L.A. Live is an entertainment complex in Downtown Los Angeles, California adjacent to the Staples Center. L.A. Live cost approximately $2.5 billion USD and was developed by Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), Wachovia Corp, Azteca Corp and investment firm MacFarlane Partners with help from Los Angeles taxpayers.[1] It has 5,600,000 square feet (520,257 m2) of apartments, ballrooms, bars, concert theatres, restaurants, movie theaters and a 54-story hotel and condominium tower, on a 27-acre (10.9 ha) site.[2] The complex become home to AEG and Herbalife headquarters in December 2008.[3]
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Nokia is a 40,000-square-foot (3,716 m2) open-air plaza that serves as the central meeting place for L.A. Live. The plaza provides a broadcast venue featuring giant LED screens as well as a red carpet site for special events.[2] Nokia Plaza hosted the first WWE SummerSlam Axxess event on the weekend beginning August 22, 2009, leading up to the 2009 SummerSlam event on August 23 at Staples Center. On June 24, 2010, the plaza was the location for the official red carpet premiere of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.[4]
The Nokia Theatre is a music and theater venue which is across the street from the Staples Center. It can seat 7,100 people.
Club Nokia is a club venue with a seating capacity of 2,300 for live music and cultural events.[2][5]
On May 8, 2007, it was announced that the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences would establish a museum dedicated to the history of the Grammy Awards.[6] The museum opened on December 2008 for the Grammy Awards 50th anniversary. It consists of four floors with historical music artifacts.[7][8] It has featured a number of exhibits, including the John Lennon, Songwriter exhibit, October 4, 2010–March 31, 2011. Embedded on the sidewalks at the LA Live streets are bronze disks, similar to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, honoring each year's top winners, Record of the Year, Best New Artist, Album of the Year, and Song of the Year.
The centerpiece of the district is a 54-story, 1,001 room two-hotel hybrid tower, constructed above the parking lot directly north of the Staples Center.[2] Built by Webcor Builders, the skyscraper contains both an 879-room JW Marriott hotel on floors four through 21 and a 123-room Ritz-Carlton hotel on floors 22 through 26. Floors 27 through 52 hold 224 Residences at the Ritz Carlton condominiums.[9] Groundbreaking for the structure took place in June 2007.[9] The project was completed in the first quarter of 2010.
The second phase of development included a 12,300-square-foot (1,140 m2) ESPN broadcasting studio, as well as an ESPN Zone restaurant built on the corner of Figueroa Street and Chick Hearn Court. In an effort to expand coverage of West Coast sports, ESPN began broadcasting the 1 AM ET (10 PM PT) edition of SportsCenter from the studio on April 6, 2009.[10][11][12]
The $100 million Regal Entertainment Group movie complex includes 14 screens and 3,772 seats.[13] It includes a three-story art-deco-style atrium and an 806-seat theater called the "Regal Premiere House" intended for "lucrative" premieres.[13] The theater complex became the West Coast flagship location for Regal, the largest theater chain in the United States.[13] The Michael Jackson film This Is It was the opening film at the theater.[13]
L.A. Live is also host to a set of mid to high scale dining including Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, Katsuya, Lawry's, Rock'N Fish, Rosa Mexicano, The Farm of Beverly Hills, Trader Vic's, Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill, and Yard House.
Initial construction at L.A. Live began in September 2005.[5] The first phase opened in October 2007 and contains the Nokia Theatre, the Nokia Plaza, a retail plaza, as well as an underground parking garage, holding a fraction of the project's expected total of 4,000 parking spaces.[5]
| Phase | Phase description | Scheduled opening |
|---|---|---|
| Phase I | 7,100-seat Nokia Theatre and Nokia Plaza | Completed[2] |
| Phase II | ESPN studios and ESPN Zone restaurant/arcade complex, restaurants, Grammy Museum, Club Nokia, Lucky Strike bowling alley, and The Conga Room | Completed[2] |
| Phase III | 54-story Ritz-Carlton/JW Marriott hotel and the 14-screen West Coast flagship theatre multiplex operated by Regal Entertainment Group. | Completed[2][14] |
The Los Angeles Downtown News reported on November 11, 2009 that AEG plans to submit significant expansion plans to the Planning Department on November 12. It includes "332,618 square feet (30,901.2 m2) of office space and a 269,182-square-foot (25,007.8 m2) broadcasting studio that could accommodate a nationwide cable television network, a 275-room hotel and a 25-story residential building with 65 units adjacent to the L.A. Live campus."[15] Plans are also being developed for the NFL to return to Los Angeles with a new stadium being planned on the campus, to be called Farmers Field. Scheduled to open by the 2016 NFL season. The LA City Council approved AEG's plan to build Farmers Field on August 9, 2011 in a 12-0 vote. [16]
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