Night Life

In 1964, a group of Fullerton residents decided it was time to showcase their local artists and cultural amenities, and for one night, the public was invited free to exhibitions scattered around the city. "A Night in Fullerton" turned out to be more than a one-night stand. It has become firmly rooted as the thing to do on the last Friday of every April, an event that draws between 10,000 and 15,000 people. Tonight will be the 37th edition.

Food and fashion, fashion and food. In Los Angeles the two are as synonymous as automobiles and smog. People have always dressed for a night on the town. But as traditional forms of entertainment like movies, theater and dancing become increasingly cost prohibitive, spending the evening at dinner has evolved into a new form of L.A. night life. And Angelenos are treating these eateries as the nightclubs of the 1990s, often dressing to suit the environment.

When it comes to night life, Los Angeles is no New York. This city is a bit more into getting its beauty sleep. (Angelenos don't get to hibernate in the winter as do East Coasters.) But nights aren't totally dead out here. Looking for late-night L.A.? Check out www.lanocturne.com. Under the headings Swing, Food, Books, Movies and Post Cards, the site offers a glimpse of activities from real to reel.

It's billed as the "Escape From New York" tour and it features the Old Guard of rock's New Wave from the late '70s: The Ramones, Deborah Harry, the Tom Tom Club and Jerry Harrison. After escaping New York, the show escaped Santa Barbara, where it was originally scheduled for the Arlington Theatre, and now will play the Ventura Theatre on Friday night. Anyone who's ever seen "Midnight Cowboy" would want to escape from New York too; it doesn't take a sociologist to know that.

To remark that the Moor of Venice met a Cuben sounds--even though the rendezvous occurred--distressingly like the post-mortem of a professional wrestling match or, worse, like the plot of a science-fiction movie based on a bastardized version of "Othello."

The world's best destinations for the adventurous single male is what author Bruce Cassirer is offering in "Travel & the Single Male," published bS. M. Publishing of Oxnard. If you're interested in a detailed guide to exciting night life, great beaches and meeting women in exotic locales such as New Orleans, Costa Rica, Brazil and Thailand, this book may be worth perusing. If you are a single female, check out the guide to discover where all the single guys are hanging out.

The two high school buddies spent adolescence cruising Ventura Boulevard and hanging out in parking lots. "There was nothing to do, no one place safe and fun in the Valley where we could spend time," Scott Nemes said. "We'd drive and drive for hours, and we used to see hundreds of other kids do the same things we were doing." Nemes, 19, an actor, and partner Sean Entin, 21, a USC business major, are aiming to change the night life for the present generation of San Fernando Valley teen-agers.

Washington is hot --in a cool sort of way. Art types, beat types, jazz types, rock 'n' roll types--they're all rolling into town. Back into downtown, preferably the funky neighborhood of Adams Morgan. So says the deluge of dudes and dudettes swarming into the city, either as part of the new Administration or as followers of its relatively youthful image of vitality and change.

IT'S another weekend night, and Jennica Hampson, Megan McGrath and a crew of twentysomethings have braved the throngs to make their way into a hip restaurant-bar. Rock 'n' roll memorabilia hangs everywhere, and celebrities' signatures are scrawled on the walls. The manager, dressed in hipster black with dark shirt and beanie, is recommending a Jagermeister concoction called My Own Worst Enemy -- named after a hit song co-written by one of the place's owners, Lit guitarist Jeremy Popoff.

Jason Scoppa, the night life director who created the exclusive Bardot Sessions at Bardot in Hollywood, has moved his signature live-music programming to his very own venue. It's called the Sayers Club, and it's backed by Los Angeles night life juggernaut Sam Nazarian's SBE hospitality group. Now called "the Sessions at the Sayers Club," Scoppa's show, which enlists top-notch musical talent (and the occasional celebrity musician) to perform much-loved cover songs, now has a home that was built exclusively with its unique concept in mind.