For planners California dreamin’ yet contemplating crowded airports and hoping for a quick and painless escape to a sun-and-surf destination, opportunities exist. Consider LAX—Los Angeles International Airport—and the beaches of South Bay.
“What most people don’t realize about Los Angeles is that our airport is literally on the beach. It’s one of L.A.’s best-kept secrets,” says Michael Krouse, CMP, senior vice president of sales and client services at LA Inc., The Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Krouse adds that the beach cities region offers a variety of choices for meetings, with two options including Marina del Rey, with the world’s largest manmade pleasure craft harbor, and to the south, a rejuvenating San Pedro, the West Coast’s busiest passenger cruise port.
A paved path—the Strand—winds more than 20 miles along the beach from Santa Monica in the north down through Marina del Rey, past the airport, and down to Redondo Beach and Torrance. The route is full of activity enclaves and visitors and locals walking, bicycling, skateboarding, rollerblading or just relaxing and enjoying the Golden State’s quintessential beach lifestyle.
Airport Area
Aimed at improving the passenger experience, LAX’s Tom Bradley International Terminal, serving 53 percent of passengers, has been undergoing a three-year $723 million renovation. Scheduled for completion in March 2010, it is part of a $1.8 billion airport capital improvement program.
Meanwhile, the LAX region’s 15,000-plus rooms account for more than 16 percent of L.A.’s total rooms, according to Krouse.
Some of the largest meetings hotels have undergone makeovers.
Westin Los Angeles Airport recently completed an $11 million renovation of its 45,000 square feet of meeting space and a guest room renovation is slated for completion in spring 2009.
Others, such as the Los Angeles Airport Marriott, with 55,000 square feet of meeting space, the Renaissance Montura Hotel Los Angeles, with 18,000 square feet of function space, and the Sheraton Gateway Los Angeles, with 50,000 square feet of meeting space, have completed major upgrades within the last three years.
Marina del Rey
Just four miles northwest of LAX, a completely different ambience awaits visitors in Marina del Rey.
“We’re one of the only destinations along the coast where you can access the water just about any way you want, with lots that you can’t experience anywhere else in L.A. And you don’t need to drive,” says Brian Garrido, spokesperson for the Marina del Rey CVB.
Water activitities run the gamut from cruising, sailing and sport fishing to kayaking. Hornblower Cruises & Events, with vessels holding up to 550 guests, for example, has a new package combining a two-hour dockside meeting with a two-hour luncheon cruise. And three yacht clubs offer off-site venue space.
Visitors, Garrido says, can walk to waterfront eateries, rent bicycles and ride to wetlands for bird watching, or rent skates at nearby Venice Beach. On summer weekends, the marina’s WaterBus shuttle connects six locations, and there is a free summer beach shuttle.
Among the destination’s six harborfront hotels and 1,000 guest rooms, standouts for meetings include the AAA Five Diamond Ritz-Carlton, Marina del Rey, which has 15,000 square feet of meeting space; the Marina del Rey Marriott, with 18,000 square feet of function space, and the Marina del Rey Hotel, with 10,000 square feet of meeting space. The 304-room Ritz-Carlton reopened its spa in August last year after a $4 million renovation, and a ballroom renovation is slated for completion this fall.
Beach Cities and South Bay
Moving south, the three best-known beach cities after Marina del Rey blend into each other, but each has its own pier as an activity hub, not to mention personality: the upscale Manhattan Beach, known for the celebrities that inhabit its four square miles; the artsy Hermosa Beach, set on just 1.3 square miles of land; and the largest city of them all, bustling Redondo Beach, with its own marina.
“Getting around the beach cities is also a lot easier than one would imagine,” says LA Inc.’s Krouse.
For those staying in the airport area and wanting to retreat to the beach, he recommends considering the Ocean Express trolley (another best-kept L.A. secret). For $3 roundtrip, the trolley runs along Century Boulevard and stops at most LAX hotels en route to Manhattan Beach.
Three miles south of LAX, Manhattan Beach has two miles of beachfront, a population of 34,000 and plenty of trendy boutique shopping and entertainment. Sand for Waikiki Beach came from here in the 1920s.
Manhattan Beach’s largest meeting facility is the 383-room Manhattan Beach Marriott, which delivers 25,000 square feet of meeting space.
The 127-room boutique Belamar Hotel, which has space for groups of up to 100, unveiled a $2.2 million renovation earlier this year that added a new restaurant and five new meeting rooms, bringing total meeting space to 7,100 square feet.
Attractions include the Roundhouse Marine Studies Lab and Aquarium at the end of the Pier and Raleigh Studios, which has 14 sound stages and can accommodate events of up to 2,000.
The beach’s annual televised summer AVP Manhattan Beach Open, held since 1960, has long been touted as the “Wimbledon of Beach Volleyball.”
Wedged between Manhattan and Redondo, Hermosa Beach also has a pro beach volleyball tournament of its own, early summer’s AVP Hermosa Beach Open.
Pier Plaza serves up beach stores, restaurants and nightlife.
Group venue options include the 500-seat Hermosa Beach Playhouse, with performances ranging from musicals to Shakespearian plays, and the Comedy & Magic Club, with a 225-seat showroom.
Seven hotels, all within beach walking distance, include the 96-suite Beach House, which has more than 2,600 square feet of meeting space; Hotel Hermosa; Holiday Inn Express; and Quality Inn.
South of Hermosa Beach sits Redondo Beach, seven miles from LAX. With a population of more than 63,000, it is the oldest of the three cities, incorporated in 1892.
It claims that surfing was introduced to the U.S. mainland here by the “Father of Mainland Surfing,” George Freeth, who came to Redondo from Hawaii in 1907.
With more than 1,000 hotel rooms, its meetings-equipped hotels include the waterfront 161-room Portofino Hotel & Yacht Club, which has 8,000 square feet of meeting space and completed an $11 million renovation in spring 2007. Other options include Crowne Plaza Redondo Beach & Marina and Best Western Sunrise.
“Planners love all the activities within walking distance and the number of restaurant options,” says Deborah Shepard, director of sales and marketing at the Crowne Plaza. “There are at least five solid options for groups of over 100 to do a fun off-site dinner, and team building is becoming more and more popular. Harbor Drive is so easy to navigate with its light traffic and immediate access to all these venues and activities.”
Waterborne activities are plentiful, including sport fishing, diving and snorkeling, boat rentals, sailing and whale-watching excursions.
Just off the beach, Riviera Village provides a six-block radius of one-of-a-kind downtown shops and restaurants. Anchoring the city’s east end, the three-level South Bay Galleria offers a unique shopping option.
The city’s 1,450-seat Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center is home to the Civic Light Opera of South Bay Cities.
On maps, the name Torrance usually appears inland. But it has the mile-and-a-half-long Torrance Beach, from Redondo to the bluffs of the Palos Verdes Penninsula. Home to summer’s Daily Breeze International Surf Festival, it is mentioned like the better-known Redondo and Manhattan beaches in the Beach Boys’ 1963 hit Surfin’ USA.
“Planners may not be as familiar with Torrance as they are with other South Bay destinations, but we’re a viable option where planners can get better value for the dollar,” says Maribel Denner, director of sales and marketing at the Torrance Marriott South Bay.
The 487-room Marriott completed a $10 million renovation last November. Rooms were renovated and enhancements were made to the grand ballroom and meeting rooms, and with a new 5,000-square-foot ballroom, the property now has 21,500 square feet of meeting space.
Among Torrance’s 14 other hotels are the 366-room Hilton Torrance South Bay, with 15,000 square feet of meeting space, and the 329-room Holiday Inn Torrance, with 7,800 square feet of function space.
Denner says attendees can ride a bike to Redondo Beach two miles from the hotel and across the street from the hotel, bowl at the Lucky Strike or take in a movie at the 18-screen cinema. Guests can also take in professional soccer or a concert at the Home Depot Center or visit the South Bay Botanical Garden.
Additionally, adjacent to the Marriott is the 300-store Del Amo Fashion Center, one of the country’s largest shopping centers, which unveiled a two-level outdoor promenade in 2006 as part of a $300 million renovation and expansion.
The Trump National Golf Club is minutes away on the peninsula at Rancho Palos Verdes.
Scheduled to open next June at Rancho Palos Verdes is the oceanfront 582-room Terranea Resort, which will boast more than 63,000 square feet of indoor meeting and event space, a variety of restaurants and lounges, a 25,000-square-foot spa and fitness center, and a golf academy.
Port Cities
Long Beach, California’s fifth-largest city, is home to the Port of Long Beach and the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center, which has more than 400,000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space.
The city features attractions such as the Aquarium of the Pacific, with a banquet capacity for 1,800 people, and between the convention center and aquarium is the 369,000-square-foot Pike at Rainbow Harbor entertainment district.
Its historic liner Queen Mary will complete a $6 million renovation next year that encompasses its 307 guest rooms and 40,000 square feet of function space.
“We’re continually being discovered as a great meeting place,” says Steve Goodling, president and CEO of the Long Beach Area CVB. “There’s a lot to do in a short radius. It’s a phenomenal city, very walkable, much like a European city.”
Professional associations, he says, are a staple of convention business, and the city is gaining inroads into the medical field, with such groups as the 1,700-delegate American College of Foot & Ankle Surgeons, which met in town last spring.
Last year, the CVB redesigned its website and added a “micro” site component for groups.
“It’s been very successful. We’re finding that most groups don’t have their own site for a meeting, and we have 17 to 25 up and running at any one time. The only requirement is that they meet in Long Beach,” he says.
Properties under construction include a downtown 176-room Residence Inn, slated to open in mid-2009, and the 138-room Avia Long Beach Hotel at The Pike at Rainbow Harbor, with 1,350 square feet of meeting space, expected to open next spring.
In the planning stages are the 165-room Hotel Esterel at The Promenade, with 7,000 square feet of meeting space; the 125-room Hotel Sierra at The Pike at Rainbow Harbor; and a Hyatt Place for a site at Long Beach Boulevard and First Street.
Four blocks from the convention center and built in the 1920s, the 35-room Dolly Varden Hotel reopened as The Varden Aug. 1 following extensive renovations.
Early last year, the 374-room Renaissance Long Beach completed an $11 million renovation that included its 374 guest rooms and 16,000 square feet of meeting space, and the Long Beach Airport Marriott was completing a $4.2 million room renovation at press time.
Other major meetings hotels include a Hyatt Regency with 27,000 square feet of meeting space, a Westin with 22,000 square feet of function space, and a Hilton with 33,000 square feet of meeting space.
Located between Long Beach and the Palos Verdes Penninsula, San Pedro is home to the Port of Los Angeles, where visitors will find the Los Angeles Maritime Museum, the Cabrillo Marine Museum and the old town, a four-block area of shops, restaurants and galleries.
Following the reintroduction of the historic Red Car trolley line five years ago, which links downtown and the Cruise Center along a 1.5-mile track, the city has been beautifying the waterfront. A landscaped pedestrian waterfront will be further enhanced by year’s end with improved sidewalks, new lighting, new parking and a new “town square” adjacent to the maritime museum.
Two of its top meetings hotels underwent renovations last year: the 244-room Crowne Plaza Los Angeles Harbor, with 6,900 square feet of meeting space; and the Doubletree Hotel San Pedro, formerly the Marina Hotel, which has a 5,000-square-foot ballroom.
Catalina Island
Cars are limited in number and golf carts are available for rent at Catalina, with its main town of Avalon full of Mediterranean charm. The island is 22 miles off the California coast.
“Groups can be whisked away to a gorgeous, relaxing island setting in just about an hour—about the time it takes to go across town in almost any place in Southern California,” says Donna Harris, marketing manager at the Catalina Island Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Bureau.
The island is accessible via scheduled hour-long ferry rides departing from Marina del Rey, Long Beach and San Pedro, and shorter helicopter flights from the mainland.
“Everything is within walking distance,” Harris says, adding that activities range from tours of the famous Art Deco Casino Building and glass-bottom boat and semi-submersible tours, to golfing, horseback riding, kayaking, snorkeling and diving.
The island has approximately 775 hotel and bed-and-breakfast rooms and another 200 vacation rental cottages and condos.
Of the hotels, the 75-room Best Western Catalina Canyon Resort & Spa has the largest amount of meeting space, with 3,000 square feet. Hotel Metropole, Seaport Village Inn and Hotel St. Lauren handle smaller groups.
The casino’s ballroom and the Descanso Beach Club can each handle groups of up to 1,200, and the Catalina Island Country Club can accommodate groups of up to 100, while a number of restaurants also have event space.
For More Info
Catalina Island COC and Visitors Bureau 310.510.1520 www.visitcatalina.org
El Segundo COC 310.322.1220 www.elsegundochamber.org
Hermosa Beach COC and Visitors Bureau 310.376.0951 www.hbchamber.net
LA Inc., The Convention and Visitors Bureau CVB 213.624.7300 www.discoverlosangeles.com
Long Beach Area CVB 562.436.3645 www.visitlongbeach.com
Manhattan Beach COC 310.545.5313 www.mb-chamber.com
Marina del Rey CVB 310.305.9545 www.visitthemarina.com
Palos Verdes Peninsula COC 310.377.8111 www.palosverdeschamber.com
Redondo Beach COC and Visitors Bureau 310.376.6911 www.redondochamber.org
San Pedro COC 310.832.7272 www.sanpedrochamber.com
Torrance COC 310.540.5858 www.visittorrance.com
