Crocker Club coming in January

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What am I most excited about when it comes to 2009? How about a fantastic-looking new bar, just blocks away from the Los Angeles Times building. The Crocker Club will finally debut next month (possibly as soon as the second week of January), owners say, and downtown dwellers will have ample reason to toast the basement lounge next year.

Dramatically set inside the former Crocker Citizens National Bank building (in the former safe deposit box area), the more than 6,0000-square-foot lounge features an honest-to-god bank vault door, which serves as the entrance to the Mosler Lounge portion of the bar (pictured above). Get there early once the long-in-the-works lounge opens, as this is the place where everyone will want to drink (other parts of the bar are equally attractive ... it’s just that you don’t often get the chance to sip Champagne behind a nearly 40-ton circular vault lock every day).

We received a walkthrough recently, courtesy of co-owner Vincent Terzian. Of particular note: The (allegedly haunted) space features ceilings carefully restored to what things might have looked like in the early part of the 20th century. We’ll have more details in a Calendar feature story as the bar gets closer to opening next month, but rest assured that the Crocker Club will not be a VIP-only club with a velvet rope. This lounge, like the Edison, hopes to simply lure in sophisticated fans of classic cocktails and closeted would-be 1940s-era bank robbers who dream of big scores.

Crocker Club, 453 S. Spring St. (213) 239-9099

-- Charlie Amter