area newsletter JUNE 2019 • LOS ANGELES
20 19
Community News MOCA to offer free admission after large donation
A $10 million donation from its board president will make it possible for LA’s Museum of Contemporary Art to be free to the public for the foreseeable future. Carolyn Clark Powers, the president of MOCA’s board of trustees, recently made the sizable donation, eliminating the museum’s need for the $1.3 million in annual revenue generated by ticket sales. This move adds MOCA’s three locations to the list of LA art museums that do not charge admission. The Broad Museum, located across the street from MOCA Grand, also offers free admission and welcomes more than 3 times as many visitors as MOCA. The Hammer Museum in Westwood went through a similar transition to free admission in 2014 and saw a 25% increase in visitors. MOCA officials indicate that it will continue to charge admission for special exhibitions and events.
Netflix takes more space in Hollywood Despite years of growth, Netflix’s appetite for
commercial space remains unsatisfied. The streaming giant recently took out leases on two more properties in Hollywood, the Musicians Union Hall at 817 Vine Street and an office building at 1350 N. Western Ave., just north of the 101 freeway. The two properties provide about 168,000 square feet of space, increasing Netflix’s footprint to about 1.4 million square feet in Hollywood alone. Netflix already occupies the Icon and Cue buildings at the Sunset Bronson Studios and recently leased the 13-story Epic building across the street. The Musicians Union Hall was originally built in 1950 and was recently named a Historic Cultural Monument by the Los Angeles City Council. It was designed by Gordon B. Kaufmann, the architect responsible for The Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills and the Los Angeles Times Building in downtown LA.
Chinatown apartments break ground
Construction is under way on a new residential project in Chinatown in downtown Los Angeles. Located at 1101 N. Main Street, the development stands one block east of the Chinatown station of the Metro Gold Line, near the Los Angeles State Historic Park. Plans call for an E-shaped building that would fit 318 residential units into 3 rows and rise seven stories
Community News above grade. The project will feature a 526-car parking garage, 3 courtyards, a swimming pool, a community room and a gym. The building will stand adjacent to the site of the planned College Station project, a 725-unit residential development that caused controversy recently by not including the amount of affordable housing mandated by Measure JJJ, which was approved by voters in 2016. City officials approved the College Station project in 2019 under the requirements in place in 2012, the year that the developer’s application was initially submitted.
built near major transit hubs. No timeline has been announced for the project.
Live Nation purchases three L.A. venues
Affordable housing planned for Hollywood
Developers have announced plans to build a new affordable housing project near the intersection of La Brea and Willoughby Avenues. The project, named The Pointe on La Brea, consists of a fivestory structure containing 49 studio apartments and one manager’s residence. The building will also feature a gym, a community room and a courtyard. The apartments will be dedicated to low-income households and be built through the Transit Oriented Communities guidelines, which allows developers to build denser projects, with fewer parking spaces, if
Live Nation Entertainment recently purchased Spaceland Presents, an independent concert promoter that owns 3 music venues in Los Angeles. The three locations --- The Echo and Echoplex in Echo Park, and the Regent Theatre in downtown Los Angeles --- are relatively small clubs that often cater to indie musical acts. Live Nation, which also owns Ticketmaster, has spent about $20-25 million in the past year to expand their business in the LA area, reaching out to developing artists that are playing smaller venues. Live Nation also owns the Hollywood Palladium and The Wiltern.
Restaurant
Spotlight
TAO
The Venue
Ocean Prime
6421 Selma Ave Hollywood
3470 Wilshire Blvd. Koreatown
9595 Wilshire Blvd. Beverly Hills
Even if you’ve seen photos of this glitzy establishment, nothing prepares you for the second you step in to the first LA branch of the tentpole of the Tao Group complex. Drawing strong inspiration from TAO Downtown in New York, TAO Los Angeles represents the definition of luxury. The grand staircase connecting TAO’s two levels of seating making it perfect to see and be seen. There are also four private dining rooms for those who want the celebrity privacy treatment. Alike the New York location, a 20-foot tall Quan Yin statue stands atop a koi pond where 3D projection mapping technology creates animations to bring the statue to life. Aside from TAO’s breathtaking décor, the menu does not fall short including signature dishes like miso glazed Chilean sea bass and typhoon lobster.
The Venue is a one-stop dining and singing spot with more than a dozen karaoke rooms. The dinner menu for the main dining room here includes items such as beets and goat cheese salad, yellowtail crudo, short ribs with horseradish cream, roasted chicken and steaks. For those heading straight to the private karaoke rooms, there’s a smaller bar food menu, which includes towering platters of chipotle maple chicken wings, beef sliders and fried mac and cheese. The underground restaurant is open daily from 6 p.m. – 2 a.m.
Beverly Hills is definitely LA’s premier dining destination to people watch and to be seen. Ocean Prime is the prime restaurant for this. Each Ocean Prime location is uniquely placed to bring the city energy to the environment. Surrounded by glass windows and a huge outdoor seating area, you still feel like you’re in the hustle and bustle of the city. Inside, the décor is sleek with gold tones, urban lighting and modern wall décor. It’s a true representation of LA glam. While there, ordering the seafood tower is a must. The tower is so LA, built to perfection for your social media outlets with its dry ice “smoke” at the top making it the perfect Boomerang post.
SIGHTS & SOUNDS in LOS ANGELES
The Broad Museum
Petersen Automotive Museum
221 South Grand Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90012
6060 Wilshire Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90036
J. Paul Getty Museum 1200 Getty Center Drive Los Angeles, CA 90049
CURRENT EXHIBITION:
CURRENT EXHIBITION:
CURRENT EXHIBITION:
Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power 1963-1983 March 23-September 1, 2019
Auto-Didactic: The Juxtapoz School September 29, 2018 - June 2019
Eighteenth-Century Pastel Portraits August 28, 2018 – October 13, 2019
Juxtapoz Magazine, known for featuring “lowbrow” and pop surrealist artists that would otherwise be considered as outside of the mainstream art world, has teamed with the Petersen Auto Museum to create a group show of artists whose work is often inspired by hot rod culture. The exhibit features many car-centric paintings and sculptures, as well as a number of vehicles that converted into moving works of work. The exhibit includes work by Robert Crumb, Ed “Big Daddy” Roth and Robert Williams.
Celebrating a medium that is often overlooked in other time periods, this exhibit delves into the favored form of portraiture in late 18th century Europe. Pastels allowed the artist to create classically beautiful works without the arduous process that oil painting often requires. This flexibility coincided with the growing class of people who patronized portrait artists, creating a unique body of work that represented both an evolving craft and an evolving society.
The Broad is hosting this special exhibit of artwork by AfricanAmerican artists who were active during the civil rights and black power movements of the 1960’s and 1970’s, and into the early years of the conservative Reagan administration. LA artists Charles White, Betye Saar, and William T. Williams are among the 60 artists whose work is featured. The exhibition is organized by Tate Modern and presented locally by Art + Practice, a Leimert Park-based organization.
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