More than 20 years ago,
Cirque du Soleil made its American debut right here in Los Angeles. This July, it returns to establish a permanent home in the heart of Hollywood at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center. The new show,
“IRIS,” will be based on Hollywood’s tremendous impact on the history of cinema and will involve a cast of 72 performers bringing together dance, acrobatics, live video, filmed sequences and animation to re-create the history of cinema for audiences.
In star-studded Los Angeles, don’t just stay where the stars do. Elevate your clients to a new level of luxury — at the posh properties that are designed by the stars. The venerable Hotel Bel-Air is set to re-open Oct. 15, restored and redesigned by architectural star David Rockwell and the Rockwell Group. Rockwell designed the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, home to the Academy Awards, and the sets for the 2009 and 2010 Academy Award shows. He’s invoked the glamour of Hollywood’s Golden Age with a youthful twist in the Hotel Bel-Air’s bar, restaurant and terrace, grand ballroom and pre-function space (reconfigured for up to 228), and boardroom (up to 14). The hotel will have 103 guestrooms including 12 new hillside accommodations and a 6,775-square-foot presidential suite. Style-maker Thom Filicia of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy TV-show fame revamped the W Los Angeles – Westwood giving a hip residential look to its 258 suites, and turned The Backyard — the hotel’s outdoor restaurant and lounge — into an urban oasis of lime green and chocolate brown. The Backyard makes a stellar reception area for up to 450 people, in addition to the W’s six meeting rooms for 25 to 110 theater-style. New Design Style guru, Philippe Starck of Paris, featured on the BBC’s Design for Life reality show and whose furniture is featured in the Boston Legal and Ugly Betty TV shows, turned the SLS Hotel at Beverly Hills into a cool hot spot, with his imaginative furnishings and décor in its 297 guest rooms, two restaurants and 12,000 square feet of dedicated meeting space. For power-packed executive gatherings, the oceanfront Malibu Beach Inn, on Malibu’s “Billionaire’s Beach,” is owned by Hollywood mogul David Geffen. It sports 47 chic rooms, a guests-only restaurant and a boardroom for up to 16 people, revamped in 2007 under Geffen’s supervision.
Meeting professionals need look no further than LA's storied hotels to find gorgeous meeting facilities. Downtown, the Millennium Biltmore Hotel has been impressing presidents and celebrities since 1923. Old master-style frescoes grace its 70,000 square feet of usable space, including the 11,546-square-foot Biltmore Bowl, the site of eight Academy Award® ceremonies. History is hip at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel - A Thompson Hotel opposite Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. Opened in 1927, its Spanish colonial-style spaces include the 4,400-square-foot Blossom Room (site of the first Academy Awards®) and the 3,000-square-foot Gable and Lombard Penthouse, perfect for VIP stays or small parties and meetings. Its lush Tropicana Bar & Pool is great for events of up to 900. Overlooking the beach in Santa Monica, the Hotel Casa Del Mar dates to 1926, when it was the toast of the Southern California coast for partying and sunning. Colorful tiles, a sweeping staircase, dramatic ocean views and 5,100 square feet of function space make it ideal for small groups. Its 4,000-square-foot Colonnade Ballroom has Venetian chandeliers and a sea view loggia; while smaller areas such as the 50-person Crimson Room include private living rooms. For retreats or large events, the luxurious Hummingbird Nest Ranch offers historic settings in the picturesque Santa Susana Mountains, 30 minutes from LA. Its three-bedroom Ranch House dates from the 1880s, while nine antique-filled bedrooms and suites are in the 17,000-square-foot modern Mediterranean-style villa. The Hummingbird's gorgeous outdoor spaces can accommodate events of up to 5,000.
The best talent on earth flocks to Los Angeles, which means LA offers as many entertainment options as there are stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Enliven your hospitality suite or welcome reception with Caricatures by Ted Jewell. Award-winning Gregg Young and The 2nd Street Band are master musicians/vocalists, performing all styles of music from jazz, blues and rock 'n' roll to Caribbean steel drums and Latin jazz. Leonard Neil Productions specializes in themed events, dinner dances and show production including tuxedo-clad big bands, string quartets, solo pianists and big name celebrities. Close-up magic guru David Minkin's Evening of Enchantment thrills up to 30 guests with stunning ocean views from his luxurious Malibu villa, fine wine tasting and breathtaking magic. Minkin is also available for private performances. Enloe Productions has A-listers such as Dolly Parton and comedian Dennis Miller, celebrity look-a-likes, magicians and theme bands including the "70s Explosion" and "Futuristic Rock Orchestra." The Entertainment Contractor is a one-stop shop for A- and B-list celebs, mimes, magicians, psychics, actors and actresses, animal acts, clowns, Asian name brush artists, photo booths and remote-controlled robots. The RLS Entertainment Agency is at the ready with total planning, execution and on-site production of live music, singers, magicians and all types of interactive entertainment.
Through impossibly daring feats, magician and escape artist Harry Houdini (1874-1926) captivated audiences worldwide. More than 80 years after his death, Houdini's feats of escape still fascinate fans of magic and mystery. Celebrating the magic of Harry Houdini, Los Angeles' Skirball Cultural Center is paying homage with an exhibit that runs through Sept. 4. Houdini: Art and Magic examines the life of the man born Ehrich Weisz with more than 150 objects, including original props such as a straitjacket and trunk as well as posters and film clips. Organized by The Jewish Museum, New York, this is the first major art museum exhibition to explore the life and legacy of the celebrated American showman. The Skirball Cultural Center, one of the pre-eminent facilities for Jewish culture in the world, can accommodate receptions of 1,500 people in its Ahmanson Ballroom and 1,700 in the Taper Courtyard.
Meetings delegates hoping to sneak away for an afternoon of art will soon be able to learn a lot more about LA's art scene. On October 1, 2011,
Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980 will unite more than 60 cultural institutions throughout Southern California. This simultaneous collaboration, the largest ever undertaken by cultural institutions anywhere, will tell the story of the rise of the Los Angeles art scene and how it became a new force in the art world. Initiated by the Getty Foundation, the program explores the years after World War II through the tumultuous period of the 1960s and 70s. Presenting the artistic evolution of Los Angeles through an unprecedented array of exhibitions and programs, Pacific Standard Time involves institutions of every size and character: from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), the Hammer Museum and the Getty Museum, to the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, Japanese American National Museum, Watts Towers Arts Center and many others. Pacific Standard Time continues through April 2012. Many of the participating facilities offer meeting space for special events and functions.
IRIS A Journey Through the World of Cinema stage rendering
