Meeting News - January 5, 2009 - (Page 26)

Destination Insider: Los Angeles Edited by Terri Hardin terri.hardin@nielsen.com LA Is Singing: Things’ll Be Great When You’re Downtown The videogaming trade show E3, which had downsized to a hangar at Santa Monica Airport, has gone back to taking over the Los Angeles Convention Center for this year, 2010, and 2011. “Los Angeles is the entertainment capital of the world, and [videogaming] continues to lead this charge,” said Michael Krouse, senior VP of sales for LA Inc., the city’s convention and visitors bureau. E3 will bring the city 33,000 room nights and 60,000 attendees. The new heart of downtown is L.A. Live, a $2.5 billion campus designed for conventions, meetings, and special events. At L.A. Live, the newly opened Grammy Museum, Club Nokia, and the Conga Room club (co-owned by Jennifer Lopez and Jimmy Smits) join the 7,000-seat Nokia Theatre and Staples Center, and are linked by the light-filled Nokia Plaza, where Britney Spears lit the Christmas tree this year. “We’ve sold the Nokia Theatre six times already for Microsoft, Herbal Life, and Siggraph for general sessions and events,” said Krouse. Lucky Strike Lanes, the Farm of Beverly Hills, ESPN Zone, Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse, and Lawry’s Carvery join an already wide range of downtown dining options. There are 100 restaurants and bars within a few blocks of the convention center. 3,400-sf club lounge, a 24th-floor lobby lounge, a restaurant with panoramic views, and an outdoor rooftop swimming pool. With all this activity, “we booked 26 shows in the second quarter of 2007 for future years, while in second-quarter 2008, 31 shows were booked,” Krouse said. The Los Angeles Convention Center’s green technology helps. “It’s the first existing building to receive LEED certification; we’ve been solarpowered for 10 years, and 10 percent of [our] power is [produced] from renewable sources,” said Krouse. But the not-so-secret weapon, Krouse said, is the venue’s discount program: “A show like E3 doesn’t pay rent on the building because the 33,000 room nights reduce the rent to zero.” While the ebullient Krouse acknowledged the economic slowdown, he said Los Angeles is a bargain from a hotel perspective: “Our pricing is more economical than San Diego, New York, San Francisco, or Anaheim.” Meeting planners can also get help from LA Inc. for transportation, marketing and public relations, and advertising. “We’ve sold the Nokia Theatre six times already for Microsoft, Herbal Life, and Siggraph. —Michael Krouse, LA Inc.’s senior VP of sales, on the venue at L.A. Live ” A pair of upcoming high-level (literally and figuratively) hotels will add to the mix. The JW Marriott Hotel at L.A. Live, scheduled to open in 2010, will feature 878 guest rooms along with 77,000 sf of indoor meeting space, including three floors of stacked ballrooms. The Ritz-Carlton, Los Angeles, a 123-room hotel in the same 54-story tower as the Marriott, will feature a South of LA, Long Beach Says, ‘Let’s Light It Up’ Long Beach has spent $1.4 million dollars putting in 9,000 energy-efficient LED lights around downtown, lighting up the city from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. with a spectrum of 16 million colors. “From the waterfront to Pine Street, the city looks vibrant and colorful,” said Steve Goodling, president and CEO of the Long Beach Area Convention & Visitors Bureau. “At the [Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center], the whole glass tube is lit, as are the water fountain, the ‘birdcage’ in front of the [Hyatt Regency Long Beach], and the clock tower.” The lights enhance the city’s appearance and increase safety and security, although “Long continued on page 28 Long Beach has jazzed up its downtown area with colorful light displays. 26 MeetingNews January 5, 2009 www.meetingnews.com http://www.meetingnews.com

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Meeting News - January 5, 2009

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