to dance in Westwood, unless it’s at a frat party, and that’s just not an option.”

Westwood Brewing Co., 1097 Glendon Ave., L.A. (310) 209-2739

Q’s Billiards, 11835 Wilshire Blvd., West L.A. (310) 477-7550

august.brown@latimes.com