Under red lights, a man in a cowboy hat swings his partner around a crowded dance floor. House and disco music play from a makeshift DJ booth. A tattooed woman with long, red fingernails grips a Buddha-shaped beer bottle. A fashionable couple takes selfies in matching red trucker hats emblazoned with the words “Thai Angel.” They’re two of the many patrons proud to show their loyalty to the bar-restaurant hosting this lively scene. It’s late on a Saturday night in February and just a few hours earlier, there was no DJ and no dancing. Just regulars eating drunken noodles and fried rice at this unassuming spot in Koreatown.

But when Thai Angel’s tiny kitchen closes, the party starts. Through a community of devout regulars and an owner that embraces them, it’s quietly become a drama-free, all-are-welcome place to dance from 9 p.m. until last call just before 2 a.m. No RSVP, no cover, no line outside.

In the back of the L-shaped room, the bathroom line buzzes with strangers bonding over how they found Thai Angel and flexing how many times they’ve visited. It’s the type of conversation you’d expect somewhere like Spotlight, a dress-to-impress nightclub that recently opened in Hollywood, or at an underground warehouse party in East L.A. or downtown. But some young L.A. partygoers are tired of corporate-feeling clubs and exclusive or ticketed events. They’ve gone back to basics — favoring casual bar environments. Gen Z’s recent discovery of 100-year-old Barney’s Beanery has made the late-night roadhouse as hard to get into as the spots the new crowd was seemingly trying to avoid. Thai Angel has no glamorous Hollywood backstory or viral TikTok posts, yet its dance floor is packed.

Jamie Eich, 58, opened the first iteration of Thai Angel, named after her daughter, in 1995 as a karaoke bar in Hollywood. Eight years ago, on her daughter Salanya “Angel” Inm’s 21st birthday, Jamie asked what she wanted. “A bar,” she answered. The current Thai Angel location on Western Avenue was her birthday gift. Thai Angel is co-owned by Jamie, Angel and her brother Boss Inm, 36. After college, Angel, now 29, began working as a waitress and bartender. Boss and Jamie are behind the bar at Thai Angel every day. Angel, who also works as a reiki practitioner and model, is preparing to open an alcohol-free tea lounge upstairs.

The family never set out to make Thai Angel a nightlife hot spot. Sure, it poured strong drinks and stayed open late, but the first DJs to throw parties in the space were just regulars slurping down pad see ew at the bar.

Most people inside tonight found the space through a party called SOUP. In 2020, eight friends in the music industry, including Swedish pop star Tove Lo, were looking for a place to throw an informal DJ night. They looked for a venue across L.A. but couldn’t find the right fit, eventually giving up and grabbing a late-night dinner. They ended up at Thai Angel.

The first SOUP was days before the city issued pandemic stay-at-home orders in March 2020. The friends have since put on 13 events at the restaurant. Throwing dance parties at Thai Angel requires promoters to bring in their own DJ and speaker setup, but the environment is worth it.

“People have really responded to the unique feel of Thai Angel and the fun concept of SOUP’s quick DJ rotation,” says SOUP member Samuel Luria. “The setting has a lot to do with it. L.A. nightlife is filled with things worth avoiding … there are plenty of douchey clubs, trendy bars and overpriced and pretentious mixology. There are also fun spots where the owners have applied care and vision in order to create a fun and unique environment. Thai Angel is one of those spots.”

On party nights, the eight friends arrive early to enjoy an off-menu vegan tom kha soup prepared by Jamie, with plenty of leftovers for the rest of the week.

Tonight, the crowd at Thai Angel is courtesy of DJ collective Friends of Friends of Friends. Previously, they threw house parties and DJed the occasional wedding, but the trio was inspired by SOUP and began throwing events at Thai Angel last September. “Jamie immediately welcomed us as her family,” said co-founder Collin Sommers. “For a city known for its glitz and glam, there’s a lot of authenticity in the spaces below the surface. Thai Angel is just one story, amongst many in L.A., of a women-owned, family-owned business that truly foster community.”

Jamie, who is a single mother, enjoys her role as welcoming committee and secondary mom to Thai Angel patrons. Some regulars don’t know her first name and refer to her only as “Mom.” She encourages it. A handwritten note tacked to the bar displays her username for digital payments as “Thai-Mom.” The nickname was popularized by DJ and actor Ian Alexander Jr., who died by suicide at 26. Jamie credits him for throwing weekly DJ nights starting in 2018 that laid the foundation for Thai Angel to become an if-you-know-you-know nightlife spot. “He loved doing it. He’d greet me with ‘Hi, Mom, how are you?’ He made this place pop. I think that he’s still here with us,” she said.

Angel believes the family dynamic is responsible for the warm and welcoming environment. “It’s a very small, narrow space. It’s cozy. In my mind it really does feel like a living room, a house party. People come here and they feel at home,” she says.

In addition to this spot, Jamie owns two bars in Bangkok, also named Thai Angel. “We set goals here. Like Nike said, just do it,” Jamie says.

At midnight, a man bobs and weaves through the crowd holding a stack of giant pizza boxes. Jamie immediately waves him over to the last booth, where he begins giving out slices for free. Scotty Chappell, co-owner of Swizzle Pizza, an East Hollywood pop-up, has been coming to Thai Angel for seven years. He initially stumbled in while working at a restaurant down the street. Before opening Swizzle, Chappell and his business partners experimented with serving Thai pizzas out of the Thai Angel oven.

“Thai Angel has always been there for us. It’s a chosen family in a city where that feels so hard to find. We’re there for them too, whether it’s helping them close up on busy nights, taking out the trash, washing dishes or bringing in a ton of pizza to feed a party so they can actually have a break from cooking their delicious Thai food,” Chappell says.

At 1 a.m., the dance floor shows no signs of slowing down. Jamie has changed into a “I <3 Thai Angel” T-shirt. Angel is passing out homemade lemon bars, courtesy of a regular who calls the bar their “Cheers.” Across Los Angeles, the Saturday night crowd is waiting in line for a hot bar or racking up an Uber bill as they search for the next better party. If only they knew what was hiding in plain sight.

Follow Thai Angel on Instagram @thaiangelbar for information about upcoming events.