LA Venues

Planet Dailies L.A. and Mixology101 opened in March. The new concept from Planet Hollywood is a hip, high-tech coffee shop alongside a new cocktail lounge offering signature drinks by European barman Salvatore “The Maestro” Calabrese and head bartender Joseph Brooke. Planet Dailies has a private dining area for about 20 and offers diner fare from chef Adrian Tenorio. Groups can book a mixology class with Brooke, whose past work includes stints at Next Door Lounge, the Edison, and Bar Marmont. Two outdoor spaces, one outside of Mixology101 and one outside of Planet Dailies, are separated by a small walkway.

Meeting and event production company Extraordinary Events is now managing the new indoor-outdoor L3 event space at Santa Monica Place. L3 spans more than 42,000 square feet on the dining deck of the shopping center and bills itself as the largest and most versatile event space in Santa Monica. A blank canvas, the space is customizable for events and has accessible parking and sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean.

The Ace Museum, the newest contemporary art museum in town, has 100,000 square feet of space and a 250-car parking lot for events. Level one is an open-air space with a ramp leading to level two, which has 30,000 square feet of event space. The level-three rooftop has 360-degree views of the city.

The Hotel Amarano Burbank completed an $8 million expansion in March. The new facilities include 31 new guest rooms and suites, a swimming pool and spa, and an 1,800-square-foot penthouse, the Chairman’s Suite. Forchielli Glynn L.L.C. redesigned the hotel, including the giant new suite, which has a large outdoor private deck with a cabana-covered dining table for six guests, a private outdoor spa, sunning area, and exercise equipment. The suite’s entryway has hardwood floors, and the living room has a wet bar with a Viking wine cooler, L-shaped sofa, and a 50-inch television.

Italian restaurant Drago Centro has a new patio space designed by Gensler that occupies the space above the restaurant. Renovation of the area was completed in January. It holds as many as 60 for a seated event or 100 for a reception. The glass-enclosed patio has a fountain, greenery, and built-in ceiling heaters.

In late January, chef-owner Andrew Kirschner opened Tar & Roses, which serves a menu of wood-fired, modern rustic cuisine. The variety of dishes includes small plates like wood-fired duck egg, large plates like roasted crispy pork knuckle, and family-style suppers like whole goose with traditional sides. Carrera marble and wood tabletops are topped with heath ceramic dishes, Staub and Le Crueset serving pieces, Schott Zwiesel stemware, and water glasses made from recycled wine bottles. Polished concrete floors are complemented by sleek black banquettes. The restaurant holds about 75 guests, with 45 in the dining room, eight at the bar, and 20 on the patio.

Il Covo opened in the fall with a private dining room for 50 guests. The restaurant is the most recent project from veteran restaurateur Sean MacPherson (of Swingers Diner, Jones, and the Roger Room). Set in a 1920s former four-plex apartment, the venue has been reinterpreted with the look and feel of a Mediterranean home and garden. It has three salvaged antique fireplaces, a long bar area with carved wood accents, and an enclosed patio. With a menu executed by Milanese-born Roberto Maggioni (formerly of Santa Monica's Locanda del Lago), Il Covo offers a mix of classic and contemporary Italian dishes. The long bar area leads to a fully enclosed outdoor patio.

For an airy (ahem) summer event, Santa Monica's Museum of Flying opened in late February, and is available for buyout. The main floor has a maximum seating capacity of 350, or holds 700 for a reception. The Douglas Aircraft executive suite includes the Douglas boardroom (a replica of the aircraft company's boardroom), a reception parlor, and a screening room with a capacity of 50. The aviation museum's three preferred caterers are Schaffer’s Genuine Foods, Bon Mélange Catering, and Gourmet Celebrations.

Bagatelle America, a partnership between Aymeric Clemente and Remi Laba of Brand Essence, and Jonathan Segal of the One Group, has just opened the first Bagatelle location outside of New York, the 2,700-square-foot Bagatelle L.A. Located in the former Boudoir space in West Hollywood, the restaurant opened in February with a multiroom St. Tropez- and Paris-inspired indoor-outdoor layout created by design firm Studio Brasa and food from executive chef Scott Quinn, formerly of Bouchon. For outdoor events, there's a manicured garden hedge surrounding the upper outdoor patio meant to evoke a Parisian city garden. Indoors, the bar area has an oversize fireplace mantle.

This August, in the hills just east of Malibu, the Malibu Golf Club unveiled Malibu and Vine Bar & Grille, a wine-centric steak house with farm-to-table influences and a 300-seat outdoor wine bar.

Lucky Strike at L.A. Live has 18 lanes, billiards tables, plasma TVs, and a bar. Luxe Lounge, a private room within the venue, contains four bowling lanes, two billiards tables, and its own bar, with a capacity of 110. The Luxe Lounge also has a high-definition projection screen. For Hollywood events, there's also a Hollywood & Highland Center location.

AV Nightclub opened in April in the historic Marion building with room for 320. A DJ booth is the centerpiece of the space, and it is surrounded by Baroque-era-inspired embellishments. There are Roosevelt tufted chesterfield banquettes behind each table, and there’s a patio with ivy-covered walls and an outdoor fireplace. AV comes from hospitality veterans Matt Bendik and Tosh Berman of AV Hospitality. Interior designer Davis Krumins is behind the look, and Steve Lieberman of SJL Lighting designed the lighting system to go along with the venue’s Funktion One Sound System from Dan Agne of Sound Investments.

Located on the Sunset Strip in the former London Fog space where Jim Morrison and The Doors spent time as the house band, Rock & Reilly's opened in November. The indoor-outdoor West Hollywood space holds 160 over 2,500 square feet and two floors.

In April, Montage Beverly Hills opened the renamed and renovated Parq Bar. The space offers outdoor seating overlooking the Beverly Canon Gardens and nightly entertainment. In addition to drinks, a menu offers the likes of house-made charcuterie, and sushi rolls and sashimi. Afternoon tea is available and is served in delicate, hand-painted china by porcelain artist Lissi Kaplan, with savory and sweet bites from executive chef Gabriel Ask. In-house interior designer Nina Petronzio of Plush Home redesigned Parq Bar by updating the fabric color scheme to include luxe draperies and original works from the hotel’s fine art collection.

Opened in April, Outpost offers country music, classic rock, and televisions, and includes among its decor artist canvasses depicting the heroes of the old west. The space offers beers and cocktails amid stained mahogany and relaxed seating, along with a menu of American comfort food.

The 1933 Group’s La Cuevita opened May 4 in Highland Park. Focusing on traditional agave spirits, the bar offers a selection of tequila and mescal as well as other hand-crafted cocktails. The La Cuevita space, formally the 1933 Group’s Little Cave, is principal-designer Bobby Green’s homage to an old-world Mexican grotto-bar. The space has a rustic wood beam ceiling, exposed-brick walls, and imported Mexican antiques. Stained glass lighting and iron fixtures adorn the walls, and 100-year-old doors from a Mexican church flank the patio and front entrance of the building. There are two patios in all.

The newest outpost of the Mexican restaurant Pink Taco was slated to open on the Sunset Strip by the end of May, with two bars intended to draw a nightlife crowd. The space that is home to the new 12,000-square-foot, three-level Pink Taco most recently housed Miyagi’s and once housed the Player’s Club in the 1940s. Harry Morton stripped and restored the Pink Taco Sunset Strip’s interiors to the exposed brick and raw steal ironwork. The design includes Dia de Los Muertos street graffiti, subway tiles from downtown L.A.’s metro station, murals of Lucha Libres, Calavera, and goddess Mictecacihuatl, and vintage candelabras that hang from the ceiling. The 120-seat, indoor-outdoor ground level includes the largest patio on Sunset Boulevard.

Sadie is new Hollywood bar and lounge serving artisan cocktails and craft beers, attached to a restaurant that serves new American cuisine. Sadie is an old Craftsman house that was physically moved to this location in 1996 from across the parking lot. Fully redesigned to showcase three distinct spaces, Sadie includes the parlor, which houses a cocktail bar; a lounge in the center of the building, which has a copper beer tower that dispenses craft beer and local wine by the glass; and the courtyard dining room, which has an indoor-outdoor feel with a retractable awning. The dining room holds 125, the lounge 55, and the parlor 65.

The bar at the new modern Mexican restaurant Tortilla Republic offers 18 seats and a corner table. The whole space, which opened in March, holds 125. The venue offers a growing list of more than 50 100-percent agave tequilas from Mexico, signature margaritas with house-made agave, classic cocktails, Mexican beer, and Spanish and South American wines. Each fixture and piece of furniture was custom-made in Mexico for the venue. There’s also a patio overlooking Robertson Boulevard and a private dining room.

Agency is a new Hollywood nightclub with room for 300 guests. The venue also has a back room area that holds 50 people for more intimate events that can be sectioned off with a curtain for privacy. Decor includes bold red tones and animal prints. The venue has an LED wall and a massive DJ booth that commands attention in the space.

SBE Nightlife Group's new Greystone Manor Supperclub is meant to evoke the Renaissance, with ornate chandeliers and millwork. There's a dance floor surrounded by two full-service bars, plus a menu of shared plates. Decor includes vintage sofas finished with aged leather and velvet. A lounge area within is right for smaller groups.