Eclectic Clientele Revisits the ‘80s at Cherry

When the Friday night dance club Cherry was launched three years ago, it wasn’t cool to be reliving the 1980s. In fact, people were still getting over their collective decade-of-decadence hangovers and generally denying any participation in the era.

So when promoters Bryan Rabin, Jimmy Medina and deejay Mike Messex teamed to create a club that celebrates glam rock, new wave and all things metal, perhaps it surprised even them to see how many people came out of the ‘80s closet. After three years, Cherry--which takes place every week at the Love Lounge in West Hollywood--is as sweet as ever.

Part of the club’s success is its willingness to evolve musically and culturally, and the willingness of its participants to mix and mingle. Cherry is neither a “gay” nor “straight” club, but rather it’s both. Cherry is also a “drag” club, but men and women cross-dress here, so good luck determining genders. At Cherry, it doesn’t matter. Rabin, who with Medina also created such clubs as Prague and Highball, says it took time getting people comfortable with that notion.

“After opening night, my gay friends said it was too straight and my straight friends said it was too gay,” he says. The club limped along for a few weeks and a phenomenon occurred during an after-party for the Go-Go’s, who played a surprise set that night. Rabin says the guests had so much fun, they forgot about genders and simply rocked out. “From then on, there’ve been lines out the door every week,” he says.

The combination of the music and the colorful crowd makes this club a hit. Medina, who died a week before the club’s first anniversary, was pivotal in encouraging Cherry to break boundaries every week. At last week’s third anniversary celebration, the combination of pole-dancing drag divas, a capacity crowd and the video footage above the dance floor pretty much summed up the Cherry experience.

Sure, celebs have gotten hip to Cherry--Courtney Love, George Michael, Fran Drescher and the Beastie Boys have made repeat visits--but the real stars are the deejays, with Messex, Cherry’s original deejay, alternating through the night with Joseph Brooks. Before the night’s over, you’ve rocked out to pretty much everything--Dolly Parton, Duran Duran, Faster Pussycat, the Specials--and it’s all you can do to keep from stripping down to your skivvies and starting a pole dance. At Cherry, that’s precisely the point.

Addendum: Among those who probably didn’t call in to KROQ for their chance to win tickets to Saturday night’s Jane’s Addiction reunion show at the Roxy in West Hollywood were singers Courtney Love and Scott Weiland, and actor Joaquin Phoenix. But they witnessed the band’s brisk performance, which included an extended version of “Three Days” and such seminal Jane’s songs as “‘Mountain Song” and “Ain’t No Right.” The group is scheduled to perform tonight at the Grand Olympic Auditorium.

BE THERE

Cherry at the Love Lounge, 657 N. Robertson Blvd., West Hollywood, (213) 896-9099 or (310) 659-0472. 21 and over, $10 cover.