Downtown Lobby

Looks like there will be a new live music venue in Downtown L.A. that will host shows regularly. When Spaceland moved out of their Silverlake space last year to allow The Satellite to take over, Spaceland Productions mentioned that they will be moving into a new location sometime in the future. According to Curbed Los Angeles, Mitchell Frank who is the man behind The Echo, Echoplex, Prado, Malo and Mas Malo is the new operator of the Regent Theater on Main and Fourth in the Old Bank District. The Regent is a much larger venue compared to their old Silverlake home. The 11,790 square foot theater is a two story space that has a 1,289 person capacity. To mentally get a better grasp of the size, The Music Box fits 1,300 people.

There would be plenty of upgrades and remodeling going on to bring it up to date, and will include a full bar for the 21+ crowd. Frank also mentioned in past interviews that the new venue would be a more dance and DJ orientated club. I’m guessing it would be like Check Yo Ponytail 2 all week. A letter was sent out (which you can see below) which invites everyone to a public meeting taking place this Saturday:

Hello Neighbor,


    We are the new operators of The Regent Theatre, located at 448 S. Main Street, and have recently signed a long-term lease at this location.  In 2000, the Regent theatre closed its doors after years as an adult movie house.  We are working on an adaptive reuse of the theater space and plan to reopen in fall 2012 as a live entertainment, live music, movie theater, special events venue and restaurant.

    We are proud to bring this historic theater back to life and help further the growth and reemergence of the Historic Core area in Downtown Los Angeles.   We would like to take opportunity to invite you to a community meeting where we will introduce ourselves and present the details of our proposed operation. We are eager to hear your feedback on our plans, answer any questions you have, and learn from you how we can best contribute to the neighborhood.

    The official request that we have presented to the Office of Zoning Administration is:

    “A Conditional Use, Pursuant to Los Angeles Municipal Code Section 12.24-W,1, to permit the sale and consumption of a full line of alcoholic beverages in conjunction with an 11,790 square foot theater/restaurant/bar accommodating 933 patrons on the ground floor and 356 in a 1,780 square foot second story balcony for an approximate total of 1289 patrons with hours of operation from 8:00am to 4:00am and having live entertainment,”

    “A Conditional Use, Pursuant to Los Angeles Municipal Code Section 12.24-W,18, to permit incidental patron dancing in conjunction with a theater/restaurant/bar,”

     A Zone Variance, Pursuant to Los Angeles City Charter Section 562 and Municipal Code Section 12.27, to permit a variance from Section 12.26-E to allow six required parking spaces be located off-site and secured by lease in lieu of recorded covenant.”

    Operating a theater venue and restaurant that is compatible with the neighborhood is something that we take very seriously, so we hope that you and our other neighbors can join us for this meeting:

    Location: The Regent, 448 S. Main St., Los Angeles, CA 90013

Time: 11:00a.m. -12:30p.m.        
Date: February 4th, 2012          

We encourage you to attend this meeting we and look forward to meeting you if we haven’t already.

Feel free to call or email Eddie Navarette, from FE Design our expeditor on the project, with any questions, comments, or concerns at (213) 687-6963 or fedesign@sbcglobal.net.   

Sincerely,

Mitchell Frank
General Manager

What do you guys think about the new venue? Other than the regular shows at The Smell, Club Nokia and bigger arena shows at Staples Center this is going to be a great addition to the neighborhood to catch some good live music. Also with the loss of The Music Box a new venue in town couldn’t have come at a better time.