Smart Meetings

Fortunately, if you’re L.A.’s Westside—the official designation of what was once an unrelated jumble of communities—you’ve got the right stuff.  
The area’s four primary cities have always had their own separate appeal: West Hollywood, its entertainment venues; Beverly Hills, its shopping and dining; Santa Monica, the beach; and Marina del Rey, the water. They’re also all easy to get around—even walkable (actually not an oxymoron in this part of L.A.). But in recent years, they’ve all added to their individual cachet with top-tier hotels, dining and entertainment, and it became time to put to rest that amorphous “west side” kind of thing and go for the capital “W.” The communities did this through an informal union, the LA Westside Tourism Partnership, and haven’t looked back. “We’re clear where one city starts, but we complement each other,” says Kathyrn Smits, executive director of the Beverly Hills Conference & Visitors Bureau. It’s great for meeting planners, she says, because they provide “one-stop shopping.”
 Because of the cities’ close proximity, all within 11 miles of one another, you can stay in one and play in any—or all—of the others. Take a look at the coalition’s website and its helpful info, including suggested itineraries. And read on here, for a taste of the flavors that make each unique.

WEST HOLLYWOOD
Wedged between Hollywood and Beverly Hills—and only 1.9 square miles—West Hollywood gives new meaning to the words “action packed.” It’s chock-a-block with six famous nightclubs, 130 restaurants (many with private rooms), two large event venues (for up to 2,000), 30(!) spas and health clubs, and 14 hotels, plus 50,000 sq. ft. of meeting space.  
The nightlife here is party central, with music clubs like the Roxy, the Viper Room, House of Blues and the Key Club—all along Sunset Strip, the legendary stretch of Sunset Boulevard that begs convertibles and sunglasses after dark. You’ll recognize it by the neon signs and towering, wall-tall billboards. Just south of the Strip, is The Boulevard—part of historic Route 66 and part also of a vibrant gay scene that keeps going nightly with the resilience of the Energizer Bunny.
Stroll along Melrose Avenue, Beverly Boulevard and Robertson Boulevard, known collectively as the Avenues of Art & Design, and you’ll find some of the most trend-setting fashions, home furnishings, art, spas and dining in L.A. Melrose runs to funky/vintage/hip, while Beverly has eye-catching interior design. Robertson encompasses the more traditional boutiques and a bevy of celebrity-magnet restaurants like the Ivy. And speaking of design, the Avenues are anchored by the Pacific Design Center, a striking architectural complex that houses more than 120 designer showrooms.
But the big buzz in West Hollywood right now is the hotel scene, with a clutch of new and newly renovated properties with eye-popping appeal. Re-opening this April is The London West Hollywood, the transformation of the Bel Age Hotel, just off the Sunset Strip, with interiors styled by celebrated Irish designer David Collins. The second ballroom has been converted to junket rooms with T1 lines for “the industry,” but they’re perfect for small meetings requiring satellite links—you don’t have to bring in outside tech people to hook you up.
Newly opened is the Palihouse Holloway, a boutique property that’s the first in a series coming to L.A. neighborhoods by Palisades Development Group; it features an espresso bar with DJ music, lobby living room lounge and extended-stay suites. Currently undergoing renovation is the Sunset Marquis Hotel and Villas, a Hollywood landmark, with an in-house recording studio favored by rockers, that will see a $20-million expansion with 40 new villas and a private, 3,200-square-foot retreat. The Mondrian (mondrianhotel.com) is finishing up guest room makeovers by April, and the lobby and restaurant space this fall. Plus, the Hyatt West Hollywood, which is undergoing a complete $30-million renovation, will close this May for two to three months, according to Bill Hynes, executive vice president, sales and marketing for the WHCVB, reopening late spring or early summer.    

WHERE TO GATHER
Dubbed “the blue whale” by locals, due to its size and shape, the Pacific Design Center anchors the Avenues and the city itself. PDC also serves as headquarters for the West Hollywood Marketing & Visitors Bureau. (Note the “Marketing” in the moniker—it’s new, and the first CVB in the country to break with tradition.) The center is situated on 14 acres that feature a satellite location of The Museum of Contemporary Art, two Wolfgang Puck restaurants, including the world-renowned restaurateur’s new Red Seven, a theater and the Blue Conference Center. It can host your board meetings for 10 to outdoor parties for more than 2,500—just ask Elton John, whose Oscar parties are held on the campus. “It serves as our de facto convention center,” says Brad Burlingame, president & CEO of the WHMVB.
Not surprisingly, one of West Hollywood’s other unique venues is The Lot (323-850-2500), a real working movie studio with complete production services and facilities. It can host up to 2,000 guests for your next event. Other options are Absolute Spa, a gym with a unique team-building program, and L.A. Food Works, another gem that focuses on teamwork. You don’t have to be the sharpest knife in the kitchen to do well here—they have professional chefs to guide you.
Although the city’s ideal meeting size is small to mid-size, West Hollywood is capable of hosting larger events like the annual MUSEXPO in April. This premier event, which brings together the very highest level of music, media and technology company execs and musical talent from all over the world, takes over the heart of West Hollywood for its performances and panels moderated by the likes of Larry King. “They take over the restaurants, the clubs, the meeting space,” Hynes says. The city gets a vote of confidence from the organization, which expects 800 attendees this year. “The city is very accommodating; they’re flexible and make the international delegates feel welcome,” says Sat Bisla, founder and president of A&R Network, which puts on the event.
    
BEVERLY HILLS
It’s not that Beverly Hills needed more name recognition—you can’t pick up a People or US magazine without seeing candid shots of celebrities on Rodeo Drive carrying shopping bags with logos from the finest shops in the world. In fact, the Golden Triangle—bordered by Wilshire Boulevard, Santa Monica Boulevard and Rexford Drive (Rodeo runs down the center)—is one of the most visited places in all of L.A.
But, given its glamour and sophistication, this tony enclave may surprise you with its other attractions. The small geographic area, about six miles, means it’s especially walkable—a real advantage for groups that can’t house all attendees in one hotel due to their size. Or, for groups that need close-by hotels varying in price point. “We have real flexibility with rates,” Smits says.
If you do want transportation to get around, a fun thing to do is to book the Beverly Hills Trolley, an open-air trolley that holds about 30 people. It’s also available for city tours, if you’d like to give your attendees an overview to get their bearings (your point of contact is the CVB).
A unique service offered by the bureau is the Ambassadears, a long-standing docent program that can provide assistance with check-in and check-out at hotels, registration, translation, sightseeing and other conference needs.

WHERE TO MEET
Several of the city’s hotels have been on a shopping spree themselves—with new brands and renovations that are taking their luxurious decor and amenities to an even higher level. Nearly finished with its renovation is the Thompson Beverly Hills (the Beverly Pavilion in one of its previous incarnations), a sister property to Manhattan’s 60Thompson. This ultra-hip property, with a BondSt sushi restaurant offering great space for groups, includes a second-floor lounge and rooftop pool and lounge. Also wrapping up construction to open this October is the Montage, with private indoor and outdoor space, plus a 5,000-square-foot ballroom and a 40-person private-dining rooftop conservatory.  A Waldorf-Astoria—Hilton’s new premium brand and the first on the West Coast—is in the planning stages. The hotel will occupy a new signature building on the nine acres that also house the Beverly Hilton, which recently completed an $80-million renovation of its guest rooms and upgrades to the executive conference center.           
   Along with the traditional hotel meeting space, there are spectacular rooftop spaces at Raffles L’Ermitage (beverlyhills.raffles.com) and the Peninsula Beverly Hills (beverlyhillspeninsula.com)—even Brooks Brothers. “People don’t realize that retailers along Rodeo Drive have rooftops that they use for events,” Smits says.     
Another spectacular venue is the 4,000-square-foot penthouse suite at the Beverly Wilshire, a historic suite more recently leased by General Motors and then ForbesLife; now it’s called the Royal Suite and overseen by the hotel. This venue has hosted parties given by Prince, George Clooney and Madonna, to name a few celebrities. Corporate groups have also chosen it for their events (it served as the launch-party site for the BlackBerry, for instance).
Under the “When you’re in Rome” banner, The Paley Center for Media (formerly The Museum of Television and Radio) is another option, whether in one of the seminar rooms, the theater or outdoors on the rooftop (yes, there is a theme here—if you’ve got great weather, great views and great spaces—flaunt ’em).     
Two former private estates also work well for groups: the Greystone Estate, a much-filmed event space, and the Virginia Robinson Gardens, both of which have beautifully landscaped gardens.

SANTA MONICA   
Santa Monica is the kind of California beach town you envision in your mind’s eye: a wide swath of sandy beach, good waves for surfing (dude!), a retro pier with an amusement park featuring a Ferris wheel, good food and good shops. It rates high on the walkability factor, and there’s plenty of inexpensive public transportation. For the California beach town in a meeting planner’s eye, the vision is the same, plus 37 hotels with more than 3,500 hotel rooms (deluxe to budget).
The ambience in this 8.3-square-mile-city is casual, the dress code ranging from nearly nothing (well, Speedos at Muscle Beach, a famous alfresco gym) and designer jeans to Juicy Couture and Tom Ford.
If your green sensibilities are heightened, this is also the place. The city has been on the cutting-edge of sustainable practices for more than a decade and is ranked one of the top 10 green cities in the country.    
Santa Monica’s dining scene is a who’s who in the culinary world, including noted chefs and restaurateurs like Wolfgang Puck (Chinois on Main), Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger (Border Grill), Jared Simons (Violet) and Allyson Thurber (The Lobster). ZagatSurvey rated the city L.A.’s best dining destination yet again in 2007.
One of the city’s chief attractions for planners is its compact downtown, where the hotels, dining, shops and entertainment are never more than a few blocks from the ocean or each other (dine-arounds are a popular option here). Ocean Avenue is the main boulevard, skirting the beach and a narrow greenbelt harboring a paved biking path. The pedestrian-friendly Third Street Promenade is where you’ll find outdoor dining (all the better to see and be seen), live music and movie theaters. Shopping is concentrated along Main Street and Montana Avenue, tree-shaded streets with inviting boutiques, galleries and cafes.
The beach will exert an irresistible pull for your groups, so plan to have a volleyball tournament or other team-building exercise on the sand (the CVB can arrange this). Or, just give your meeting-goers time to
kick back and slather on some suntan lotion. Other outdoor recreation possibilities include biking, Segway sightseeing or in-line skating—rentals abound.

WHERE TO MEET     
While the city’s main venue for larger events (3,000 for live shows) is the Civic Auditorium, its hotels provide the bulk of meeting space, at various price points. The Fairmont Miramar Hotel has the largest meeting space, with 25,000 sq. ft.; Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel has the most sleeping rooms (342). You can also combine forces with Loews and the nearby Le Merigot, A JW Marriott Beach Hotel and Spa for larger groups, or the Fairmont Miramar and the nearby Huntley Santa Monica Beach if you’ve got spillover.
But the new focus of the Santa Monica CVB is incentives and small corporate meetings (groups of 50 to 175), backed by a hotel product that has upgraded and refined its offerings with renovations and near-total teardowns. The Oceano (hoteloceano.com), for instance, unveiled its new look last summer; the Shangri-La, opens this summer after a total remodel; and the Huntley recently completed an $18-million remodel.    
Coming soon is The Madison Stage (smc.edu/madison), a 32,300-square-foot building that’s on a park-like campus of Santa Monica College. Seating capacity in the theater is 366; there are also a rehearsal room, state-of-the-art sound and lighting (would you expect
anything less here?), plus beautifully landscaped gardens.
If you’ve got a lively imagination and the budget for decor, try Barker Hangar, a true hangar with massive empty space that can accommodate 1,700 people banquet style and 2,500 for receptions. The sky’s the limit here—pardon the pun. Some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry draw the crowds.
You can also tie in your seaside theme at Pacific Park, the two-acre amusement park that’s located on the pier; it can be rented as a buyout for up to 1,800 people. Treat your guests to an evening of old-fashioned fun that’ll dazzle their senses.


If Santa Monica’s got surf and sand, Marina del Rey rounds out the Westside as L.A.’s ultimate water playground. With 6,100 boat slips, it’s one of the largest marinas in the world—and encompassing 800 acres, 400 of which are under water, the city is also one of the most unusual.
Marina del Rey is all about being on the water, rather than in it (although there is a sliver of sandy beach). The ambience is purely nautical, and you’ll want your group to become a part of it—not a difficult proposition, given the availability of yachts for charter, excursion and party boats, and personal watercraft such as ski boats, paddle boats and kayaks for rent.
You’ll want to stay and dine at water’s edge as well. Fortunately, you don’t have to look very far.

GATHERING PLACES
Marina del Rey has two major hotels to host your groups, including The Ritz-Carlton, Marina del Rey, located close enough to the water to hear the creak of multimillion-dollar pleasure craft bobbing with the tide, and the Marriott Marina del Rey, slightly inland.
The Ritz recently opened its new spa, a splashy, luxurious new retreat with eight treatment rooms, part of a $4-million expansion of the waterfront hotel. Unlike many Marriotts, the Marina del Rey location is known for its nightlife—particularly Glow, a very hot, very trendy outdoor lounge that features DJ music and dancing.
Two other hotels—the Marina del Rey Hotel and the Marina International Hotel and Bungalows—are currently awaiting city approval for their renovation plans.
And if you’d like to get your meeting-goers out on the water en masse, sign up for one of the yachts from Hornblower Cruises & Events, where you can join a scheduled cruise or create your own charter, complete with live music and prizes, for a final-evening gala. Back to Top

Getting There

Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) is about 12 miles from West Hollywood, 14 miles from Beverly Hills and 13 miles from Santa Monica. Free shuttle bus service is provided to the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority-Metro Rail Green Line Aviation Station. Back to Top

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