The Toledo Show

The blond in the trashy lingerie is writhing above your table. With each perfectly crafted bump and grind, she draws you further into the fishnets-and-cigarettes world of "The Toledo Show," a Thursday night scene at the Sunset Room in Hollywood. As she's joined by four other vamping vixens, they each slink their way to the ringmaster, a lanky jazzman cradling a 1940s microphone and puffing on a cigarillo.

"The Toledo Show," Hollywood's favorite dirty little secret, is in full effect. Orchestrated by cult icon Toledo Diamond, an Angeleno alley cat who's lived nine lives, "The Toledo Show" takes you to the other side of Tinseltown's tracks with master choreography and scat-like vocals.

Backed by a live and loose jazz combo, Diamond spits his vocals into the mike and commands his "dames" around the room. And what a room: The Sunset is an opulent beauty with a classic sense of style. After a four-year run at the Union club in the mid-'90s, Diamond's been bouncing from joint to joint. For the ex-junkie-turned-choreographer, it took a lot of sin and a decade of redemption to finally find a venue that's perfect for his show, which now takes place in the Sunset's spacious dining room that also has a comfortable bar area. There's never a cover -- a rare treat in Hollywood -- and it's becoming a destination for people who enjoy a bit of eroticism with their tuna tartare.

The Sunset Room's retro vibe and Diamond's evocative maneuverings add up to a great choice for a first date. The "dames" could stir anyone's libido. Dressed in fishnet stockings, dominatrix shoes, vintage lingerie and the occasional bondage ensemble, the dancers fill the room with sexually charged energy.

With music-video choreography credits that include Paula Abdul's famed "Straight Up" video, Diamond's also worked with such artists as George Michael and Janet Jackson. But he really shines brightest when it's his turn to dance. Like a puppet on invisible strings, he loosely shakes and quivers, kicks his legs up and down the stage's steps, does back flips over chairs and then cradles the mike, lets out a howl and it starts all over again. The blonds are creeping, slinking, shivering, quivering -- and it's not even time for dessert.