Description
Downtown L.A.'s sumptuous Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, home to the Los Angeles Opera, has aged more beautifully than most civic buildings from the 1960s. Its 3,197 seats — many of them good ones — are set in four tiers, and concert-goers reach the upper sections by gliding up enormous curving stairways that seem borrowed from a Golden Era movie. The former site of the Academy Awards, the Dorothy Chandler features a towering lobby with massive, pendant-style crystal chandeliers and upper-story picture windows that offer fine views of downtown. The interior is drenched in gold tones that some say make the dressed-up crowds look even more refined. A number of beautiful, spacious hallways and carpeted interior plazas are used as gathering spots by patrons who mill around with drinks during intermissions or after a performance — room-like spaces that double as pricey wedding venues. The Dorothy Chandler's grand entryway opens to a popular above-street-level outdoor plaza with a splashing fountain where, before the show, patrons eat take-out salads and cheese plates from the plaza's Spotlight Cafe. Others try for a table at the more formal Pinot Grill or, downstairs, Kendall's Brasserie and Bar.
