On a recent Friday, Los Globos general manager Sire Dhone Johnson stood on his Sunset Boulevard sidewalk next to bouncers and chatted with customers.
The Sunset Strip and Hollywood may get all the historical ink, but these days, Echo Park draws more hipster foot traffic.
This mini-hub boasts the versatile Los Globos, indie rock fixtures the Silver Lake Lounge and the popular watering hole the Thirsty Crow. The Echo, a few blocks away, remains a vital stop for developing artists.
"At first, I was intimidated, of course, because Sunset Boulevard is Sunset Boulevard, and Los Angeles is Los Angeles," Johnson said.
Which is to say, with a Sunset address comes a certain responsibility.
Los Globos was long a Latin club serving neighborhood residents. Nightclub entrepreneur Steve Edelson bought the place six years ago and brought on his Chicago friend Johnson, a Jamaican expat, musician and veteran club owner who came up in that city's house music and reggae scenes.
Los Globos has since established itself as a shuffle-era venue that showcases a range of genres including house, dancehall, ska, hip-hop, cumbia, punk and industrial noise, while still regularly scheduling Latin nights.
Johnson compares running Los Globos to owning a Chinese restaurant. "You don't eat Chinese food every day, but when you want that flavor."
On the multi-room venue's top floor, the Summer Mass, a benefit for the Satanic Temple, lured a few hundred black-clad miscreants.
Asked whether he'd been up to see what the Satanists had on offer, Johnson laughed.
"No, I stay away from that voodoo."
