LA Nights

So, I've given you the lowdown on my daytime adventures in Los Angeles in my last two posts.  Now it's onto LA nights...

Los Angeles really is a great place to visit ahead of Viva Las Vegas, as it is just a one hour flight away, and there are so many fun pre-parties in the lead-up to VLV!

On one of our first nights in town we went to one of the Reverend Martini's events at Viva Cantina over in Burbank, with music provided by our friend, DJ Rockin' Vic.  The Rev Martini also now runs the late night Juke Joint at Brendan's pub during Viva.

As far as DJs go, Rockin' Vic plays exactly the type of music that I like to listen to and dance to.  So, of course, we danced.  You don't even need me to tell you how I hydrated between dances, but I will anyway - with giant margaritas, that's how!

The following night, we switched up the rockin' music for a more gypsy, jazzy, swingy kind of vibe, downtown at The Gorbals.  Hidden away in low lighting, with live music courtesy of The California Feetwarmers, this place had a totally relaxed, speakeasy feel to it.  I say speakeasy, although, it took so long to get served, that I gave up on trying to procure myself a drink.  Talk about prohibition...

Saturday night was the big Viva pre-party at the School of Rock'n'Roll in Pomona.  Music was provided by Big Sandy and The Fly-Rite Boys, Ernie V and The Steady Rollers, and DJs T-Bone, Satoshi, Taka and Big Chuy.

Put on by Real Gone Prod, this monthly event is held at an American Legion club house and boasts a big hall with a fabulous dance floor and strong, cheap drinks!  We had an absolute blast - the DJs were spot on with their musical choices, and the bands were great (you can't go wrong with Big Sandy)!

We had a great time catching up with friends, and I also got to meet two vintage bloggers in real life that night - Dollie of Rockabilly Socialite, and Missy of Technicolor Cutie!

Loverboy and I danced....a lot!!!  The music was so jumpin' that it was impossible to stand still!  I have pinched the below photos taken by Miss Sailor Charlie who was the photographer for the event.  How sharp does my sweetheart look?  He is one cool cat!

The night ended with me serenading Big Sandy in the street, with my rendition of his song 'Pretty Girls Everywhere', and our sat nav conking out for some reason - luckily we were still able to navigate our way home, and in the dark at that!

The next night was spent in the luxurious setting of the Cicada Club.  This venue is LA art deco at it's finest, and Sunday nights feature live music and dancing.

Alas I did not have any era-appropriate outfits with me, but I enjoyed being amidst the 1920s decor, sipping on a fancy cocktail and being entertained by the musical stylings of Janet Klein.

It was this night that I met fellow European blogger Laurence (and her husband Sylvain) of Lost in the 50's.  We had a good chat and took some photos...

We ended our classy night out with a trip to the In-N-Out drive-through...

There's nothing quite like chomping on an animal-style burger, fries and a shake when wearing a cocktail dress, and tuxedo, respectively.

On Monday night, we headed back to Burbank, this time to Joe's, where there was a night of live music and DJ Turkey from Paris on the decks.  It was packed!  We didn't dance so much to the bands, but when Turkey came on at the end of the night, and the room opened up a bit, we tore up that dance floor, that's for sure!

DJ Turkey is another one who plays all the music that gets us dancing, and we are determined to go to one of his nights in Paris at some point in the not-too-distant future.

I also ran into fellow blogger Dollie again that night!

We had a really enjoyable evening at Joe's, which was put on by Mark 'Torch' Tortorici, and I'm sure that if I lived in LA, I would attend this night regularly.  Especially as the Mexican restaurant across the street celebrates 'Margarita Mondays' with happy hour prices on food and drinks.  Yum.

On our last night in LA, we met up with friends at the Monty Bar for Chills 'N' Fever.  This bar is big, with high ceilings, low-lighting and plush leather booths.  There wasn't too much dancing going on, but we were still compelled to get up on the floor numerous times, as the music was great.

What we discovered on this trip, is that clubs in LA really provide great music, which is fun to dance to.  By this, I mean that they play a lot of r&b, jump blues and rock'n'roll!  Granted, a lot of clubs on this trip played host to DJs from France, which means that the music must also be on point in Paris!

We managed to pack a lot of fun into our eight day stay in Los Angeles, and I just wish that we could return more often!