New digs for L.A. clubs
Landmark live music venues to new spaces
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Largo, which will shutter its 120-seat Fairfax Avenue location after a final comedy show Monday, will open June 2 at the Coronet Theater space on La Cienega. Aimee Mann, who will release an album June 3, will be the first performer.
The Conga Room, which presented Latin artists for 8½ years in a mid-Wilshire location before closing in May 2006, has Nov. 14 circled for its opening in the L.A. Live complex across the courtyard from the Nokia Theater. Jimmy Smits, Jennifer Lopez, Paul Rodriguez and Sheila E. are still among the co-owners of the venue, which will boast a 1,000-capacity club and a 100-seat restaurant in addition to a VIP lounge.
Both venues boast increased capacity, more flexibility in booking operations and more visible locations. The Conga Room intends to add residency series, something of a Largo specialty, as well as theme nights. Largo will continue with many of the same people who have performed there over the years.
"You get tired of turning people away," Largo owner Mark Flanagan told Daily Variety.
Since Flanagan took over as sole owner in 1996, Largo has been known as a haven for singer-songwriters, such as Fiona Apple, Grant Lee Phillips and Nellie McKay, as well as comedians.
The Coronet has been a legit theater since it was built in the mid-1940s and once housed the West Coast offices of Rodgers & Hammerstein. The bar space next door, the former Coronet Pub, is slated for renovation and reopening as well.
New venue boasts two performances spaces -- a 280-seat theater and a smaller room that can accommodate up to 70 -- as well as a lobby space and a courtyard. Unlike the current venue, it will not serve food and will only have a beer and wine license for the smaller room.
"Different is good," said Jon Brion, the composer-performer whose Friday-night residency, which has lasted 12 years, will continue in the new home dubbed Largo at the Coronet. "Here it is obvious that (the evening) is about the performance. It will be more focused."
Coincidentally, as the doors on the original Largo are closing, a documentary on the venue will be starting to make the festival rounds. "Largo" has been accepted at the Los Angeles Film Festival -- screening June 22 -- and the Times BFI London Film Festival.
Largo will continue its comedy nights with regular acts such as Sarah Silverman, Patton Oswalt and Paul F. Tompkins. The smaller space will be used for lesser-known acts and those trying out new material. First month of bookings includes the aforementioned comedians and Largo regulars Colin Hay, Watkins Family Hour, Bill Frisell and Sam Phillips.
The Conga Room, which opened in late 1997 and quickly became a hub for touring Spanish- and Portuguese- language musicians, expects to present four or five national touring acts per month.
Oscar Hernandez of the Spanish Harlem Orchestra has been tapped as music director of the Conga Room's all-star salsa band, which will mostly perform Thursdays and Saturdays. Tuesdays are targeted for Rock en Espanol and electronica events, part of owner and general manager Brad Gluckstein's plan to add theme nights to the club's programming.
"We're looking to do residencies outside the tropical genre, which could be pop, could be world beat," Gluckstein said, noting that the residencies could last up to three months.
