Loud music. Superficial conversations. Buffed guys in tank tops dripping with vanity. These are the elements that you won’t find at Gentlemen’s Martini Night, hosted by founder Kenn Cross at various upscale venues every Tuesday evening.

Since launching the first event in November at the Manchester Grand Hyatt, the non-dues-paying membership has swelled to nearly 900 people, mostly gay men of all legal drinking ages who share Cross’ belief that there is life beyond the Hillcrest bar scene.

“I started the club when I moved to San Diego about two and a half years ago because I wasn’t meeting the type of guys I wanted to when going to the bars, where you have to scream to be heard through the music,” says Cross. “I also have so many friends who were saying they wished there were other options for socializing. So it was ‘put up or shut up.’ And I started the martini club with my own money.”

Cross developed a Web site and began passing out business cards to coffeehouses, friends and clients of his landscaping design business as a way of spreading the word about his weekly club that keeps casual attire out of the mix. As interest grew, he began reaching out to major hotels in the area, offering them potential new business in return for discounted martinis, servers, bartenders and complimentary appetizers for his group.

“I couldn’t give them [the hotels] a promise in the beginning if there’d be five or 50 people,” he says. “The latter number showed up at the first event and it was off to a great start.”

At a recent martini night held at the über-hip JRDN in Pacific Beach’s Tower 23 Hotel, about 250 people turned out despite the area’s parking challenges. Yet some venues will comp or assist in valet parking, Cross notes.

“The smart hotels are interested in this because they’re getting a tremendous amount of exposure and return business, plus the money they’re making at the events.”

Cross doesn’t post the location of each Tuesday event on his Web site until only several days prior in an effort to keep members’ interest piqued. He also posts a regular summary of the last week’s event as well as news and updates about local charity functions.

The group has so far gathered at bars and hotels such as Jsix at Hotel Solamar, the Beach Bar at Hotel W, Molly’s at the San Diego Marriott Hotel & Marina and The Westgate Hotel, of which Cross says marks his grandest events thus far.

“We have amazing properties all over San Diego that so many guys have never seen or heard of. When we go into The Westgate Hotel, the managers roll out the red carpet for us with every range of food you can imagine. The guests are amazed at the chandeliers, the tapestry rugs, gilded mirrors and one of the first five Steinway pianos ever built.”

A full no-host bar featuring discounted martinis of various blends is available each week. The atmosphere is purely social and not intended to be a business-networking group or singles club. “But you can take it in any direction you want,” says Cross, who defends the professional dress code he implemented “to provide a completely different environment than the bars.”

“People’s bodies are covered up so that the conversation doesn’t become about vanity and working out at the gym,” he explains, “but rather about what you do and where you come from.”

For those occasional few who have aired grievances over the dress code, Cross adds: “Then I want to say, ‘Go ahead and start your white trash beer night and quit complaining about what someone else is doing that’s successful.’”

With an ever-growing, highly devoted membership in place, Cross stresses that the club is open to everyone and that people shouldn’t be turned off by the name, Gentlemen’s Martini Night. “A lot of straight people, women, singles and couples have signed up. Nobody is excluded from this. Everyone is welcome.”

He also points out that unlike similar organizers in other cities, who net a 20-percent profit from their events, “I don’t make a dime off of this. It absorbs a tremendous amount of my time, and it’s the one thing that I feel I’m doing to give back to the community.”

For more information on Gentlemen’s Martini Night, visit www.gentlemensmartininight.com.