At the front of a small lounge in The Westgate hotel, a man named Martin – badly in need of a shave – is singing a sad song in Spanish. Or Italian. I'm not sure. It's open mic opera night, and the place is packed. Martin finishes and the crowd erupts in applause, punctuated by shouts of "Autre! Autre!" But I'm sandwiched between people who glance furtively behind me, toward the entrance. Something important is about to happen. I feel as if I'm in a secret club, only I don't know the secret. That is, until tenor Daniel Hendrick strides into the room, his long blond coif bouncing.

"It's "DanIEL!" It's "DanIEL!" people whisper excitedly, leaning Frenchly on the second syllable. Grown women – and I mean senior citizens – are squealing in anticipation.

As he approaches the microphone, my friend and opera guide Claudette Rortvedt whispers to me with a knowing wink: "Watch! The chandeliers will vibrate."

Mr. Hendrick steps back from the microphone. "You know me," he says, laughing, "I don't need a microphone." It's no joke. This very large man, who performs with professional opera companies, might as well be Pavarotti as far as I'm concerned. All eyes are glued to him as he holds one insanely high note after another. It is some of the most powerful music I've ever heard. The song's last note is long and high and Hendrick does it justice, closing his eyes and spreading his arms wide for the finish.

***

Open mic opera? In southern California – land of blond surfers and fish tacos? Yes, The Westgate is just part of a circuit of San Diego bars, cafes, and restaurants where amateur, semiprofessional, and professional singers perform.

The phenomenon isn't new, but it's becoming more common. For the past two to three decades there have been restaurants with nights given over to singers performing opera scenes or customers wanting to get up and belt out a few arias, says Duff Murphy, host of The Opera Show on Los Angeles's radio station KUSC.

"Things like opera education programs in schools and smaller opera companies in the US have made the music more popular now," says Mr. Murphy.

Open mic opera isn't just popular with the over-50 crowd either; at The Westgate there are plenty of attractive 20- and 30-somethings. "There is an element of cool – especially among more intellectually charged musicians – in attending opera performances," observes Murphy.

The growing popularity of open mic opera isn't surprising, says Robert Hansen, executive director of the National Opera Association, because opera programs at colleges and universities are "bursting at the seams."

"There is a huge population out there now of singers who want some sort of opportunity to sing, whether they make a living doing it, [or do it] for pocket money or just for the love of singing," he says.

***

The audience and atmosphere at The Westgate, and at other opera hangouts to which Ms. Rortvedt – a French native – guided me, is decidedly European and South and Central American, with just a spattering of people like me, a minivan-driving American mom. These are the kinds of people who greet one another by kissing both cheeks. The large majority of the crowd are regulars.

Joe Cruz, a retired producer and director who moved here from L.A. a year ago, started coming to see the opera singers almost as soon as he unpacked. "A lot of us – an inside group – get together at dinner parties and someone always breaks into song. You can't stop these people from singing," Mr. Cruz says.

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