L A Live Entertainment District

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.

AEG, the company that owns and operates the budding entertainment hub L.A. Live, plans to announce today that it has secured Panasonic System Solutions Co. as a founding sponsor for the venue, despite the difficulties of attracting advertisers in the current economy. Panasonic will be one of eight sponsors committing to multimillion-dollar contracts over several years. Others include Coca-Cola Co., American Express Co. and Wachovia Corp. Details of the Panasonic deal were not disclosed. L.A.

Los Angeles City Atty. Carmen Trutanich allegedly threatened to prosecute city building officials last week if they issued permits for six wall signs at the L.A. Live entertainment complex downtown, and a city councilwoman said he threatened her with jail time if she intervened. The actions generated more heat in L.A.'s contentious fight over billboards and intensified a feud between Trutanich and one of downtown's most politically connected corporations, Anschutz Entertainment Group.

The Los Angeles City Council on Friday issued a stinging rebuke of City Atty. Carmen Trutanich, voting unanimously to reject his legal advice and back six controversial sign permits at the L.A. Live entertainment district downtown. Trutanich two weeks ago warned building officials, Councilwoman Jan Perry and representatives of L.A. Live's owner, Anschutz Entertainment Group, that they could face prosecution if sign permits for the company's new movie theater were issued, according to Perry and AEG. Trutanich said the large wall signs violated the city's new ban on outdoor ads. During a two-hour council hearing, five members scolded the city attorney for making the threats, although he did not attend the meeting.

The humble downtown Los Angeles Holiday Inn will undergo a $10-million renovation and a name change designed to capitalize on its position near Staples Center and the L.A. Live entertainment complex. When the work is completed this spring, the 195-room hotel will be renamed the Luxe City Center Hotel, part of an upscale, Los Angeles-based hotel chain, Luxe Hotel officials said Tuesday. The hotel will remain open during the renovation work. With a new name and face lift, the four-star Luxe City Center Hotel is expected to fit better among the glitzy new restaurants, clubs, museums and movie theaters that now border Staples Center and the Los Angeles Convention Center, said Jane Coloccia, a spokeswoman for Luxe Hotels.