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From a hotel opening in Beverly Hills to the unveiling of a new museum exhibit near downtown Los Angeles, we’ve rounded up some of the latest news and events taking place in the City of Angels.
Viceroy L’Ermitage Beverly Hills Now Open
After completing a ten month renovation, Viceroy Hotel Group has officially opened Viceroy L’Ermitage Beverly Hills, formerly L’Ermitage Beverly Hills.
Interior design team Smith/Firestone Associates (SFA Design) was responsible for overseeing the renovation of the property, which unveiled 116 redesigned suites and arrival space, updated meeting areas, and the addition of a new contemporary French bistro, Avec Nous.
The new arrival space is now connected to a neighboring lounge, and has a front desk that doubles as an art piece with textured white gold leaf and a cast glass top. Bronze glass architectural paneling line the wall while the floors are laid with white marble.
Redesigned accommodations have a color palette of greys and purples, and each suite has Venetian cut-glass mirrors, white onyx marble details and bespoke artwork. Additionally, dressing rooms have large closets, an oversized 3-way mirror, spacious seating and a makeup mirror with tailored indoor, outdoor and evening lighting. Amenities include custom mini-bars stocked with offerings from Sugarfina, Compartes, Herban Essentials and Dean & Deluca.
Residential suites at Viceroy L’Ermitage Beverly Hills include the Icon, Royal and Presidential, with space ranging from 1,200 – 4,400 square-feet. Both Icon and Royal suites are complete with a kitchenette, powder room, fireplaces, modern entertaining and dining spaces and multiple walkout balconies, while the Presidential suite is equipped with five French door balconies affording views of the city. There is also a living room with crystal lighting fixtures, full kitchen and dining room, screening room with chaise lounges, study/library with fireplace and chess table, and a private spa treatment room.
The hotel's new contemporary French bistro, Avec Nous, is led by executive chef Olivier Quignon’s. Offerings include modern French and Mediterranean dishes, as well as a world-class wine program, tableside programming and handcrafted classic cocktails.
In addition to the hotel’s debut, Viceroy L’Ermitage Beverly Hills is also slated to unveil its “in-residence” series, which will include programming from "celebrated tastemakers".
Getty Center Recreates China's Cave Temples of Dunhuang
As recently reported by John Rogers of the Associated Press, The Getty Center museum in Los Angeles has just debuted a new exhibition called "Cave Temples of Dunhuang: Buddhist Art on the Silk Road."
For a thousand years, China's Cave Temples of Dunhuang served as a traveler's rest stop, marketplace and religious shrine on the Silk Road. Consisting of more than 450 caves, the site was among the first Chinese locations to be recognized by the United Nations' World Heritage Center in the 1980s.
The Getty Center’s new exhibition includes a display of more than 40 preserved and priceless artifacts taken from one of the caves. In another gallery, visitors can take a 3-D virtual reality tour of an actual cave in China, complete with life-size sculptures of the Buddha and other displays.
Additionally, three full-scale, hand-painted replica caves have been erected on The Getty Center museum's adjacent hilltop campus overlooking LA. Two of these were built from the ground up for the exhibition by artists who came to Los Angeles from China's Dunhuang Academy, while the third cave was moved intact from the academy's own museum.
Also on display is a scroll of Buddhism's "Diamond Sutra," commissioned and dated in 868 by a man named Wang Jie as a gift to his parents. The document was discovered in one of the caves in 1907, and is widely believed to be the world's oldest printed book. There is also the "Miraculous Image of Liangzhou," a 1,300-year-old silk tapestry on display, as well as a 9th century scroll called "The Magic Competition Between Sariputra and Raudraska."
"Cave Temples of Dunhuang: Buddhist Art on the Silk Road" will be on display until September 4.
New in L.A for Film Buffs and Foodies
Mark C.O'Flaherty of The Daily Telegraph recently wrote about some of the most iconic theaters and new events located around Los Angeles, and offered some suggestions for both cinema enthusiasts and first-time visitors who may be traveling to the city soon.
O'Flaherty writes that at the start of the 1930s, Broadway (a major thoroughfare in central Los Angeles) had the highest concentration of cinemas in the world, but many eventually faded with time. However, theaters like the Orpheum and The Theatre at Ace Hotel (formerly the 1927 United Artists Theatre) have been “renovated to incredible new heights of glamour.” Some are only open for special events, while others have been repurposed.
Each year, LA Conservancy hosts the “Last Remaining Seats” festival, screening classic movies in historic multiple Downtown venues including such as the Million Dollar Theater and Los Angeles Theater. This year marks the event’s 30th anniversary, set to launch on June 4 with a showing of the 80s movies Top Gun and closing on June 25 with a screening of the 1923 Harold Lloyd silent film Safety Last! at the Orpheum, including live musical accompaniment. Other movies this season will include To Kill a Mockingbird, Some Like it Hot, Singin’ in the Rain and Double Indemnity.
Tickets for screenings of Last Remaining Seats cost $22. Visit laconservancy.org/last-remaining-seats
O’Flaherty also suggests visitors to L.A. make a stop at the recently opened $140 million contemporary art museum, The Broad. The building “looks like a computer-generated white honeycomb but houses a pedestrian collection of bold face investment pop art”, he writes.
Broadway landmark Clifton’s Cafeteria reopened last autumn, and offers 47,000 square feet of dining and multi-use space. “Now cocktails, stuffed lions, a secret grotto, a 40ft-tall fake redwood tree, a hidden tiki bar, and the oldest consistently lit piece of neon in the world,” are all on offer here, according to O’Flaherty. He notes that the venue is ideal for drinks and people-watching.
Another notable hot spot foodies will enjoy is Grand Central Market. Although the market was established in 1917, the site was radically overhauled in the 1980s with a maze of food courts and other vendors that are constantly changing, so even return visitors are likely to see something new. Popular spots include Horse Thief BBQ and Knead & Co Pasta.