lalate Posted October 6 Report Share Posted October 6 "Smile, you're on Camera - How the Vibe got Lost in LA Summer 2004"The Rise and Fall of Hollywood Nightlife --------------------------------------------------------------------------------A Three Part Investigative Report by LALate --------------------------------------------------------------------------------How the crowd that built Hollywood nightlife killed it in Summer 2004--------------------------------------------------------------------------------IntroductionWithin twenty-four hours of releasing its story, LALate's mail server crashed from response emails from clubgoers and promoters. The response was consistent. "You hit it right on the nose" said one promoter. "Blunt is right. You said it exactly as it is" emailed a clubgoer.Now the 3-part series that lit a fire under many people's feet last month is back.It's a storyline that could only happen in Hollywood. Act One. A series of restaurant-nightclubs start opening in tinsletown's eastern corridor. Setting: 2002. Patrons flock. Great money is made. Just when you thought good times would never end, we cut to: Act Two. Conflict. Too many venues start to be built, rebuilt, opened, and reopened in the area, breading too many dancefloor for not enough clubgoers. Venues start to struggle. Clubgoers start to leave. Fiction or Reality? For Los Angeles nightlife, this storyline that can only happen in Hollywood is reality. In a three part investigative report, LA's preeminent nightlife authority that gained its reputation on impartiality and access to LA's top VIP venues, a company built by clubgoers for clubogers, reports on the changing face of LA nightlife, how since mid summer, the scene, vibe, groove, happiness, freakiness, and general excitement that was once LA has been lost by a larger upswing of a newer, more pretentious LA clubgoing community. "Ask anyone out and about, they would agree. This has been the most boring summer in LA in recent memory and the worse scene in LA since post 9/11." In this three part investigative report, LALate provides one of the most blunt portrayals of the scene ever. Last month in Part One, LALate reported "Painted Girls and Boys - How Hollywood Fed into Fakeness and Lost", how the Hollywood scene spread city-wide and killed the LA vibe Summer 2004. Today, in Part Two "Smile, you're on Camera - How the Vibe got Lost in LA Summer 2004", LALate reports how alcohol consumption, dancing, and overall wildness has been replaced by a Hollywood scene comparable to a networking function for the American Librarian association. In Part Three, "The Fall of Hollywood and Rise of Its Replacement? - Which City is now capturing the scene in fall 2004", LALate will report how the true shining star this summer has been another city with new venues openly monthly and a vibe and spirit that is captivating, electric, and lots of fun.Part III"Smile, you're on Camera - How the Vibe got Lost in LA Summer 2004""Jessica and Nick are going to be there. Hurry." says a flock of tiny girls from Kansas in overly tight white pants and affected trucker hats turned sideways scampering up Cahuenga Boulevrd. These girls don't know where the club is that they are heading to. They don't really care what the club's name is. Or who else is going to be in the club. Or if their future husband will met that evening. They don't care what the music is tonight or if there is a drink promotion or if the club has a polite staff or great decore. They don't even care if the club got a C+ from the Health Department or if its security staff has been beating up its patrons. Why? Because all they care about is two words: Jessica and Nick. And rumor, yes, rumor, has it that Jessica and Nick were there nearly a year ago and maybe, just maybe, they were be there tonight again.Some people call it pretentiousness. But call it what you want, it sells. And sells very well.Celebrities and Hollywood have always been two to tango. Promoters suggest, entice, and even mislead that the celebrity is going to appear at their party, and if not the celebrity themselves, then at least their backup singer, or their backup singer's hairdresser, or the backup singer's hairdresser's dog shrink. And for that, people will show up, in masses. Even on the wrong night. From Kansas. Hoping they will run into the celebrity ... or at least the shrink."I read Britney had a dance off with Shar here reportedly." Who is Shar and what exactly is a "dance off", is not the concern. Britney is. The fact that Britney Spears appeared at least a nanosecond in the venue sometime this decade, that is the draw."Draws work", says LALate. "Marketing promotion premieres where all you see is a flyer on a wall of the venue, all the way up to an actor performing off-key with his faux rock in roll band for 20 seconds in the venue, all work. They drive clubgoers in. That's not the problem. The problem is the city has become more focus on draws and less on vibe," states LALate.Vibe. It's a word that suggest the spirit, the aura, the groove, the interaction of people. If the spirit is to hopefully spot a celebrity, there is no vibe. The spirit is to ignore every face in the venue that doesn't resemble the celebrity from the other side of the room. Hollywood has always used celebrity draw to attract clubgoers. But Hollywood in 2004 went overboard. Way overboard. It spent too many nights, in too many venues, with too many promoters, focusing more on celebrity draw and less on club vibe. The result is obvious. Venues that focused too much on celebrity draw left themselves with no image, no trademark vibe, no clubgoer branding. "Certain venues by summer end found themselves cliche venues - venues that you have no sense of what they are except that they attest to having someone important sitting somewhere sometime in their place. And they deserved that failure. If your focus is on press more than clubgoer experience, you deserve to tank eventually. Press and clubgoer experience should be balanced. One should never be forgotten in pursuit of the other. That's where Hollywood messed up in 2004."LALate reports top factors for clubgoer satisfaction are - a) likelihood to meet someone they are attracted to, smoothness of operations (door, bar, and similar staff), and c) quality of music. If you kill factor (a) in a second with people that aren't there to meet you, because you aren't a celebrity, then as a venue you aren't left with really anything except a generic hiphop spinning dj and a pleasant staff. And that won't cut it. The clubgoer won't return.So what Hollywood venues did LALate like and see as winners for the summer of 2004? Here's a snapshot of the list of winners.Fridays at Forbidden City. An excellent group of promoters with a low track record bring a latin crowd to Hollywood to a venue that is hot, drinks, and gets very wild to a great blending of hiphop, 80s, and house. While the bartending staff is very marginal, and the drinks almost too small, the crowd still has fun with one of the best nights in town anywhere, in Hollywood no less, on Friday. Saturdays @ Henry Fonda. Gone is the unpresentable crowd of Spundae at Circus and in is a very hot, very fun crowd, at the new Godskitchen at Henry Fonda. The venue is rumored to perhaps nab the number one spot from Pearl when LALate unveils its next Best of LA Award for number one venue in LA in the coming weeks. The venue has the best talent in town, recently pulling in a crowd that spanned around nearly two city blocks to see popular Miami DJ Markus Schulz open for heavyweight Armin Van Buren. The crowd doesn't just dance to the music, they become the music. The venue has the best lighting system in Southern California and brings a vibe that is so good you can almost bottle it. Recent nights like last Thursday that offered exceptional DJ Collette in its VIP room while Carl Cox headlined pulled in a crowd so large you thought it was Saturday, not Thursday. With overly priced drinks, and credit card minimums, the venue still has room for improvement. But for LALate, that got its patrons to the front of a two city block line for Van Buren's performance, this is its pick in Hollywood for a Saturday night, hands down.But where the vibe is very strong currently in Los Angeles besides these clubs? LALate reports in the final segment of this investigative report soon. Part Three "The Fall of Hollywood and Rise of Its Replacement? - Which City is now capturing the scene in fall 2004" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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dgmodel Posted October 6 Report Share Posted October 6 me.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emjay Posted October 6 Report Share Posted October 6 me....no...ur barstar.(btw....i knew that) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgmodel Posted October 6 Report Share Posted October 6 lol derf... my bad... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deepspell Posted October 6 Report Share Posted October 6 yo LAlate when u gunna come do a story on the underground scene in nyc....no im not talking bout spirit, avalon ect...im talking bout the lil lounges in NYC that REALLY play good music...such as Le Souk, Sullivan room, Opium Den, Spill, Lush, 169, Table 50 Ect. Ect.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgmodel Posted October 6 Report Share Posted October 6 pizzeria uno bar and grill~! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lalate Posted October 6 Author Report Share Posted October 6 yo LAlate when u gunna come do a story on the underground scene in nyc....no im not talking bout spirit, avalon ect...im talking bout the lil lounges in NYC that REALLY play good music...such as Le Souk, Sullivan room, Opium Den, Spill, Lush, 169, Table 50 Ect. Ect....When you pick me up from Kennedy. I need a vacation manana. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaydup Posted October 6 Report Share Posted October 6 They are right you do have the longest titles ever Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deepspell Posted October 6 Report Share Posted October 6 let me know man.....im downif u ever head out here just holler! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iamme Posted October 6 Report Share Posted October 6 deepspell lalalate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lalate Posted October 6 Author Report Share Posted October 6 deepspell lalalate lol @ lalamme Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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