Boardwalk 11 elevates karaoke to a sophisticated and elegant singing experience. You’ll feel more like a lounge singer at this swanky karaoke supper club on the Westside with its sound system.

Karaoke every day from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m.
10433 National Blvd., West L.A.,
(310) 837-5245

Chris Whitt, for one, is convinced karaoke is only getting more popular. There are new karaoke nights launching each month and new venues opening regularly.

One of those is Boardwalk 11. on the Westside, in what was formerly Stevie Joe’s Supper Club. The owners, Stephen and Hirome Spears, come with something of a karaoke pedigree-Spears is the son of Brass Monkey owner Alan Spears. It’s too soon to tell if Boardwalk 11 will have the same magic, but Martin Moakler, 26, an actor from Hollywood who loves the Brass Monkey, was here to check it out. “I sang a few slow songs…. I did a few guilty-pleasure numbers, even some show tunes, and it was really fun.”

Late in the evening, I find myself on stage, singing Faith Hill’s “You’re Still the One.” An attractive woman in her 50s punches the air and shouts, “you go, girl!” This is the kind of impromptu sharing with strangers that karaoke inspires. Afterward, she pulls me aside and says I remind her of her daughter, who has just moved to the East Coast.

She tells me she used to sing on Broadway, and with her daughter gone; she’s come to Boardwalk 11 to cheer herself up. Will she sing for us tonight? “Oh, I don’t know, honey,” she says and sighs. “I come here for the healing, and I can get that from singing or listening, just being here.”

Like so many other Angelenos she has found that karaoke can take the sting out of a lonely night, create a community out of strangers or give a struggling singer a few moments in the spotlight. Forget yoga, reiki, psychics and masseurs. For some, karaoke is the only healing they needed.

Julia Gaynor is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer.