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Sequins and suede were bathed in pink light, naked hips and nude shoulders, belly dancers in gauze. Gold-ringed toes teased legs under tables, and keys were tossed from camel-coloured coupes. No cameras, no press once you entered these doors, just amorous gestures and Freudian slips from loose lips that sipped warm amber whiskey. Diamond bracelets were slid off delicate wrists and left in the cardamom soufflé. Sandalwood burned and fortunes were read from floating green tea leaves in the Santa Ana winds. Palm trees swayed in wild sweet breezes in this haven for heathens, and cowboys and nymphos. In a City of Angels, it was the place with no angels, but always sunny and seventy degrees.

The Club: Helena’s

LOS ANGELES
1985 - 1991

Helena’s, a private members-only nightclub, opened in 1985 on the corner of LA’s Rampart Boulevard and West Temple Street. Founded by actress and belly dancer Helena Kallianiotes, it enforced one of the strictest no-photo policies in the city, becoming a place where LA glamour could meet unrestrained debauchery. Marlon Brando, Madonna, Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep, and Prince were among the regulars who found refuge there. By 1991, its doors had closed, but the stories of its undocumented nights live on.

The Playlist: Listen to the music of Heathens, Cowboys, and the Santa Ana Winds

HEATHENS, COWBOYS AND THE SANTA ANA WINDS — AS TOLD BY OUR DISCOTHÈQUE DJS.