For the past several years, Los Angeles residents and tourists passing through Downtown have wondered about the large-scale construction project next to the Convention Center and Staples Center.
Cranes towered over the construction site. Streets were closed. Traffic, at times, was horrendous especially if you were going to an event at the Convention Center, Staples Center or just passing through.
And after several long years, pieces of the grand LA Live curtain are beginning to unravel.
The brand new $2.5 billion LA Live sits in the heart of Downtown. It is expected to be one of the grandest destinations in the city.
Created by the Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), the 5.6-million-square-feet campus will be a hub of bars, concert and movie theaters, restaurants, and anchored by a 54-story hotel and condominium on site.
The LA Live complex has opened the Nokia Theatre and Nokia Plaza in 2007. The Grammy Museum recently opened. ESPN will open its doors in early 2009, and the Ritz-Carlton expects to be completed sometime in 2010.
But with all this economic turmoil going on, are people actually going to come here? The Asian Journal spoke to Michael Roth, the Vice President of Communications for AEG, about LA Live, the economy and how they plan to change the Los Angeles entertainment scene.
AJ: First question, I’m sure you’ve been asked this question before but you guys are opening LA Live in what is considered by many as the worst economic time in modern US history. How optimistic are you that LA Live will be a success?
MR: We are opening LA Live with an eye on the present and the future. And we very much believe in the concept of dining and entertaining in all different price ranges. We’re in this for the long term. So the economy is going to turn around and there’s always going to be a need now and continuing for all kinds of live entertainment. We have the Light of Angels presentation and it’s free…and that was very important to us to have all kinds of entertainment and dining with different price points.
AJ: Give us some background as to how LA Live came about.
MR: The concept of LA Live goes as far back as when we were building the Staples Center (1997). When we were creating Staples Center, the arrangement we made with the City of Los Angeles was to create a property that was controlled by the Convention Center and that we would agree to develop a destination hotel for the City of Los Angeles. The problem was that our Convention Center was losing over $40 million a year in operating costs and the city was very inefficient in how they brought conventions together. There were no proper convention hotels, adjacent or nearby the Convention Center. So we promised that we would develop this hotel. And when we built Staples Center, what we realized pretty quickly is that we created a destination downtown that was never there before. Close to four million people a year would come to downtown to go to events and they were used to going downtown. So if we created a destination for events and live entertainment then we had the opportunity to program more around this development. Clearly, we want to be home to LA’s premiere live entertainment.
AJ: How does LA Live differ from the Mark Taper Forum, Disney Concert Hall, the Music Center and other places in Los Angeles that also does live entertainment?
MR: The difference is that LA Live have all these venues all together. You’ve got a 20,000-seat venue, next to a 7,100-seat venue, next to a 2,300 capacity venue, next to a 1,100 seat capacity venue, next to a 200-seat venue all on the same site. So by creating all that in one location, we are creating a destination for live entertainment. There is no retail here. We have dining, hospitality and no retail.
AJ: How will LA Live embrace the Filipino-American and Asian American community? Are you guys planning to bring over Philippine music superstars and/ or Chinese singers, etc?
MR: You hit it on the button. We will have a variety of performers that will cross all different types of ethnicities. Filipino performers, Hispanic performers, we have all different types.
AJ: Last question, what is the grand goal of LA Live?
MR: The grand goal is to create the busiest campus with more live entertainment than anywhere else and for Los Angeles. This is a place anyone wanting to see someone will automatically know to come to our venue because you will find something here. (www.asianjournal.com)
(Published December 24, 2008 p.mdwk3 LAMIDWEEK)
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