ou wince in the beginning, and you instantly think “Wow! They are still alive!” which was weird since the song right after was “Staying Alive”. Derek and I did a double take, shrugged our shoulders, and headed to the bar. “Redbull Vodka and a White Russian!” he yelled over a few heads. My phone starts buzzing, and our friend Yanira is outside, “tell them you are going to the restaurant!” I yell at her. Next thing you know, Derek’s phone is buzzing and more people show up. Party of two turns into a party of six, with one guy named Papa Smurf, which was a great conversation piece later in the evening as to the philosophy of the 1980 cartoon.

Marty and Elayne where playing a piano and drum rendition of Dean Martins “Volare”, which at first sounds a bit odd. Elayne’s voice is a shrill high pitch kinda sound that requires lots of drinks to be able to stand. Which might be a reason as to why the bar was as busy as the 3pm Senior Citizen All You Can Eat Dinner Buffet at Sizzler. You wince in the beginning, and you instantly think “Wow! They are still alive!” which was weird since the song right after was “Staying Alive”. Derek and I did a double take, shrugged our shoulders, and headed to the bar. “Redbull Vodka and a White Russian!” he yelled over a few heads. My phone starts buzzing, and our friend Yanira is outside, “tell them you are going to the restaurant!” I yell at her. Next thing you know, Derek’s phone is buzzing and more people show up. Party of two turns into a party of six, with one guy named Papa Smurf, which was a great conversation piece later in the evening as to the philosophy of the 1980 cartoon.

The place is crazy busy and there is a good vibe all around. In the middle of the bar, a huge piano/table rests with Elayne in the main seat, and Marty with his shiny glittery top sings “Fly me to the moon”. Indeed!!! I go to the bar to order more drinks, I squeeze in between some good looking guys and try to get the bartenders attention.

“Here, let me help you” one guy says to me, “what do you want?” “A red bull vodka and a White Russian” I say. He grins broadly and says “The dude abides!” Maybe it was the blank look on my face that gave me away, as he raised his eyebrow and said, “You know, from The Big Lebowsky?” “Oh right! The Big Lebowsky!” I remembered Derek had been on a Cohen Brothers binge a few days prior and was channeling his inner bowler, hence the constant White Russians.

Needless to say, before we knew it, our party of six, turned into a party of nine and then before we realized a little table that should only fit four was sitting all of us! The drinks where flowing, Marty and Elayne were still alive and singing up a storm from the soundtrack of Ocean’s 11 (the original crappy one) and we were making friends left and right. Sometime later, we managed to get a booth right by Marty and Elayne and the guy that play Ritchie Valens’ dad in the movie La Bamba joined our table out of nowhere. Miguel, one of our new friends nearly cried. He loves La Bamba. And before we knew it, it was last call. A night at The Dresden, if you are cool and have an open mind, can be one of the best nights of your life. The drinks are good, fair prices ($6 Red Bull Vodka), great service, great entertainment, cool people who like swanky Las Vegas style scenes in Los Angeles and above anything else; you become money and don’t even know it.

Word of advice: take pictures in Sepia!