Ohhhh-dessa!

OK, so Halloween isn’t your typical night at Club Odessa.

Tonight, the joint is elbow to elbow with wild impersonators costumed as Elvis, Carmen Miranda, Miss America, Julius Caesar and Catwoman. But who could deny that this is the hottest new club on the O.C. night-life scene, a House of Blues wannabe that rivals anything on L.A.’s Sunset Strip for being plush, hip and smart?

Reza Roohi says it took him nearly four years to get the place open, because he wanted everything to look just right. For those who aren’t aware of it, the club, which opened in late August, is upstairs from Odessa, the restaurant.

You can enter from a separate outside entrance or from the bar area in the downstairs restaurant. The club and restaurant are jointly owned by former Laker Norm Nixon, his choreographer wife, Debbie Allen, Denzel Washington and other celebrity investors.

The real pedigree is the buzz all this generates. The huge, high-ceilinged room has a terrific--and flashy--design. The ear-splitting, state-of-the-art sound system has a bass so powerful your stomach will be rumbling, and there’s a parquet dance floor big enough for Larry Bird.

Each side of the room is lined with brocade banquettes, and the rear wall is shielded by scarlet velvet curtains. Those who crave privacy can ask--the further in advance, the better--to reserve the soundproof VIP room, from which guests can look out over the bar area through a window within which fiber optics create an ever-changing holographic pattern. But good luck getting them to save the room if you’re not an A-list player.

Tonight, anyway, the champagne is flowing, from the modestly priced Piper Sonoma to Taittinger Comtes de Champagne at $200-plus a pop. This crowd, meanwhile, is boogieing with an intensity that’s unusual for Laguna. Outside those dressed in Halloween mufti, the group is composed largely of men in tank tops and women who look like they live on a StairMaster, people who could pass muster in an Emmanuel West novel.

The band playing through all this is Kraze, a conglomeration best described as Sly & the Family Stone meets the Blues Brothers. It is blasting out covers of such tunes as the Commodores’ “Brick House,” while overhead strobes flash and spotlights bathe the dance floor in an incandescent haze.

Through all this, the waitresses, who look like they belong on the walkway at a Paris fashion show, tote peach martinis, champagne bottles and proletarian-looking bottled beer. If anyone ever doubted that Laguna was glamorous, they are eating their words now.

Club Odessa is open regularly Friday and Saturday nights, but plans are afoot to add Thursdays and Sundays, and to do themed evenings such as blues nights, jazz nights and big band nights. And Odessa has its first shows with nationally touring acts Sunday and Monday with the Temptations. According to club manager Daniel Reyes, an upscale, dress-casual atmosphere will prevail.

As if.

BE THERE

Club Odessa, 680 S. Coast Highway, Laguna Beach. (714) 376-8792. 9 p.m.-2 a.m. Friday-Saturday only. Cover: $15.