Economy could make it hard for L.A. Live to be the life of the downtown party

When L.A. Live, the $2.5-billion entertainment district across from Staples Center, first broke ground in September 2005, downtown Los Angeles was riding high, and the sky seemed the limit.

Block by block, decades of grime were being replaced by trendy eateries, loft dwellers and their dogs. Thirty-two skyscrapers were in the planning phases. And L.A. Live, with clubs, restaurants, convention-center hotels and a 30,000-square-foot Grammy museum, was being called Times Square West.

Three years later, as L.A. Live celebrates its opening beginning Wednesday, the mood in downtown is decidedly different. The building boom has slowed, and some landmark projects, including Frank Gehry's Grand Avenue and the 77-story Park Fifth tower, have been delayed.

In many ways, the economic downturn is putting more pressure on L.A. Live to succeed, with many hoping the entertainment complex will be the draw downtown boosters have often said the city center needs.

"We always felt the pressure that we were important to the event business, to the tourism business," said Timothy Leiweke, president and chief executive of the Anschutz Entertainment Group, which owns both L.A. Live and the Staples Center. "But add to that the stress of the economy -- it puts an even bigger burden on us. There are more expectations on us. We are the lone one standing in terms of getting this entertainment district built, while others have had to be put on the back burner or delayed."

These days, there is a slightly Dickensian feel amid the flashing screens and curved lines of L.A. Live.

On the one hand, L.A. Live is a VIP's nirvana, with creature comforts built into most of the complex's venues. There's the small theater inside the 30,000-square-foot Grammy Museum where a publicist promises that Justin Timberlake might give an intimate concert for a few close friends after doing an arena show at Staples Center or Nokia Theatre across the way. The luxe VIP space inside the Conga Room, where owners Jimmy Smits and Jennifer Lopez might hold private parties, on display in a fishbowl-like space with a glass wall separating them from the rest of the club. And, it is suggested, Christina Aguilera or Kanye West might bring a few friends after a concert to the exclusive area inside the cavernous Lucky Strikes bowling alley and bar, with two separate lanes and bar marked by white leather couches .