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Rolling Stone LA Restaurant and Lounge Set to Open

Filed under: Dining

Rolling Stone, the magazine, has grown up along with its readers. How do you translate that political edginess that's the magazine's trademark into a Los Angeles restaurant and lounge? To do that, Rolling Stone turned to designer Gavin Brodin. The result, which opens to the public on Feb. 1, is time travel adventure set in vintage industrial with an urban street vibe.

The restaurant and lounge, located at Hollywood and Highland, debuted with a private VIP party after the American Music Awards in November. This is the first time the Rolling Stone name has been licensed for a U.S. restaurant. Designer Brodin describes it as "entering a world of privilege." He called it a place where "The travel lounges of the British ruling class meet the conceptualized Paris of the 1870s -- a place and time reminiscent of the rise of Bohemia, of Edouard Manet, Jean Paul Sartre and the famed art salon once housed under the sky-high glass and steel girdered domes of the Palais Royale."

Basically, it's a 10,500-square-foot two-story space that fuses classic and modern culture. We're hoping the food is good.

Patrons enter at the second level into a lobby with cobblestone-like limestone floors and an antique floor cart salvaged from an old citrus factory that serves as the reception desk. The upstairs dining room can accommodate up to 140 diners, with another 40 on the patio. Larger-than-life images of famous musicians are hammered into the concrete walls. And antique ceilings, curved caged domes of glass and iron hang from the ceilings and the room is lit by street lamps and custom-made crystal chandeliers right out of a Jack the Ripper London scene.

There is a dedicated bar and DJ booth. The room has 80 speakers and computerized lighting.

So is this the beginning of a Planet Hollywood-like chain?

Gallery: Rolling Stone Los Angeles

Tags: hollywood and highland, los angeles, Los Angeles restaurants, Rolling Stone, rolling stone magazine

Rolling Stone LA To Have Debut Event This Month

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

The new Rolling Stone Restaurant and Lounge in Los Angeles will make its debut on November 21 by hosting the VIP afterparty for the American Music Awards (AMAs). The event is a preview for the official launch event planned for early 2011. Rolling Stone/Los Angeles (RS/LA) marks the first-ever licensing of the Rolling Stone name for an American restaurant. The space was designed by Gavin Brodin (Crown Bar / Los Angeles, The Abbey / West Hollywood) and the 10,500-sq. ft. space has a "vintage chic" design. The restaurant is at the Hollywood & Highland complex and has a gleaming, two-story, half-cylinder of paned glass that rises from Highland Avenue, allowing natural light to flood through during daytime hours. Patrons enter from the mezzanine rotunda off Highland, into a lobby highlighted by pendant lights and cobblestone-like floors in chevroned limestone, and an antique floor cart salvaged from a defunct citrus factory that serves as a reception desk.

The upstairs dining room welcomes up to 140 guests, an additional 40 on its patio. It has walnut-hued hardwood floors, 1950s-style leather chairs and tufted red-leather banquettes. One area with five British-style lampposts is illuminated by a leaded-glass ceiling and another section lit by octagonal ceiling fixtures cradling amber LEDs. The main bar has shelves of leaded glass and reclaimed plumbing pipes and the wall design combines elegant sconces with candid rock photos.

Tags: hollywood highland, Los Angeles Lakers, Rolling Stone, rolling stone magazine, rolling stone restaurant

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