Recently I was seeking a Karaoke workout without having to go anywhere near the 405 and its Mulholland Bridge remodeling. The Sawtelle Blvd corridor with it's sushi and strip malls was out of the question, or else Max Karaoke would be my destination of choice on the Westside.
I knew the San Gabriel Valley is home to an extensive Asian population, so there had to be a fine karaoke establishment in the vicinity. Not just a restaurant or bar when you might have to endure some dour performances, I'm talking about a full scale deluxe song-after-song private room karaoke, the kind you're hoarse from the following day from goofing around and singing your guts out.
Before I knew it I had googled myself to Energy Karaoke in Alhambra. After meeting my karaoke compadre Martha Quintanilla for fish tacos in El Monte at La Bufadora (another mecca of an establishment), we were off to Alhambra.
Soon we found ourselves as tourists in The Orient. We were the only non-Asian folks for miles on this stretch of Valley Blvd (or at least in the filled-to-capacity parking lot of the deluxe 2 story strip mall)
When I go to sing, I want to belt out as many songs as I can, and 2 people in a private room can sing at least a dozen an hour with a little planning and playlist que-ing.
What we found was a hub of karaoke like none has seen before. It looms in the 2nd story of this Alhambra strip mall, hidden from street view. After ascending a spiral staircase I thought I had ended up in the antechamber of Space Mountain for the futuristic look of the place. Everything inside was white other than the 16y old black clad employees who practically swarmed to attend to our needs. I had relinquished my ID and had two mics in my hand before I could say Kung Pao.
The trickiest part of the venture was learning how to use the touch screen features of song selection. They had 8 main categories, 1 of which was "Western Bands" and another of which was "Western Singers". The other 6 were the Asian stations, of which there was a surprising level of talent being broadcast in the lobby.
The sound was great. Everything was first class. This place is pretty brand spankin new. Before we knew it Beyonce was singing Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh and the engagement was on. A doubleshot of The Police, some Blondie, R.E.M. and we closed out fittingly with Tom Petty's Mary Jane's Last Dance, our last dance of the day.
Latin fans won't find even Shakira in the jukebox here, but there was still plenty of roster to choose from.
The only catch I discovered is the $25/hr sounds like a great price, but with a per person 1 drink minimum averaging $5 each, plus the tax and tip they add (based on the whole bill, not just the drinks), it's more like $45/hour. In this case I decided not to take offense to their tactics, and I wrote it off as the owners using their good if not slightly illegal business sense. I was impressed enough with their operation that I knew I'd be coming back for more and my wallet would be as prepared as my vocal chords.
--KW
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