Waking Jazz Ghosts Near Hollywood and Vine

Clubland Notes: Former Babylon partner Craig Trager has been angling to take over the Vine Street Bar & Grill for about three years now, with plans to create an old-style Hollywood hang. It’s finally going to happen. Trager teamed with Will Shamlian, Jeffrey Best (the ex-GM of the Olive and a professional party-thrower--he put together the Miramax post-Oscar party at the Mondrian) and Dean R. Miller (the Viper Room’s Sultan of Swing, a.k.a. the promoter of Mr. Phat’s Royal Martini Club on Thursday nights).

Trager wants to take advantage of “the jazz ghosts” in the joint, which is near the famed corner of Hollywood and Vine, and create a simple dining, dancing and wide-ranging music experience. The working title is Lucky 7, and Trager hopes to have it up and running by July. . . .

The Whisky is making history, once again. On Wednesday, the longtime rock venue is launching its first country night called “The Whisky’s Wild Western Wednesday,” a monthly club featuring bands you can two-step to. We don’t know exactly what impact this will have on the Whisky’s rep, but we do want to be there opening night. The headliners are Mike Mann and the Night Riders, an all-black cowboy band from ‘round these parts that has its own set of line dancers--kind of a honky-tonk variation of the Temptations. . . .

Although the new Santa Monica supper club MacInerney’s has been open for about five weeks, the venue had its grand opening party last Thursday. Those lucky enough to have stopped in--MacInerney’s co-owner Sean Penn was one--got to catch a performance by Dwight Yoakum. Hey, it must have been a scene ‘cause Kato made it.