The once-outdated hotel and casino is staying in the game with a slew of new venues.
1. The 26,000-square-foot mega-club LAX opened with a celebrity-studded event in September 2007. A spin-off of DJ AM’s Los Angeles club, this luxe space (formerly home to nightspot RA) regularly features the owner and other top DJs spinning amid the red leather furniture, oversize mirrors, and shimmering chandeliers. The entire two-story club is available for special events.
2. If LAX doesn’t feel exclusive enough for you, find the private, speakeasy-style entrance to the Noir Bar, which opened next door in September 2007. Black crocodile chairs, dim chandeliers, and crimson-lined walls set the mood in the bar, which features semiprivate V.I.P. areas in every corner. Admission is always by invitation only, but the bar is available for private parties.
3. The celebs are behind the scenes at the adjacent Company Kitchen and Pub House, a restaurant with ties to investors Nicky Hilton, Wilmer Valderrama, and Nick Lachey, which opened in November 2007. Chef Adam Sobel offers contemporary twists on classic American entrées in this 10,000-square-foot space, where the chic design includes a fireside lounge surrounded by aspen trees, hurricane-lamp candles, and silver-leaf chandeliers.
4. The 5,500-square-foot Aurora Lounge, which opened in March 2007 adjacent to the Luxor hotel lobby, seats 156 and is available for private events. The lounge’s dramatic lighting effects, designed to resemble the aurora borealis (also known as the northern lights), were created by Super Potato, the Japanese firm behind the looks of Sensi at Bellagio and Strip Steak at Mandalay Bay. Aurora offers bottle service and martinis poured tableside.
5. In January 2008, Luxor also added CatHouse, a European-style restaurant and lounge in the space formerly occupied by Isis and the Sacred Sea Room. CatHouse replicates a 19th--century French bordello, with the staff provocatively dressed to match. Executive chef Kerry Simon (from Simon LA) serves up a small-plates menu in the chandelier-lit, cobalt-blue dining room, while the dark-red lounge takes on a sultrier vibe.
6. Tender Steak and Seafood reopened in March 2008 with a sleek remodeling from designer Thomas Schoos, who previously worked on New York’s Koi and L.A.’s Tao. The safari-themed room features animal prints, dark leather furniture, and a meat-heavy menu. The intimate 212-seat restaurant is available for private events.
This information was previously published in the 2008 BizBash National Venue Guide.
