Live Performance
Venue which held events during the 13th Annual LA Music Awards year.
Name: Qtopia
Address: 6021 Hollywood Blvd
City, State: Hollywood, CA
Zip/P. Code: 90028
Entrance:
Telephone: 310-274-7850
Type (genre):
Music:
Inside Info:
Status: Open
Door Policy:
Parking:
L.A. can party big, too
It’s time to join the other cities that like to brag about their huge clubs. Welcome to 21,000 square feet of action.
August 04, 2005|Steve Baltin | Special to The Times
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NIGHTCLUB people in other cities — Las Vegas, New York, Miami — will tell you there isn’t a spot in L.A. that can compete with their top venues. The 21,000-square-foot Vanguard (the former Qtopia) aspires to change that.
“People’s jaws drop when they walk in the room. This feels like a club in New York, Vegas or Ibiza [Spain], and in reality it’s bigger than most clubs in those cities,” says Scott Feiwell of Velvet Crossing, the group responsible for putting together the “dream team” of promoters that fill the spot on Saturday nights. “A venue like this doesn’t exist in the pretty-people world of L.A.”
Feiwell is right in one sense — few venues could claim to offer both the vibe of a hot dance club and a swanky lounge, at least on this scale. In fact, the Vanguard’s cabana-focused outdoor setting conspires with its indoor dance space to pose as two clubs in one.
On a recent Saturday night, the two worlds are hopping. Dancers fill the spacious cherry-wood dance floor beneath watchful eyes from the VIP balcony. And the Asian-inspired patio, with fountains and a giant Buddha statue, is thriving. Early in the evening, the outdoor patio, once a parking lot, outdraws its indoor counterpart, with patrons willingly forking over $300-plus a bottle for the comfort of a cabana. But by midnight the dance floor churns to a soundtrack of hip-hop and Top 40.