Downtown Los Angeles is receiving a $2.5 billion facelift, dubbed “LA Live.” The huge project features a new Convention Center Headquarters Hotel, the Nokia Plaza and an ESPN Broadcast Center. Scheduled for completion in 2008, the district will be a visual marvel, an aesthetic fruit salad, equal parts Tokyo’s Akihabara electronics district and NY’s Time Square. Futuristic, flashy and welcoming.
But why spend billions? What does Los Angeles have to gain? AEG’s Michael Roth, vice president of media relations, recently met with us and rhapsodized about the LA Live vision: “When you’re watching The Today Show or MTV, and you see that shot from the studio out the window into the plaza, you know where they’re broadcasting from. That’s what we envision. We don’t have a place like that in LA, but we hope to create an icon for this area.”
Part of creating that kind of cultural icon will be attracting performing artists, and between the Staples Center and the new Nokia Plaza, we can expect some high-quality, eclectic entertainment: “One night you might have Black Eyed Peas, maybe Tony Bennett a different night. That’s the great thing about music; it appeals to all ages and demographics.” But you don’t have to be dropping big money to hang out at LA Live. If you’re not there for a concert, catch a movie at the new ‘50s/spacey-looking Regal Cinema. You might get lunch at PF Chang’s or French 75. If you’re a bowler, get the team over to the new Lucky Strike. In short, LA Live means to bring high and low culture together with style.
On the business side, the new Ritz Carlton/Marriott Convention Center Hotel will be a paradise of “hospitality areas,” conference rooms and ballrooms. As Roth informed us, in the past it was difficult to hold conferences at the center because there were no hotels in the vicinity. “There are currently no five-star hotels downtown. But our hotel will be one the biggest downtown buildings west of the Mississippi.” Some will come just to watch the Lakers or the Kings, or see a movie. Others will come to close big business deals. Whatever you’re up to, LA Live will be your Emerald City, your Kashmir, your Shangri La.
Of course, with great power comes great responsibility. “Renovations” can often kill a culture. Will LA Live look like too much like Disneyland and not a city? Will it be tacky and shameless? Some are worried that LA Live will be a bigger, better version of The Grove, but Roth batted away this notion. “We won’t have as much retail as The Grove. You won’t see a Banana Republic or a Gap. This is more of a ‘Content Campus.’” Let’s hope so. Let’s hope that it will be beautiful and content-heavy, affordable, easily accessible, elite and democratic. And for $2.5 billion, let’s hope it’s as perfect as the pictures.
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