Venues

Muse Lifestyle Group is preparing to open the nightclub Sound. Following an extensive renovation, the new venue occupies the space formerly known as Element at 1642 Las Palmas Avenue. Creative concepts from iCrave Design include an expansive sunken dance floor, elevated DJ booth, spacious private tables with unobstructed sight lines to the stage, and top-end audiovisual and lighting designs. The 8,000-square-foot space includes multiple full-service bars, gourmet kitchen, oversize booths and recessed seating with bottle service, changeable silk display panels on the club’s facade, and a Funktion One sound system billed as the first of its kind. V Squared Labs and SJ Lighting developed a server system for the venue with real-time 3-D generative and audio reactive effects along with custom visuals. V Squared's system also includes an entire VJ booth terminal near the DJ to operate 3-D video mapping graphics in real time to the tune of playing music. These graphics will be featured on LED screens throughout the venue.

The new 4,000-square-foot Hub Los Angeles is slated to open in September in the arts district downtown, with a mission to "further social enterprise, education, and diverse collaborations across sectors" from co-founders Elizabeth Stewart and Nick Kislinger. The member suite of services will include access to creative, flexible office amenities, lounge, and café space, an outdoor social setting, a global online network, and access to all specialized programming and events.

On the heels of its 30th anniversary, Spago closed on July 8 for a complete remodeling of the restaurant. The venue is slated to reopen in late September with a new menu and design by Waldo Fernandez. The venue is Wolfgang Puck's flagship and original Spago; it opened in West Hollywood in 1982 and relocated to Beverly Hills in 1997.

Chef David Myers and Milo Garcia of MAI Studio are creating a new signature restaurant for the Century, Related Companies' luxury condominium tower. The menu is meant to capture the essence of California cooking with inspiration from Japanese and Southeast Asian cuisines. The restaurant, slated to open in December, will take its cues from Myers's explorations of the Silk Road, most notably in Japan, where he has established multiple locations of his high-end SOLA pastry shop brand.

Stonehaus, a 2,800 square-foot structure within Westlake Village Inn's vineyard, is slated to open this fall. Designed by Aarons Architects of Westlake Village, the inspiration for the stone facade structure is the wineries that dot the Tuscan landscape. An exterior stone fireplace and wood-burning pizza oven will round out the space. Private-label wine will be available, and the grounds will be landscaped with pathways that will meander through the vineyards and play host to events. The private wine tasting room will have its own patio with vineyard and mountain views.

Curtis Nysmith announced that his new venue, 3Dog Cantina, is slated for an early September opening. The expansive Spacecraft-designed restaurant is in Hollywood's Cahuenga Corridor. Created by Nysmith (who's behind SmithHouse Tap & Grill and Blue Boar), 3Dog Cantina will serve regional Mexican cuisine and specialty cocktails in a setting inspired by traditional Mexican celebrations. Efrain Cuevas will be the chef du cuisine, and dishes will include oysters con ceviche, cauliflower ceviche, and crispy pork belly tacos. There's a family-style taco bar where guests can watch the grilling in action, two huge banquettes equipped with their own beer taps, a fully enclosed back patio dining area, and a garden on the roof that will grow ingredients used in much of the cooking and cocktails. The space will be available for full buyout with a capacity of around 250. The back patio has its own entrance and holds about 40. An upstairs balcony also accommodates private events.

The Focus Studio, on the beach in Venice, has been operating as a daylight photo studio and production space—and the folks behind the venue are just now beginning to make it available for events. It comprises 3,000 square feet with 16-foot ceilings and four skylights. Beach permits are available on request.

The Federal is preparing to open a new private space known as the Ruby Room. The area within the venue will have the look and feel of a neo-Victorian speakeasy. Its bar and piano will be its most prominent features, and the space has luxe leather chairs, a sweeping chandelier, and exposed brick walls. There's room for about 60.

Haven Gastropub + Brewery—newly opened on Old Pasadena's De Lacey Avenue—launched an in-house burger joint, known as Burger Haven, at the end of August. Haven's McCormick Alley entrance opens up to the casual restaurant within the larger restaurant, offering grass-fed and free-range burgers. The booths in the back of the space make for a good lunch-meeting option near the Pasadena Convention Center.

Take an event a bit farther east—say, to Rancho Las Palmas Resort & Spa in Palm Desert, which is undergoing a $5 million renovation. The first phase, the meeting spaces, was wrapping up in August. Overall, the venue will get redesigned suites, a revitalized spa and expanded fitness center, a revamp of the plaza incorporating additional outdoor seating with fire pits, a new look and feel to R Bar (creating a larger lobby space), and the upgraded meeting and convention space, which will include an all-new executive meeting space.