In tough economic times, people want to escape, and no city does escapism better than Los Angeles. This week, the charts are owned by L.A. artists that produce guilty pop pleasures (Ke$ha reigns atop Billboard’s Hot 100 chart followed by downtown L.A.’s Far East Movement, who held the top spot last week), haters be damned. Last night, Far East Movement were still feeling “Fly Like a G6,” and hit up Hollywood’s most escapist club, Drai’s, to celebrate. So what does the foursome think about penning the surprise guilty pop pleasure of 2010? We braved tragic “electro-hop” groupies to find out.

The recession is over. At least it felt that way last night inside Hollywood’s Redbury hotel. SBE, the nightlife giant and growing hospitality player in L.A., held a grand opening celebration Wednesday evening, toasting the new boutique long-term stay property with a bash that was as opulent as it was blissfully economically tone deaf.

"I moved to L.A. so that I'd stop acting like a crazy maniac."

“It’s the Godzilla of nightclubs.” That was the reaction of our nightlife guru Steve Lewis when I asked him about XS, the mega club at casino maven Steve Wynn's Encore hotel in Las Vegas. But unlike the fictional Japanese monster who stomped on citizens and cities with uncontrollable glee, XS is a tightly controlled, carefully calculated environment designed to redefine nightlife and provide customers with the ultimate Vegas experience. As Lewis later put it, “This is the machine.”

● McCall's Meat and Fish (Los Feliz) - Old-school butcher shop in new-school Los Feliz. ● W Hollywood (Hollywood) - Will undoubtedly be Hollywood's premiere hotel, catering to celebrities and the wealthy. ● Hatfield's (Mid-City West) - An already very up restaurant gets upgraded.

● Butter Tart Bakery (Eagle Rock/Eastside) - Andre Guerrero focuses on good coffee and pastries. ● Agura (West Hollywood) - French-Japanese in overly-stimulating atmosphere: chandeliers and a gigantor Buddha. ● W Hollywood (Hollywood) - Will undoubtedly be Hollywood's premiere hotel, catering to celebrities and the wealthy.