Did Someone Say Rooftop Pool Party In Los Angeles!?
Sometimes, you have to expand your nightlife wings, get out of your comfort zone and go new places, try new bars or, in this case, soak up a completely different (but also somewhat similar at the same time) scene.
In my case, it’s getting out of what locals here refer to as “the South Bay bubble.” You see, people hardly ever leave this area but those people don’t know what they are missing.
That is how I found myself on the rooftop of the W Hotel in Hollywood, CA, on the longest Friday of the year, the first Friday of summer instead of at a bar somewhere around the pier in PubClub.com’s World Headquarters of Hermosa Beach.
I was at Splash Night Fridays, a combination almost-Vegas pool party and a cool nightclub. There was a DJ spinning a kind of eclectic mix that bordered between lounge and club, fire pits, a really cool photo booth (free!) and waitresses occasionally walking through the crowd bringing drinks with Fourth of July-type of sparklers shooting out of the top.
This is certainly something we don’t get in Hermosa.
Still, I wasn’t totally out of what I’m used to in Hermosa. There were palm trees. A few people were walking around in shorts. Some people were splashing and playing in the water.
The scene definitely leaned toward “cool club” but it was also relaxed, almost as if were at the beach. Any fears of it being too clubby, too much Hollywood, were wiped away like sand off the bottom of your feet.
I went with a couple of fellow Beach Cities PubClubbbers, a stunning brunette and a guy who likes to get out and explore beyond the South Bay on occasion.
Everyone was very friendly, something us beach people don’t normally expect when we go to Hollywood. Well, except for the stone-faced dude who got into the elevator with us as we departed. He had an attractive date with him and acted as if every other human on the planet were not his equal, but we brushed his attitude off as if it were a splash of water from the pool.
Which, by the way, you can get if you get too close to the pool. Promoter Giles Amsallem doesn’t exactly discourage people from jumping in to make a little splash, but he would prefer you not to do any cannonballs.
Splash Night Fridays wasn’t a wild scene, at least not on this night. (I was told previous week, the place was packed.) Rather it was different. Pleasant.
At the suggestion of Amsallen, I drank a very interesting combination of Bulldog Gin and Perrier, then had some excellent Rose wine, VieVite Rosé, served out of a bottle the size of a small cannon. Hey, that’s the way we drink at the beach!
The three of us had a great time and on the way home we felt as refreshed as if we had jumped into the pool ourselves. We were mentally refreshed, glad that we got out of “the bubble” for a night and experienced something others from the South Bay should one Friday night this summer.
And that is a somewhat sophisticated beach-style party that’s not at the beach.
W Hotel Hollywood Splash Night Fridays Details
• Cover Charge: $20
• Dress Code: Surprisingly casual but unless your in the pool know it’s bit of a club scene so dress the part
• Dates: Every Friday thru Labor Day Weekend
• Hours: 9 p.m.-2 a.m.
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