NEW BAR HAS L.A. WAITING TO INHALE

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. -- Oh, the air can get thin out here in the land of
limos and liposuction. Oh, the air can get brown, too, hovering over the
celebrities and swimming pools like sludge. Oh, what to do when it all gets
too, too much?

Go to O2, Los Angeles' first oxygen bar -- co-owned by Cheers bartender and
hemp crusader Woody Harrelson. This hip Sunset Strip salon comes not a
moment too soon, say the patrons, as they sink back into soft pillows and
breathe deep.

Outside, cars rumble along in a steady stream down Sunset Boulevard. Horns
beep. Neon flashes.

Inside, from the hoses of brass hookahs, actors and lawyers and
businesspeople serenely suck oxygen-enriched air through the same clear
plastic nostril tubing in vogue at the emergency room.

They pay through the nose, too: $13 for a 20-minute session, with an extra
$2 for flavors (lemon, mint, orange) or aromatherapy scents (joy, clarity,
energy). No one complains.

"It's pleasing. You can really feel it," said Ricky Paull Goldin, a
31-year-old actor dressed in black T-shirt, black sunglasses and jeans, who
was testing out the air with his photographer.

"It really makes sense, doesn't it, to feed the body oxygen?" said Goldin,
who spent five years on the soap Another World. "When you see the old guys
keel over in Vegas, what do they do? Rush over with oxygen. And the air we
breathe here daily is so bad."

Tokyo has had oxygen bars for a few years now. China and India have them to
counterbalance smog. "Oxygen therapy" already has hit New York and Aspen.
But O2 is something new, the owners explain; it's about much more than
breathing. Complete with DJs, beautiful people and black lights, it's also
a nightclub (open until at least 2 a.m.), as well as a restaurant and a
watering hole -- of a sort.

Last year, California banned smoking at bars. O2 takes the clean-living bar
concept one step further: no alcohol. Instead, customers belly up to a
"herbar" for fruit and herbal elixirs and shots -- floura "for a happy
colon," spirulina, an alga, for protein.

All the fabric is hemp, from the elegant ecru valances in the front windows
to the staff T-shirts, which bear the slogan "eat . . . drink . . . breathe
. love." Even the regular room air is filtered through an "ozonator." The
food is all vegetarian and nondairy -- and served raw, the better to keep
in the nutrients.

The menus, printed with soy-based ink on hemp paper, offer suggestions for
living the good life: "Instead of capping off a late night with a crawl to
your standard greasy spoon, order something from our organic menu that will
actually help you get out of bed in the morning. Healthy, yeah, but
hopefully you came to party. So go all-out. There never has been or will be
a hangover created here."

"Our idea is to provide the highest-content nutrition without animal
products for your body, mood-altering herbal drinks for your mind, and a
breath of fresh air for your soul," says Richard DeAndrea, a medical and
naturopathic physician who goes by the name Dr. D.

Dr. D owns the bar with Harrelson and Harrelson's wife, Laura Louie. He
came up with the concept and sold the activist couple on it after they
heard his alternative-medicine radio show and sought him out about two
years ago.

"We did some orange-flavored oxygen at my house, some herbal drinks, some
raw food, and said, 'Let's do it,' " the goateed healer explains as he sits
in 02's intimate round front room, eating a mock Caesar salad whose egg and
anchovy flavorings have been concocted from a mixture of yeast, nuts,
herbs, spices and seaweed.

The threesome hope soon to start holding yoga workshops and other events at
the club. They spent months decorating the small Sunset Boulevard property,
which has a round Roman-temple-inspired front room, with faux columns,
semicircular bar, and a small, silvery dance floor.

Often people walk in and assume it's a nightclub like any other.

"We had a guy walk up to the bar saying, 'Give me the stiffest screwdriver
that you have,' and the bartender sat for a second thinking, 'God, do you
actually know how stiff our screwdrivers are?' Because they're very strong.
They give you a total buzz,' " says Dr. D, gazing into the
Moroccan-inspired breathing area in the back, visible through a large window.

There, Robin Riker stretches out, reading the Los Angeles Times and
breathing happily.

Riker, an actress, already is a regular, as is her husband, Evan Nesbitt, a
cameraman.

"We came here about three or four weeks ago," she says as she inhales the
energy-laced air. "We tried clarity the first time. And we had had nothing
before we came. We were totally straight, hadn't had a drink or anything
like that. And we sat here and ordered a kava [ root ] cocktail and felt so
lifted.

"After our 20 minutes with the oxygen, we wanted to try everything on the
menu, so we ordered a menu sampler, and we were just talking and watching
everybody. And I felt a real lift of energy and a mental acuity that I
hadn't had when I came in."

She leans back on the pillows, relaxing.

"I was tired. This makes me sit right up," she says. "It would be really
great before a workout."

Since the first visit, Riker and Nesbitt have brought many of their
friends, all of whom raved, she says. Still, the concept sometimes makes
Riker laugh.

"We've spent some serious money here," she says, grinning. "That first
night, as we were driving home, my husband looked at me and he said, 'You
know, only in L.A. can you drop $100 on oxygen and cabbage!' "

Checked-by: Pat Dolan