Here's a look at the best new Los Angeles restaurants, hotels, party rooms, corporate event venues, nightclubs, academic facilities, photo studios, and private rooms to open this winter. These new and renovated Los Angeles venues can accommodate groups large or small for private and corporate events, meetings, business dinners, cocktail parties, conferences, weddings, and more.
Image Locations recently acquired the south-facing section of the 30th floor at the AT&T Center, opening and operating the SkyStudio venue as of October. The new space has 27-foot windows and a variety of event uses, from photo studio to wedding venue—for which the bride could arrive by way of helipad. There are 4,424 square feet on the south side; the venue works in conjunction with LBA Realty, which manages the north side, still called the AT&T Center Penthouse. Both sides may be booked in combination. Events include 200 parking spaces in the lot across the street. Although the entire building uses Patina as exclusive caterer, it does not handle bookings for the floor.
Emerson College Los Angeles is a 10-story campus facility located in Hollywood. The mixed-used, creative space includes more than 200 dorm rooms, modern classrooms, an audio mixing suite, conference rooms, rehearsal spaces, an executive screening room, computer labs, and many areas for guests and groups. As of the fall, the academic facility is now promoting its creative space for groups as large as 300.
Chef Vic Casanova, alongside business partner Seth Glassman, debuted the modern Italian steak house Pistola on bustling 3rd Street in September. The space is designed by interior designer Cliff Fong (who is also behind Michael Voltaggio’s Ink). The menu incorporates food imported from all over Italy combined with local, predominately organic ingredients. Pasta dishes include rigatoni alla vodka and squid ink agnolotti, plus steaks and chops from a wood oven. There’s also an extensive bar program. The space seats 120 guests or holds 200 for receptions.
At a year old, modern Cantonese restaurant Hakkasan Beverly Hills closed for two weeks and reopened with a new look in September. The interior, originally conceptualized by Parisian design firm Gilles & Boissier, has been reimagined to more closely reflect the experience of its flagship restaurant, Hakkasan Hanway Place in London. The enhanced space features a dramatic entrance constructed with clefted ostrich slate paneling, which incorporates intermittent bronze niches filled with delicate red resin candles. The blue backlit glass bar has been expanded to accommodate larger crowds. The restaurant seats 180, including in a lounge and private dining room, or holds 500 for receptions.
Hospitality vets John Terzian, Brian Toll, Markus Molinari, and Adam Koral of The H.wood Group opened the Nice Guy in August. Decorated to evoke the era of opulent mafia bars and restaurants, the space has a residential feel with intimate booths along the perimeter and larger booths flanking the room. The unique design includes a custom cedar wall and ceiling design, wide-board black American walnut flooring, custom inlaid carpets, and classic lighting fixtures. There’s a small live performance area and a private chef’s table in the kitchen alongside a take on a crime wall meant to catch crooks. Chef John-Carlos Kuramoto helms the kitchen and mixologist Brian Stewart the bar program. It seats 85 or holds 120 for receptions when the lounge seating is removed.
The Loews Hollywood Hotel completed a $31 million renovation in the spring. The 628 guest rooms now include minibars with high-end wines and snacks all made in California, plus a new in-room dining menu. The new lobby includes a dramatic outdoor curving staircase and modern materials like white marble floor and marbled-mirror columns, and there’s a new lobby lounge concept, H2 Kitchen & Bar. The property also redesigned its 77,000 square feet of meeting space.
Malibu Pier has undergone extensive renovations and reopened to the public this past summer. Malibu Pier Restaurant & Bar offers chef Jason Fullilove’s seafood-centric menu at the sophisticated dining venue on the pier. Designed by Erin Martin of Erin Martin Design, Mark Stevens of Architecture & Light, and visual consultant Joshua Klein, the 200-seat space is meant to reflect the ethos of its location and surrounding community. Nautically inspired white and blue decor and pieces of petrified whale bone evoke the feel of a Malibu beach house.
Boulevard Nightlife Group and Project Club London's newest nightclub, Project Los Angeles, opened in June with interiors by Gensler. The space has 17 booths spread over 8,000 square feet and holds 400. Its signature lighted cross is detachable for events. Projection screens and lighting panels wrap the space, and chandeliers drop from the high ceiling. A laser light show comes from from V Squared.
Barton G. Weiss opened an outpost of his restaurant Barton G. the Restaurant on La Cienega Boulevard in June. The 3,200-square-foot concept offers over-the-top culinary theatrics and features flowing drapes, floor-to-ceiling fresh orchid wall displays, and an exhibition-style pastry kitchen. There’s also a patio that holds 30.
Chefs Brooke Williamson and Nick Roberts opened Playa Provisions, their new 7,000-square-foot, four-in-one concept next to the beach in Playa del Rey, in June. Designed by DEX Design Studio, the airy and modern space includes Dockside, a seasonal seafood dining room; King Beach, a sandwich and fresh salad marketplace; Small Batch, a homemade ice cream counter; and Grain, a whiskey bar. Leather seating and fire pits dot the outdoor Dockside.
