The new and improved Hollywood Palladium opened last week for a concert, but getting everything done in time was an eleventh-hour feat, said architect Christopher Coe. After all, the venue’s roof was off just a few weeks ago.
“This is not an ordinary eight-hour day,” said Coe, who oversaw part of the venue’s dramatic renovation.
Leading up to the Oct. 15 opening, workers painted, installed carpet, assembled concession stands and put up speakers. To get everything done, workers arrived at 2 a.m. and didn’t check out until midnight for a long stretch before the opening.
The decorated architect, principal of Coe Architecture International, celebrated by taking in the opening-night musical act, rapper Jay-Z.
“I am a Jay-Z fan,” he said. “It was quite a show. It was spectacular.”
Denim Donations
Jason Dussault may spend his days creating heavy metal-influenced apparel for the likes of Criss Angel and Gene Simmons, but the Melrose Avenue designer and retailer also devotes a big part of his heart to kids; hockey; and his native British Columbia, where he still keeps a home.
The founder of Dussault Apparel Inc. has collaborated with Bloodline Design’s Malcolm Norman in Vancouver to design two pairs of his signature-processed denim adorned with Norman’s gold wallet chains with diamond- and ruby-studded skulls, crosses and daggers. That bumps the value of the $375 jeans to $250,000 each. Fifty percent of profits from their sale will benefit Vancouver’s Canuck Place Children’s Hospice, which was North America’s first free-standing children’s hospice when it opened in 1995. It’s a particular passion of Dussault, the father of three along with his beloved NHL Vancouver Canucks.
Red Alert
Red always gets noticed. So when Palisades Development Group Chief Executive Avi Brosh was looking for a distinctive color for his Palihouse Vine boutique extended-stay hotel, which is nearing completion in the heart of Hollywood, he settled on red.
“I wanted it to feel new and vibrant and interesting, something that would take on an iconic sensibility yet also have street credibility,” Brosh said. “Not a lot of buildings are painted red.”
While Brosh wants the 57-room hotel with restaurant and lobby bar to stand out, it won’t be a hot fire-engine red; rather, it will be a softer brick red.
Still, Brosh hopes it will attract trendy entertainment types who will, yes, “go out and paint the town red.”
Since the hotel will charge rates starting at about $8,000 a month, those trendy types may be forgiven if they feel the urge to economize.
Staff reporters Richard Clough, Deborah Crowe and Howard Fine contributed to this column. Page 3 is compiled by Charles Crumpley. He can be reached at [email protected].
