Surrounded by hills and mountains, the two valleys north of downtown Los Angeles long ago transformed from farmland to suburbs, and then forged their own identities as magnetic destinations packed with attractions.
“The meetings product in the San Fernando Valley and San Gabriel Valley offer a lot for a planner to consider, from fantastic meeting spaces to great prices on room rates,” says Michael Krouse, senior vice president of sales at LA Inc., The Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Krouse enthuses that the region’s airports make the valleys easily accessible, there is plenty of golf and shopping, major television and movie studios provide opportunities for one-of-a-kind events, and “when a citywide convention is booked in L.A., it affects most every hotel in the L.A. region, and the Valleys are a big part of that.”
A mix of incorporated cities and communities that are part of L.A., the San Fernando Valley stretches almost 30 miles along the Ventura Freeway from Calabasas in the west to Glendale in the east. Then the Foothill Freeway takes over, and Pasadena anchors the San Gabriel Valley, which sprawls east to the San Bernardino County line.
San Fernando Valley
Featuring more than 100 soundstages and nicknamed “Valley of the Stars,” the San Fernando Valley is home to 2 million people—as well as the Walt Disney Company, NBC Universal Studios, Warner Bros., and CBS, NBC and ABC.
According to Jay Aldrich, CEO of the San Fernando Valley Conference and Visitors Bureau, the destination typically handles meetings of 20 to 2,000 people, but has hosted groups as large as 20,000.
“You can fly into Bob Hope Airport in Burbank and you have everything right there,” Aldrich says. “We have some of the best party planners in the land. We’ve put on unbelievable parties. We’ve cleared streets. Everything is possible—and there are ways to do things with constricted budgets,” he says.
Dubbed the “Media Capital of the World,” urban Burbank is served with 70 daily flights by six carriers. The valley’s largest convention hotel, the 488-room Burbank Airport Marriott Hotel & Convention Center, delivers 50,000 square feet of meeting space.
Unique off-site options include the Warner Bros. Studio, which can host 20 to 10,000 people, and provide anything from lunch or a backlot studio tour to a movie-themed event.
Six miles away, Universal Studios Hollywood in Universal City includes the theme park and the dining, retail and entertainment area of Universal CityWalk, and the 9,600-square-foot Globe Theatre. It can host gatherings as large as 20,000, and its special events offerings include team building with a make-your-own-movie option.
In May, Universal Studios will unveil “The Simpsons” thrill ride, replacing the 14-year-old “Back to the Future” adventure. Meanwhile, last fall CityWalk launched “iFly Hollywood,” a wind-tunnel skydiving visitor experience.
Outside the Universal Studios gate are two of the valley’s largest meetings hotels: Sheraton Universal Hotel, which will complete a $30 million renovation this summer, and Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City, each with around 30,000 square feet of meeting space.
Another meetings-equipped property, the Beverly Garland Holiday Inn Universal Studios, with 13,000 square feet of meeting space, completed renovations to guest rooms, public areas and meeting space last year, and this spring will unveil a new spa and new outdoor courtyard function space.
A third concentration of hotel meeting space is located at the high-rise business hub of Warner Center at Woodland Hills, where the choices include the Hilton Woodland Hills, with 17,000 square feet of meeting space, and the Warner Center Marriott Woodland Hills, with 25,000 square feet of function space.
Other prominent valley properties include the AirTel Plaza Hotel, with 21,000 square feet of function space near Van Nuys Airport, one of the world’s busiest general aviation airports; the Sportsmen’s Lodge in Studio City, a Joie de Vivre property with 19,000 square feet of function space; and the Hilton Los Angeles North/Glendale & Executive Meeting Center, with 13,000 square feet of meeting space.
Aldrich notes the valley’s wide range of venues includes smaller options, such as the new Residence Inn that opened last September in downtown Burbank with 1,625 square feet of meeting space.
California State University Northridge, which can handle groups of 20 to 500, plans to break ground this year on a $100 million performing arts center that will include a 1,700-seat auditorium.
In North Hollywood, the NoHo Arts District, home to the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, provides an eclectic mix of clubs, restaurants and stores, as well as 22 live-performance theaters, half of which are available for group rental.
NoHo connects to downtown L.A. via the Metro Red Line subway’s North Hollywood station. In 2005, it became the eastern terminus of the new Metro Orange Line bus system that operates to Warner Center. On a dedicated transitway, the 14-mile route with 13 stations runs north of—and roughly parallels—the Ventura Freeway, and according to Aldrich, continues to break ridership levels.
With a number of huge upscale retail centers, shopping is a top valley attraction, and two are on the Orange Line: the 650,000-square-foot Woodland Hills Promenade and the nearby Westfield Topanga, which added 100 outlets last year in a $330 million expansion.
Valley recreational spaces include the 225-acre Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Reserve and Coldwater Canyon Park near Studio City, popular for hiking. Expected to open in 2009 at Hansen Dam Recreation Area is a new 60,000-square-foot home for the Children’s Museum of Los Angeles, which closed downtown in 2000.
The 4,100-acre Griffith Park in the Santa Monica Mountains on the valley’s southern boundary features draws such as the Los Angeles Zoo & Botanical Gardens, the Gene Autry Museum of Western Heritage and the Griffith Observatory, which reopened in 2006 following a $93 million renovation and expansion.
Major attractions also abound at the valley’s gateways: the Getty Center and Hollywood Bowl to the south; the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library to the west; and Six Flags Magic Mountain to the north.
San Gabriel Valley
Bounded by the San Gabriel Mountains to the north, the San Gabriel Valley encompasses 31 incorporated cities and an ethnically diverse population of 1.5 million.
Pasadena, long celebrated for the annual Rose Bowl and Tournament of Roses Parade, is just 10 miles from Burbank.
A cultural hub, it is home to attractions such as the Norton Simon Museum; The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens; the Pasadena Museum of California Art; and the historic Pasadena Playhouse.
This city of 500 restaurants and 2,500 hotel rooms has historic mansions, including the Gamble House and Wrigley Mansion, and notable educational institutions, such as the California Institute of Technology and the California School of Culinary Arts.
“We’re a little oasis in L.A. with a product that’s evolving but we’ve been under the radar,” says Nan Marchand, executive director of the Pasadena CVB. “We’re a world-class destination with a story to tell.”
A big part of the story is the $150 million expansion of the Pasadena Convention Center, which is being nearly doubled in size. The expanded facility is scheduled for completion in spring 2009, and bookings are being taken for events to be held starting in April 2009.
It will open with 85,000 square feet of additional function space, 28 breakout rooms, a new 25,000-square-foot ballroom, and a renovated 17,000-square-foot ballroom. The 3,000-seat Pasadena Civic Auditorium and 26,650 square feet of conference space remain in operation.
Exterior architecture of the center will match that of surrounding historic buildings, including the Pasadena City Hall, which completed a $17 million restoration last April.
“Traditionally, California associations have been our market,” Marchand explains. “We’re now looking at expanding to national associations and corporate business, and consumer shows as well.”
Pasadena has four hotels close to the center: an adjacent Sheraton, a Westin, a Hilton, and Old Pasadena Courtyard by Marriott. Together they have 1,200 guest rooms and 72,000 square feet of meeting space.
Also within walking distance of the center are two lively dining, shopping and entertainment districts: the 22-block Old Pasadena and the open-air promenades of Paseo Colorado.
All this, Marchand notes, is within 20 minutes of downtown L.A.—less than 10 miles away—via the Gold Line light rail system, which has six Pasadena stations.
A standout among Pasadena’s hotels is The Langham, Huntington Hotel & Spa, which is the former Ritz-Carlton, Huntington Hotel & Spa. The property, which was purchased and reflagged in January, has 60,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting space in the San Gabriel foothills. The first hotel in the Western U.S. for Hong Kong-based Langham Hotels International, the AAA Five Diamond property is planning a $25 million upgrade following a $19 million renovation completed at the hotel in 2005.
Meanwhile, at press time, the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino was set to open the three-acre first phase of its new $18 million, 12-acre Chinese Garden Feb. 23.
Additionally, the Huntington Art Gallery will reopen in May following a $20 million renovation. Originally built for Henry E. Huntington, the mansion will include 5,300 additional square feet of public space and new galleries.
Six miles south of Pasadena is the L.A. region’s birthplace: San Gabriel. Its Mission District features museums, a historic civic auditorium and the San Gabriel Mission, founded in 1771. Less than two miles from the district, the 222-room Hilton Los Angeles/San Gabriel serves up 30,000 square feet of meeting space.
Nearby Arcadia boasts the Los Angeles County Arboretum, plus horse racing at the Santa Anita Racetrack.
Aside from Pasadena’s hotel lineup, other meetings properties in the region include the Embassy Suites San Gabriel Arcadia, with 7,600 square feet of function space; Radisson Suites Hotel Covina, with 9,000 square feet of meeting space; and Pacific Palms Conference Resort, which is located south of Covina and features two championship golf courses and 45,000 square feet of function space.
For More Info
LA Inc., The Convention and Visitors Bureau 213.624.7300
www.discoverlosangeles.com
Pasadena CVB 626.795.9311
www.pasadenacal.com
San Fernando Valley Conference
and Visitors Bureau 818.377.6388
www.visitvalleyofthestars.org
