Planning an event that requires the largest event space in Los Angeles? Here’s a look at 10 venues with the biggest capacity: hotel ballrooms, convention centers, banquet halls, clubs, auditoriums, conference rooms, and more. We’ve included total square footage and maximum capacity to help you choose the best big space for your super-sized event.
3. L.A. Live's Nokia Theatre and JW Marriott Diamond Ballroom
The 7,100-seat Nokia Theatre at L.A. Live has largest stage in Southern California at 14,000 square feet, with no seat further than 220 feet from the stage. Also on the L.A. Live campus is the JW Marriott Los Angeles, which has 100,000 square feet of flexible meeting and event space downtown and serves as the headquarters hotel for the Los Angeles Convention Center. The Diamond Ballroom, at 25,086 square feet, holds 2,800 for a reception, 1,900 for a banquet, or 1,270 classroom style.
Photo: Courtesy of L.A. Live
1. Los Angeles Convention Center's South Hall
The Los Angeles Convention Center’s largest space, the 346,890-square-foot South Hall, has room for 22,870 theater-style, 12,800 for a banquet, or 1,720 for a reception, under 40-foot ceilings. The 210,685-square-foot West Hall has 36-foot ceilings and room for 15,000 theater style, 10,000 for a banquet, or 1,050 for a reception. The center overall has 770,000 square feet of exhibit space.
Photo: Courtesy of Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board
2. Fairplex Campus
Fairplex has more than 300,000 square feet of exhibit space. Its overall indoor capacity is 7,000. The largest building on the Fairplex campus is Building 4, which has 105,600 square feet of contiguous space. Also on campus is the new Sheraton Fairplex Conference Center. The exposition center has 33,600 square feet of contiguous space and is the largest room in the new conference center. It holds 150 10- by 10-foot expo booths, 2,800 people for a banquet, 3,500 theater-style, or 3,700 reception-style.
Photo: Courtesy of Fairplex
4. The Shrine Auditorium and Expo Center
The Expo Center adjoining the Shrine Auditorium has 34,000 square feet of floor space on the main level and 20,000 square feet of space in an open mezzanine overlooking the ground floor. The expo holds 3,500 people, and the ceiling reaches a peak of 43.5 feet. The Shrine Auditorium itself comprises the largest proscenium-style stage in North America with a freestanding balcony, providing more than 6,300 seats.
Photo: Courtesy of Shrine Auditorium and Expo Center
5. Westin Bonaventure's California Ballroom
The landmark Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites is located in the financial district. It is Los Angeles’s largest convention hotel, with 114,000 square feet of meeting space. The hotel has 30 meeting rooms, with the largest, the California Ballroom, at 26,108 square feet. This room holds 3,000 for receptions, 2,350 for banquets, or 1,656 classroom-style.
Photo: Courtesy of Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites
6. Long Beach's Convention Center and Queen Mary Campus
The Long Beach Convention Center’s Exhibit Hall A has 91,000 square feet. The ground level of the Long Beach Arena has 46,000 square feet. Also in Long Beach, the historic Queen Mary has a tri-level exhibit hall that includes 45,000 square feet of function space, with room for 2,500 for a reception. The adjacent geodesic dome adds an additional 70,000 square feet of space, with room for 2,000 for a reception or 2,100 for a banquet.
Photo: Courtesy of Long Beach Convention Center
7. Renaissance Hollywood Hotel & Spa's Grand Ballroom
The Renaissance Hollywood Hotel & Spa is located at the Hollywood & Highland Center. The hotel has 148,000 square feet of flexible function space, including the Grand Ballroom, which is 25,090 square feet and holds 2,000 reception- or theater-style, 1,500 for a banquet, or 1,200 classroom-style.
Photo: Courtesy of The Renaissance Hollywood Hotel & Spa
8. Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Los Angeles Ballroom
The Hyatt Regency Century Plaza has extensive meeting facilities, with more than 100,000 square feet of flexible function space, including an exhibit hall and one of the largest ballrooms in town. In 2010, there was a $4.1 million renovation of the Plaza Level junior ballrooms and in January, the hotel completed a $1.3 million renovation of its largest ballroom, the 25,000-square-foot Los Angeles Ballroom. It holds 2,300 for a reception, 1,812 for a banquet, or 1,140 in a classroom setting.
Photo: Don Riddle Images
9. L3 at Santa Monica Place
The L3 event space at Santa Monica Place spans more than 42,000 square feet on the dining deck of the shopping center. A blank canvas with a capacity of about 1,900, the space is customizable for events and has accessible parking and sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean. (It is almost entirely indoors, with a small outdoor space best used to build a kitchen.) Meeting and event production company Extraordinary Events now manages the space.
Photo: Robert Grycan Photography
10. Barker Hangar
Santa Monica’s Barker Hangar has an indoor capacity of 3,000, or 1,600 for a seated event. It has a dramatic ceiling that vaults to 43 feet at the center, providing an arched steel truss over a 150- by 234-foot cement floor. The 35,000-square-foot hangar has an additional 6,000 square feet of dressing, production, and conference rooms.
Photo: Vladan Elakovic
