Velvet Rope - Los Angeles Hotels .com

If you simply cannot leave LA without at least one night when you need to dress to kill, LA nightlife is waiting for you. There are plenty of velvet-rope venues, some of which you'll never get into if you're reading this in person instead of having your personal assistant check out the possibilities. But here's a smattering, anyway.

Power brokers in training can conduct multimillion-dollar deals (or watch it happen) over elegant lavender-flavored cocktails at the EAST|WEST Lounge (8851 Santa Monica Blvd., WeHo). EAST|WEST has a private entrance and area for members ($1,200 fee), who you may get to ogle.

Eat, drink, or listen raptly to big stars mere feet away from you at the intimate Largo (432 N. Fairfax Ave.) -- that is, if you've called for dinner reservations weeks in advance, and if the club actually returns your call.

Bar 1200 (1200 Alta Loma Rd., WeHo) is your posh spot to swill the cocktails -- if you have a Top 40 hit or a New York Times Bestseller, or if your last name is, say, Hilton. You may luck in if you're a guest at the Sunset Marquis Hotel and Villas, where the bar is located. Or who knows? You might just look hot enough to get through the door and mingle with the famous.