Andalucia

"This is the dream of all the world, to live in Granada. Work in the morning, have a one-hour in the afternoon, at night go out and have that life. Go out and see your friends and eat tapa and drink red wine and be in a beautiful place."
– Anthony Bourdain

History

A linguist from Los Angeles traveling the world after grad school, Jennifer Chen found a slice of heaven in the mountains of southern Spain. The pubs and tapas restaurants of Andalucia struck a note in her soul, and dancing away the night to the pulsing Latin dances left its touch on her heart. Jennifer returned home, wishing to bring to her hometown a taste of what she'd found wandering the mountain paths. And so Andalucia was born. A restaurant and pub with a Latin dance club upstairs, it is situated in Westwood Village just outside of UCLA's campus.

The Restaurant

The restaurant is a warm space dominated by earth tones. Students from UCLA make up the larger portion of the clientele, with the rest comprised of locals and others who work close by. The menu is a mix of American favorites you'd fine in most restaurants or pubs, combined with authentic Spanish and Andalusian dishes.

The tapas bar is quite popular with the students, especially during happy hour. Tapas, which translates to "tops", were originally thin slices of meat or bread used to cover one's glass of sweet wine to keep fruit flies from it. At Andalucia, it evolved to more of a finger food buffet. It has the effect of keeping people on their feet, mingling and interacting more than at many other establishments.

The Latin dance club
	Upstairs from the restaurant is a festive dance club with a recessed dance floor. The stadium-like layout lets those sitting at the tables, bar, and even some couches, view more easily from their slightly elevated perches, the dancers moving to salsa and other Latin dances .

There are group dance classes usually in the early afternoon so people can stay and dance into the evening. Individual lessons can take place at any hour, whether during the lively evenings, or after hours, or even at a person's home. The instructors are mostly Performing Arts students at UCLA.