Done with Mirrors

When I heard the Beauty Bar was opening at the corner of El Cajon Boulevard and Euclid (the same place my convertible was carjacked at a stoplight), I thought I must have heard wrong. But the chain of salon-themed hotspots (with locales in Las Vegas, San Francisco, and New York) picked the location on purpose.

"We did the same thing in 2000 by opening a Beauty Bar in the worst part of Hollywood," says managing partner Johnny Nixon. "Since we glittered up the place, the neighborhood has improved, and the city has complimented us for reviving a run-down area [the city] had abandoned and was doing nothing with."

The new club at 4746 El Cajon Boulevard (formerly Recognize) is outfitted with black-and-white tile floors and '50s-type salon dome dryers, mirrors, and styling chairs. Bands will be able to use a dressing room that features a one-way mirror, "so groups can catch the crowd's act before the crowd catches theirs," says Nixon. Five-dollar cover on Fridays and Saturdays; the cost of a manicure and a cocktail is $10.