Warm and Fuzzy
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Tired of spending $6 for a watery Absolut and tonic? Bored with mingling with cosmetic surgery victims and unemployed actors whose biceps are bigger than their resumes? Has the fabulousness of the L.A. club scene become a little too . . . well, fabulous?
It’s Saturday night. Time to get fuzzy.
On this recent evening, the club Fuzzyland has surfaced in the lounge and restaurant area of an anonymous-looking hotel near the Hollywood Bowl.
It’s a low-key vibe; there’s not a single 90210 type in the place. Most of the club-goers have congregated in the brightly lit bar area, which has the bland ambience of an airport lounge circa 1974--complete with glass-topped video game tables, gun-toting security guard and view of the caged-off gift kiosk with its racks of plush Disney toys.
You’d almost expect to see Mark Spitz waiting to catch a flight--until you notice the three-piece string combo in the corner and the projection TV broadcasting a series of bizarre images: an ESPN dog show. A Mexican wrestling musical. A bondage film. A sleazy French rock video. Something called “Armenian Teletime.”
“I like that airport lounge feeling,” says Jac Zinder, the mastermind behind Fuzzyland, as he relaxes in a booth and greets his friends. “But this is probably the last time we’ll be here. There’s a lot of other sites I want to explore.”
Fuzzyland is a floater--a club with no fixed location. Its most successful incarnation, it seems, was at a bowling alley in South Pasadena, where platform shoe-wearing clubutantes mingled with the rental shoe-types who were there to bowl.
The week before, when Fuzzyland cropped up at a club on Fairfax, it was unceremoniously down for overcrowding.
There’s no danger of that tonight; competition from a one-night-only “I Hate Brenda” bash has siphoned off many of the customers. “We get 30 people, 130 people, 230 people--it varies,” explained Zinder, who says that after a year of planning parties on a more or less weekly basis, he wants to make Fuzzyland a once-a-month extravaganza with special performances and events.
In the back, Fuzzyland has the affable feel of a party in your most twisted friend’s basement. Jac Z is spinning records and people are dancing to a ragged live performance by Hal Negro and the Glory Boys. Silhouettes of boys, girls and drag queens dance and writhe behind a back-lit scrim, bathed in a bilious green light. A few feet away, couples talk and cuddle on soft couches, oblivious to the surroundings.
There’s not a TV star in sight. It’s all very pleasant. Very cheesy. So very . . . fuzzy.
* ame: Fuzzyland.
* Where And When: Variable. Call (213) 969-1433 for details.
* Dress: As you like.
* Door people: Female, friendly.
* Prices: Admission in the $6 range. Domestic beer, $2.50.
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