Looking for a new venue to host your next event? Here are the most anticipated Los Angeles restaurants, corporate event venues, hotels, conference centers, and party rooms to open next year. These new and renovated Los Angeles venues will accommodate groups large or small for private and corporate events, conferences, meetings, weddings, business dinners, teambuilding activities, cocktail parties, and more.
1. Dream Hotels’ Dream Hollywood is slated to open in the spring. Designed by Rockwell Group, the hotel is set to be the flagship West Coast location for the lifestyle hotel brand—and an anchor of Hollywood’s revitalization. Tao Group will operate restaurant and nightlife venues both within and adjacent to the hotel, which will have an indoor-outdoor design aesthetic and a sweeping rooftop space with views of the Los Angeles skyline.
2. The luxury brand of Denihan Hospitality Group is set to debut its inaugural West Coast property next year. As part of the CIM Group’s mixed-use Sunset Boulevard project, the James Los Angeles is slated to open by December. It will offer 286 rooms, two restaurants, a bar on the rooftop, and about 10,000 square feet of meeting space. Residences and retail are also part of the project.
3. The historic 1,200-seat John Anson Ford Amphitheatre is now closed during a complete renovation. Improvements include stage reconstruction, infrastructure improvements, and new facilities and amenities done in keeping with the venue’s history. Construction is expected to be completed by summer, with a new picnic terrace for 200 people that has a raised deck above a loading dock and vehicle turnaround, and a two-story structure composed of a lower-level concessions kitchen and upper-level office space that rounds out the acoustical envelope for the venue.
4. Opening its doors on December 31, just in time for 2016, is Ivory. The new restaurant at the Mondrian is meant to celebrate Hollywood’s golden age. Designed by Built Inc. (the group behind the Nice Guy and Bootsy Bellows) in collaboration with John Terzian of the H.Wood Group and locally based Brigette Romanek, the 7,500-square-foot space will have panoramic views of the city. The patio will draw from mid-century aesthetics accented with lush palms. Inside, there will be more dining tables, lounge seating, and a communal table for varied dining experiences, all alongside a grand piano.
5. Mid-City’s Petersen Automotive Museum reopened in December with a splashy new redesign, easily distinguished by its exoskeleton-like façade. Adding to the fanfare at the museum will be a new restaurant, Drago Ristorante, from Celestino Drago and his restaurateur brothers. (It will be a significant departure from the dining experience at the former version of the museum, which featured a Johnny Rockets.) The restaurant is set to open in the spring. Drago is also operating the museum’s catering business.
6. SBE has tapped the Rockwell Group to redesign and transform the venues Greystone Manor and Mercato di Vetro. In partnership with the recently announced real estate subsidiary of SBE, Dakota Development, the reimagined properties are slated to open in the new year. For Mercato di Vetro, Rockwell will create a two-story environment based on the European-influenced concept of an assemblage of rooms around a central courtyard. The new design will include a sequence of ground-floor spaces, which include lounges, a terrace, and a central bar. The space is set to be unveiled in early spring. The nightclub Greystone Manor will have illuminated LED animation, graphic coverings inspired by exotic foliage and magical surrealism, soft banquettes in plush fabrics, and elements of marble and champagne metal. It’s slated to open in early winter.
7. This winter, Santa Anita Park debuted a complete renovation; the season opening on December 26 will be the first full season to have access to the new facilities. All 13 suites were overhauled to provide ample seating for as many as 40 people, flatscreen TVs, retractable glass windows, catering and beverage service, and a private wagering machine and betting concierge. Just below the luxury suites, more than 1,200 renovated boxes offer racing enthusiasts a comfortable and up-close view of the action. Additionally, the team rejuvenated the Chandelier room, with panoramic views of the track, working with the Los Angeles Conservancy to stay true to the room’s 1930s roots. The venue also renovated an invite-only speakeasy, which is hidden behind a nondescript door that opens to a narrow tack room leading to a small room of dark wood, leather furnishings, and a polished bar.
8. The group behind Koreatown’s buzzy Line Hotel is Sydell Group, and that entity has plans to open a Los Angeles version of New York’s NoMad Hotel in the summer. The hotel will take over the former Giannini Place downtown. The building dates back to 1923, when it was corporate headquarters for the bank that would later become known as Bank of America. NoMad will have 250 guest rooms over 12 floors and a pool area on the rooftop.
9. Great Wolf Lodge Southern California is a resort and conference center slated to open early in the new year. The new Southern California meeting and event destination located in Orange County will offer more than 21,000 square feet of flexible conference space with integrated technology. The resort will also offer a 100,000-square-foot indoor water park and dining options.
10. As part of the ongoing renovation process at L'Ermitage Beverly Hills, the property's restaurant Livello has closed. It will give way to Avec Nous, a contemporary French bistro, in the same space. Chef Olivier Quignon, formerly the executive chef of Bar Boulud in New York, will take the helm at the new eatery, expected to debut early next year.
