From femmes fatales to Violent Femmes at Bordello

March 30, 2010

Photo Courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons user Never Cool in School / Leslie Kalohi

LOS ANGELES, USA – A rainy winter night, driving amongst industrial warehouses, looking for an unmarked door…it all sounds like the beginning of a pulpy noir film. In actuality, this was my introduction to downtown L.A. nightlife darling Bordello, which occupies the former Little Pedro’s space in the gritty grotto east of Little Tokyo. At first, we drove right past the nondescript (from the outside) bar/club, led astray by bad Mapquest directions, and ended up crossing a one-way bridge over the L.A. river, unsure of how to get back. A word to the wise: though the address is on 1st St., the entrance to the bar is actually on Vignes St., so pay attention.

Inside, the place is anything but nondescript. Walking through the Bordello door is a noir trip in itself, as you’re greeted with low lighting, shadowy corners, and femmes fatales aplenty (in the form of dancing burlesque girls on select nights). Rumor has it that the building was a turn-of-the-century brothel, and Bordello takes a va-va-voom design note from its risqué predecessor. Boudoir touches include red walls, antique mirrors, velvet-upholstered chairs, and a multitude of Baroque chandeliers outfitted with red bulbs.

With all that red and velvet, you’d think this would be a cozy space, but cozy it is not. It’s got more of a warehouse feel. Between the high ceilings, open door drafting in chilly air, and the cold concrete floors, it was hard to want to part with our coats.

But the burlesque girls didn’t seem to mind parting with multiple layers of clothing one bit. We’d come to see the Sunday night show dubbed “Harlow Gold,” a neo-burlesque troupe featuring highly trained dancers from the famed (and now defunct) Forty Deuce. You can purchase reserved seating in advance, but the cover at the door ($15) will afford you a standing-room-only-view (I perched myself on a large speaker in order to see over the tall guy in front of me…reserved seating recommended!). This was truly a class act, one of the better manifestations of the burlesque craze I’ve seen around town. The girls frolic on a stage with a stunning Indian-inspired, gilded backdrop to a frisky cabaret soundtrack. Costumes are elegant, not seedy. The art of the tease — not nudity — is what titillates the sophisticated mixed-gender crowd.

Brief but satisfying, the show gave way to a DJ blasting 80′s music, a jarring transition. We’d much have preferred they continued the retro vibe with something down tempo. Other nights purportedly bring live jazz, blues, and Latin acts, which would definitely be worth checking out in this atmospheric setting. Cold and uninspired by the Violent Femmes, we decided to make a dash back to the car in the rain. In the end, we felt the $15 cover was a little regrettable for a 15-minute show, even though we loved the performance and soaking up the edgy red-light-district Bordello vibe. Then again — as the club motto declares — “Sometimes…love’s worth paying for.”

Bordello
901 East 1st St.
Los Angeles, CA
(1) 213-687-3766
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