2008 hasn't been kind to the nightlife scene so far. In the last week alone, there's been a death at Crash Mansion and a fire at Bank Heist. Might I remind you we're not even two weeks into the year!

Apparently, too, dance clubs are over—or so declares Chris Paul, a main promoter at the French-inspired lounge Green Door.  

Thankfully, there are also a few things to get psyched on.

I. StoneRokk’s DJ protégé Marshall Barnes is going to be huge in 2008.

II. Little Radio is going to debut a biodiesel fuel bus that will provide complimentary nighttime shuttle service from 7 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. between downtown spots including lofts, bars, galleries and, of course, Ralph’s.

III. And, the best for last: this insane club night.

How sick is this? Does the doorman actually measure a girl’s heels with a ruler? Does he have a fetish? I don’t care if Coda is in the Valley. You should all check out this night, if only for a laugh. That should get everyone in a good mood again.  

—Alexandra Le Tellier

 
To know Boardner's owner Tricia La Belle is to know she’s a ball buster who doesn’t mess around—and I’m not just saying that because she hosts Bar Sinister on Saturdays, a club night best known S&M lair. Not only is she a founding member of the Hollywood Hospitality Association, which is helping to revitalize Hollywood, but she also plays by the rules. “The ABC liquor license is a privilege!” she says.

That said, she’d like to tear TMZ a new one for its coverage on underage drinking at the Hollywood clubs.

 
She says, "I don’t TMZ really gives a good perspective on the reality of what’s really going. [To come] to the defense of operators—even poor operators. You can’t always blame the operator for what’s     going on and I think that when you reach a certain age—18 you have the right to vote, 21 you     have the right to drink—we’re certainly adults now and we know when we have to be responsible, when not to get into a car, when not to engage in raping a girl. These are things you know as an adult and to blame an operator who can’t be by every bartender and every server’s side 24/7 is a problem to me. I find it to be a big problem. I have five bars in my locations. On a full-capacity night, I can have upwards of eight bartenders in one night. I can have upwards of three servers on that. So that would be 11 people in a 7,000-square-foot location with a capacity of 500. There is absolutely no physical way that I can monitor all of those people at one time to make sure that those bartenders and servers are not over-serving an individual and allowing that person to get in a vehicle, go out and possibly kill themselves or somebody else. [...] Nightclub owners get a bad deal, yeah. [And] a lot of them have caused that to happen for us, there’s no doubt."

 
You want Tricia to set you straight? Try coming to the club without an ID. God, I love this woman! 

—Alexandra Le Tellier