A scene of hustle and flow

Then there's the threat of recession, which has the potential to hurt larger clubs that depend on "bottle service" -- an expensive trapping of many upscale nightspots in which patrons can buy bottles of liquor instead of ordering individual drinks -- to offset operating expenses. (Entrance fees range from no cover to $25, depending on the venue and event being promoted.) But to hear it from civic leaders and club owners, even in an era when the Dow plunges below 9,000, people in Hollywood still seem to want to party like it's 1999.

The number of "47" licenses, classified as restaurant liquor licenses, issued in three Hollywood ZIP Codes by the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control has nearly doubled to 23 this year from 12 in 2007. And that's on top of the approximately 135 bars and restaurants already in the core area bordered by La Brea Avenue to the west, Vine Street to the east, Franklin Avenue to the north and Melrose Avenue to the south.

"Good economy or bad economy, I'm still buying in Hollywood," said the Kress' Viscuso. "Real estate is still selling for $800 to $1,000 a square foot. Downtown, it's less than half of that. And all the synergy from these major developments -- the W [hotel and residences], Cirque du Soleil coming to the Kodak Theatre, the lofts, the other hotels coming in -- it will keep Hollywood alive."

The next large-scale venue in Hollywood? A poolside rooftop club at the W Hollywood managed by one of Las Vegas' best-known night-life fixtures, according to a representative of Gatehouse Capital, a private real estate equity group involved with the W Hollywood project (set to open late next year or in 2010).

According to Garcetti, president of the City Council, the main challenge facing the neighborhood is having too much of a good thing after dark. "I announced a year and a half ago that we didn't want any more new clubs," he said. "You can only have so many, because they poach one another's clientele and all of them begin to suffer."

The city is now trying to encourage growth in non-night-life businesses -- retail, art galleries and more restaurants like Katsuya and the celebrity-owned Beso at Hollywood Boulevard and Ivar Avenue.

In other words, the kind of manicured establishments more typical in West Hollywood or on La Cienega Boulevard between Melrose Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard than the seedy Hollywood of a few years ago.