Bella Vita's Rehab Sunday beach parties

A group of friends gather for a photo at Rehab Sunday at Bella Vita on Geist Reservoir. (Credit: Jacob Kriese)

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Ask any tribal-tattooed frat boy or your embarrassing alcoholic uncle: the best cure for a hangover is none other than more booze.

That's the mentality adopted by Bella Vita, the popular restaurant and nightclub on Geist Reservoir, for its weekly Rehab Sunday beach party. Why spend Sunday relaxing in your pajamas with a hot cup of coffee, reading the paper or listening to NPR when you could be drinking trendy cocktails in a bikini to a DJ's thumping electro-beats?

The decision is easy for the increasing number of Indy residents hitting Bella Vita's outdoor beach: bikinis or bust.

"There are a lot of pretty people here, people that take care of themselves. And people here don't get into the 'I got more money' mentality," said Rehab regular Jacob Stahler, 26, a local club promoter with large pectoral muscles and blonde/blue hair.

Scott McCorkle, Stahler's business partner, leaned in and pulled out a sandwich-sized pack of hundred dollar bills wrapped around his business cards.

"We usually spend about 800 dollars."

For Bella Vita owner Henri Najem and his promotions team, seeing dozens of bronzed bodies ordering $125 bottles of vodka and scampering through the two-foot wading pool, even on the overcast Sunday when Metromix stopped in, is a dream realized.

Najem, who bought the Bella Vita property five years ago, long wanted to transform the lakefront area behind the restaurant into something special. With some inspiration from Hard Rock Hotel's Rehab Sunday pool party in Las Vegas and about $265,000, Najem re-imagined the grassy waterfront patch into this summer's hottest, and only, Sunday morning club in the city.

"People on the Northside (of Indianapolis) go to Vegas or South Beach all the time. And they would come back and talk about how great those places are. Henri heard that, and said 'Let's do it,'" said Michael Rypel, Rehab Sunday's promoter and developer. "The concept is that you want to recover from the weekend. But most people here now think that Monday is for rehabbing."

Through Rehab Sundays, Bella Vita aims to bring an exotic flair to the Midwest.

"We're trying to make it as close to how you'd feel in Miama or Ibiza. I mean, it's Indiana. You make compromises -- play familiar music. But I play mixes that are a bit more progressive than what anybody else is doing here," said tongue-pierced DJ John Larner as he spun a Madonna beat under a hip-hop vocal track.

The Rehab Sunday space looks like a microcosm of an MTV Spring Break -- a small pool anchors the center, surrounded by a beach that is lined on two sides by island-themed bars and on the other two sides by cabanas, or rather tables and chair clusters that can be rented for $250. Bottle service, for a minimum of $125, is also available, allowing folks to pour their own drinks with the included mixers.

At first glance, the clientele look like those on an MTV spot as well -- shirtless dudes with bowling-ball biceps and short, spiked hair sit between gorgeous, ever-giggling women passing bottles of Grey Goose. Everyone wears stylish sunglasses.

Well, almost everyone.

Sitting under an umbrella near the beach entrance, two women - both middle-aged mothers - sipped their drinks wearing a good bit more than the average Rehab lady.

"This is our first time. We see girls in bikinis and it's kind of depressing. It seems like it's supposed to be all pretty people," said Amy, a mother of three who wanted to be identified only by her first name. "It is kind of intimidating."

Had they met Stahler, maybe they would have felt better.

"There are lots of cougars here," said Stahler, matter-of-factly. "I'd let them take me to dinner, but nothing too serious."

Rehab Promoter J. R. Peare insisted that Sundays were days for one and all.

"We get everybody. We get ages 21 to 61 out here. We get attractive people and people that, to the eye, may not be attractive to some folks," he said. "But I'm sure they're just fantastic folks."

Attractive or not, the fantastic folks at Rehab Sundays come to see and be seen. A prospective Colts player stopped by mid-afternoon and blew $300 on drinks and food. Across the pool, Indy 500 driver Tomas Scheckter and his crew relaxed in the sun.

"When that sun pops out, these guys will pull their shirts off, these body builder types. They just feel free. And the woman are all showing up wearing a different bikini every weekend," said Rypel.

Rehab's crowd seemingly comes to cut loose -- the lazy vibe of a Sunday with the drinks and dancing of a Saturday night.

"I would rather stay in on Saturday night so I can come here on Sunday," said local model and IU student Melissa Elrod, 25, as she sat tanning alongside her model cohort, Ukranian import Angelina Rampone. "It's more mature than going to a pool at someone's apartment. Most people my age would be doing beer bongs."

Rampone, who wore 4-inch heels when walking on the beach, agreed.

"I want to stay here forever! I love America!" she cried.

Plus, apartment pool parties rarely, if ever, have bikini contests; at Rehab Sunday, the chance to strut one's stuff in competition comes often.

"She was walking down the catwalk in a bikini contest and she fell off into the pool," Elrod said of Rampone.

"Actually, I decided to jump in the pool," corrected Rampone. "And I got second place."