Dancer Rhia Fitzpatrick checks out the crowd on the main dance floor of Ice, a hotel-free nightclub that works hard at being locals-friendly. Photos by RUBEN D. LUEVANO/review-journal Scott Kirkland of the Crystal Method signals the crowd while performing at Ice. The club is beloved among locals for bringing in world-class DJs.

Remember that TV show "Cheers"? Try to imagine Norm and Cliff and Carla and the crew from that beloved but fictional neighborhood bar partying at Ice.

Yeah, it doesn't work for us, either. Yet, it's the image, the feel of "Cheers" that Marc Jay happily invokes when describing the niche Ice fills in the local nightclub scene.

Jay, Ice's director of public relations and special events, notes that locals often prefer to not rub elbows -- or shoulders, torsos and butts -- with tourists at Strip-based clubs on weekends.

So, he says, "we welcome the locals. It's like 'Cheers,' the bar where everybody knows you."

Homey, familiar, welcoming. A place where everybody -- bartenders, waitresses, the guy whipping light sticks around like some 21st century Bruce Lee, the ridiculously hot dancers, the guy pawing the energetic girl along the wall -- either knows your name or wants to so you can maybe, you know, hook up later?

And it -- the whole "Cheers" thing -- works. You will, indeed, be apt to find regulars at Ice, fellow Southern Nevadans who prefer Ice to more touristy places in Strip hotels where your name isn't as important as how much cash you've frittered away at the tables.

Ice occupies a 17,000-square-foot space longtimers might remember as Drink but which, thanks to a $7 million renovation, is no longer even remotely recognizable as Drink. The club features, in addition to two VIP rooms, three distinct spaces.

The largest is devoted to house and electronic music, the musical form that most effectively differentiates Ice from other clubs around town. An adjoining, slightly smaller room is devoted to hip-hop. And, when the inevitable need for a brief sit-down arrives, there's even a loungelike area that fills the bill.

All are sleek and Euro-stylish, laden with silver, steel and glass and outfitted with lighting systems that'll make you see God and a sound system that'll make your pants legs shake.

Jenni Parfumorse, 22, doesn't even live in Las Vegas anymore but still comes in from Los Angeles to go to Ice.

"I love the vibe there," she says. "The best music, the best people."

Danny Brady, 23 and a DJ himself, says he likes Ice for "the world-class DJs they bring in."

Brady also likes the fact that Ice isn't on the Strip. "It's not overcrowded," he says.

"I can see some familiar faces there once I'm in where, if I went to Tao or somewhere else, I may not know anybody aside from the persons I came with."

Another plus, Brady says, is that "I don't have to wait hours to get in."

Forget the perpetual queuing model that's in place at other clubs around town. Get in line at Ice and you're certainly going to make it in, and probably quickly, too.

Leave the high-school neuroses at home, too. Even Quasimido would make it in on a Saturday night as long as he wasn't wearing shorts and flip-flops.

Speaking of which, Ice's dress code is more forgiving than most other places. Nice jeans and nice T-shirts are fine, and Brady has noticed that the dress code is flexible enough to accommodate various music subgenres on some nights.

Jay says Ice is still receiving positive buzz both in the United States and internationally from "The Club," a reality show -- shown here on Spike TV -- that took the proverbial behind-the-scenes look at Ice's doings. Jay says Ice's off-Strip location does offer challenges, but that's all for patrons' good.

"We have to go that extra mile," he explains. "We're not in a casino. We don't have 4,000 people sleeping above us. So we have to give people some reason they'd want to come back, and they do."

Bartender Gerald Pacheco -- while you're there, be sure to ask Pacheco for a serving of "Gerald's Special Sauce" -- agrees that customer service is a key component of Ice's success.

"We've got to really rely on our customer service to make sure people stick around and keep coming back," he says.

"We do little things to keep people in here and make sure they have a good time. You definitely won't see outrageous lines. You definitely won't see outrageous drink prices."