The W Hollywood Hotel and Residences will get a lot of attention when it opens this week, but one of its draws will still be a month out.
On the roof of the 12-story, $360 million building, workers are finishing up a swank Las Vegas-style nightclub: Drai’s Hollywood, a $12 million establishment that represents the homecoming of Victor Drai, who made his name as a restaurateur in Los Angeles before becoming a force in the Las Vegas nightlife scene.
“Los Angeles is a platform to the world, a good place to show what you can do,” said Victor Drai, whose Drai’s Management Group will own and operate the 20,000-square-foot nightspot.
Drai, 62, a former movie producer whose credits include “Woman in Red” and “Weekend at Bernie’s,” came to the United States from Paris in the 1970s. He opened a successful French restaurant on La Cienega Boulevard bearing his name in 1993.
The establishment thrived for several years; meanwhile, Drai got more interested in Las Vegas, where he now operates three clubs on the strip: Drai’s After Hours, Tryst and the year-old XS in Steve Wynn’s Encore resort. He said the Vegas establishments had combined revenue of about $110 million in 2009.
At Drai’s Hollywood, he expects revenue of at least $20 million the first year. The nightclub will offer rooftop cabanas, go-go dancers, a swimming pool under the stars and a panoramic view ranging from the Hollywood sign to downtown Los Angeles.
He said contemporary hotels today need nightclubs in order to draw a certain clientele.
“People don’t go to a hotel just to go to a hotel anymore; they need something more,” he said.
Drai enters an already crowded field, however. Hollywood’s recent boom has led to the opening of a slew of nightclubs, such as Les Deux, Green Door and Bar Delux as well as Sam Nazarian’s upcoming venture, Halo, on Cahuenga Boulevard.
Nevertheless, Bruce Baltin in the downtown L.A. office of PKF Consulting Corp., which specializes in hotels, said the new venture will likely do well.
“I think there’s a place for Drai’s,” he said.
