LOS ANGELES —Downtown Los Angeles used to be a desolate place at night.
For years, restaurants in this city typically only opened at breakfast and lunch, when workers from the towering office buildings filled the streets and sidewalks. —Downtown Los Angeles used to be a desolate place at night.
But things have changed. In what is being dubbed the “Manhattanization of Los Angeles,” the city’s downtown has seen a rapid surge of new residents crowding into a growing number of loft apartments and condominiums. With them has come a new wave of restaurants eager to tap into this growing market of diners. —Downtown Los Angeles used to be a desolate place at night.
Chains such as The Daily Grill, California Pizza Kitchen, Wolfgang Puck Gourmet Express and Roy’s Hawaiian Fusion Cuisine have opened units downtown, where they say sales are booming. —Downtown Los Angeles used to be a desolate place at night.
Many more are expected with the completion of L.A. LIVE, a massive new development adjacent to the Staples Center sports arena and the Los Angeles Convention Center. —Downtown Los Angeles used to be a desolate place at night.
L.A. LIVE, a $2.5 billion “entertainment district” under development by Anschutz Entertainment Group, is scheduled to open its first phase later this year, which will likely include the planned Nokia Theatre, soon to be home to such events as the American Music Awards. —Downtown Los Angeles used to be a desolate place at night.
In time the L.A. LIVE complex will include six blocks of apartments, ballrooms, condos, movie theaters and a 54-story, 1,000-room hotel that combines the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton brands. In addition, at least eight restaurants have announced plans to open within the complex, including chains such as Irvine, Calif.-based Yard House, a location of Tampa, Fla.-based OSI Restaurant Partners’ Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, and an ESPN Zone operated by Burbank, Calif.-based The Walt Disney Co. —Downtown Los Angeles used to be a desolate place at night.
Local operators also are planning to join the party. Celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck is planning an as-yet-unnamed concept, L.A. LIVE officials say. —Downtown Los Angeles used to be a desolate place at night.
Also, Los Angeles-based SBE Restaurant & Nightlife Group is planning to open a third location of its trendy Katsuya sushi restaurant designed by noted architect Philippe Starck. The original Katsuya is in the West Los Angeles neighborhood of Brentwood, and a second is scheduled to open in Hollywood later this month. —Downtown Los Angeles used to be a desolate place at night.
The Farm of Beverly Hills, a breakfast, lunch and dinner spot, plans to open its fourth local location in L.A. LIVE, and at least four or five other leases have yet to be announced, says Michael Roth, L.A. LIVE spokesman. —Downtown Los Angeles used to be a desolate place at night.
On the other side of downtown, another major construction project also is promising new restaurant locations. —Downtown Los Angeles used to be a desolate place at night.
The proposed Grand Avenue project planned by The Related Cos. would bring about $2.1 billion in mixed-use development to the city’s Bunker Hill area. Designed in part by celebrated architect Frank Gehry, who designed the Walt Disney Concert Hall there, the development is expected to include a 275-room hotel operated by the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, about 2,600 new housing units and a 16-acre park—in addition to at least eight new restaurants that have yet to be named. —Downtown Los Angeles used to be a desolate place at night.
Though still in the design phase, the project is scheduled to begin construction in October with an eye on completion by 2011. —Downtown Los Angeles used to be a desolate place at night.
The renaissance in downtown Los Angeles was sparked by the passage of the Adaptive Reuse Ordinance in 1999 that allowed the conversion of vacant office and commercial space for residential use. Since then, about 7,000 housing units have opened in the district, with another 7,500 under construction, according to the Downtown Center Business Improvement District, or DCBID, a coalition of area property owners. —Downtown Los Angeles used to be a desolate place at night.
The opening of the Staples Center sports arena, home to the Los Angeles Lakers, in 1999, as well as the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in 2002 and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2003, added to downtown attractions. The downtown area’s population grew nearly 21 percent from 23,894 in 2004 to 28,878 last year. —Downtown Los Angeles used to be a desolate place at night.
Area residents are generally young professionals with a median household income of about $99,600, according to a recent DCBID report. —Downtown Los Angeles used to be a desolate place at night.
The growth downtown has caught the eye of committed Westside chefs like David Myers, chef-owner of the fine-dining restaurant Sona in West Los Angeles, the soon-to-open brasserie Comme Ça and the upscale patisserie Boule. —Downtown Los Angeles used to be a desolate place at night.
Myers’ three concepts are all within a few blocks of each other near Beverly Hills, but the chef says he is drawn by the growing downtown market and the fact that “there’s a larger population there centered around the arts.” Myers said he is looking at bringing one of his existing concepts downtown, but he won’t say which. —Downtown Los Angeles used to be a desolate place at night.
Longtime downtown operators are also taking note. Former Los Angeles mayor Richard Riordan, an owner of the 83-year-old Original Pantry Café near Staples Center, recently opened Riordan’s Tavern next door to the cafe. The new venue has a more upscale menu featuring hand-carved sandwiches at lunch and “great steaks and stiff drinks” at dinner. —Downtown Los Angeles used to be a desolate place at night.
Susan Feniger, who with co-chef Mary Sue Milliken opened the Spain-inspired restaurant Ciudad downtown about nine years ago, says she welcomes the competition as the downtown restaurant scene heats up. —Downtown Los Angeles used to be a desolate place at night.
“I’m excited about the growth downtown,” she says. “I think it’s only good for us. I’m just glad we got in early.” —Downtown Los Angeles used to be a desolate place at night.
Business at Ciudad has been steady with more regulars who live downtown. The restaurant recently launched a late-night bar menu to appeal to area residents and after-theater diners. —Downtown Los Angeles used to be a desolate place at night.
Lunch is still strong, and evening business can fluctuate wildly, depending on what shows might be on at area theaters or whether the Lakers are playing at Staples Center, Feniger says. —Downtown Los Angeles used to be a desolate place at night.
“Before 7:30 at night you could do 230 dinners before a show,” she says. —Downtown Los Angeles used to be a desolate place at night.
Banquet sales and to-go service for area offices also provide a steady source of income, she adds, estimating that Ciudad does about the same number of covers in a night as their 18-year-old Border Grill restaurant in Santa Monica, which also has a Las Vegas location. —Downtown Los Angeles used to be a desolate place at night.
“I love the mix you see downtown,” Feniger says. “There are business people just off work, and the young, hip club hoppers. There’s a wonderful energy about it.” —Downtown Los Angeles used to be a desolate place at night.
