Boulevard 3

It played host to the first ever Emmy Awards and its swimming pool was the backdrop for Bryan Adams’ music video ‘Cuts Like a Knife’. Newer, trendier venues have outshone the Athletic Club over the last decade but Skybar owner, Peter Familiari, has reinvented the building as Boulevard 3, an exclusive night time destination for LA’s glamorous party crowd.

Coined a ‘counter-club’, it fuses the intimacy of a party at a private home with the luxury of a four star estate and the spirit of play. It is designed to make guests feel at home and is comprised of an outdoor garden complete with luxury cabanas, a fire pit, reflective pool and full service bar; an intimate library bar; the main ballroom and dance floor and an outdoor courtyard; and luxury balcony suites that offer patrons their own seating, plasma screen TV, X-Box Game System, privately stocked mini bar, and a bird’s eye-view of the dance floor.

Named one of the 25 hottest venues in the world by Conde Nast Traveler , one of the sexiest places to be by Cosmopolitan Magazine and one of the world’s most star studded venues by Forbes.com, Boulevard 3 is frequented by Hollywood A-List actors, musicians, entertainers and professional athletes, including the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, George Clooney, Mary J Blige, Pharrell Williams and Justin Timberlake.

Lighting installation company Lightswitch worked with Boulevard 3 and its interior designers to develop a state of the art, elegant lighting design. With extensive use of programmable LED fixtures, and absolutely no strobing, spinning, nightclub-style lighting whatsoever, the design supports Familiari’s concept of a ‘counter-club’ by enhancing the venue’s dramatic environment rather than competing with it. Special event clients have a flexible palette to tailor the look of all the spaces to their needs, while the nightly DJs can easily manipulate the colours and looks to their liking.

Lightswitch’s Chris Medvitz, who was responsible for the lighting design, said it was important to give Boulevard 3 a different look and atmosphere from the area’s other venues.

“The intention of the design is to bring a cutting edge look with the latest technology while also maintaining the classical design of the space,” he said. “We specifically didn’t want any of the usual club lighting (strobes, moving lights, etc) as we felt it would distract from the environment. Using Color Kinetics fixtures allowed a great deal of customization with colour and emotion throughout the venue, while keeping the majority of the lighting fixtures hidden from view.” Medvitz said the club’s unique design has been well received: “We continually hear compliments on how unusual and refreshing the whole venue is in the landscape of LA nightlife. We are proud to have played a part in this result.“

Familiari wanted the smooth, highly polished look for the venue to be entirely unblemished and early on in the project he anticipated the need for a discreet sound system. Dudley McLaughlin of Audio Geer wrote the spec for the sound system and Bill Sage of Delicate Electronics provided touch ups and fine-tuning for the installation. McLaughlin opted for Tannoy speakers and Lab.gruppen amps.

“Peter Familiari was already familiar with Tannoy, as it is in use at Skybar, Mondrian Hotel in Hollywood,” explained McLaughlin. “He liked the sound, and I decided we should stick with it. Tannoy speakers and Lab.gruppen amps have the ability to provide clean, pristine sound at high volumes with minimal ear fatigue and great intelligibility.”

Another key factor in McLaughlin’s choice was reliability. “Lab.gruppen has the Nomad link, allowing remote access and monitoring, which Delicate provides in the unlikely event of a failure. Peter also doesn’t like ‘main stream’, so Lab.gruppen fit the bill perfectly.%u202F%u202FA unique venue should have equally unique and quality equipment.”%u202F

Sage said time was of the essence during the first phase of the project. “When we went into the building for the first time it had been gutted, stripped right back to the studs,” he said. “We knew we had to get to work right away before they stated plastering.”

Sage drafted in his lead designer, Curtis Kelly, to add the finishing touches to the basic design which he had drawn up with McLaughlin. “He modelled the building with ease and figured the rest out, it was a true collaboration,” commented Sage
“Curtis and I come from a concert and high end corporate events background and working in the LA market you quickly have to adapt to the fact that you%u202Fcan’t put big black speakers%u202Fanywhere you want. So we always try to blend them in as much as possible. Our biggest compliment is when a client says: ‘this sounds great where are the speakers?’”

Sage, McLaughlin and Kelly have done a particularly good job of hiding the speakers around Boulevard 3’s dance floor, which is in the space once occupied by the Athletic Club’s swimming pool (it was filled in and covered during the renovation process).

The space is surrounded by pillars, and hanging Tannoy V300s, discretely disguised by potted plants, provide the audio for this area. The hard cement surfaces were something of a challenge for the installation team, but they triumphed in the end, creating a system capable of producing clear, quality sound.

There are a number of private alcoves on the club’s second level and Tannoy CMS501BDCM ceiling speakers provide sound for these retreats from the dance floor. The club also has an open-air zone with seating hubs where patrons can relax. Music from inside is pumped out to this area via six two-way Tannoy 16AWT-60 speakers, aesthetically transformed by the cover of shrubs and bushes.  
At the heart of the club’s sound system is the BSS Blue 80 Processor and BSS Blue 32 Extender. “We have eight different inputs and 24 outputs, said Sage. “We have inputs in the DJ booth and in the Library. The areas can be matrixed to have different sources to different zones, and all of the zones are stereo.”

It took two days to delay and tune the system. The BSS Blue 10 controller%u202Fis the main controller and is mounted by the DJ booth. All of the amplifiers and processors are located in the basement.

“The Lab.gruppen contractor amplifiers have been rock solid and the Tannoy’s sound - well they are Tannoys, so they sound great,” said Sage.
“Over all we have developed a great working relationship with the night club and continue to support them to this day.”

McLaughlin is equally pleased with the installation. “The venue is amazing,” he enthused.

“The audio is fantastic and world class, the presentation of the room and club is incredible. It hosts a lot of A-List celebrity events and parties, and is seen frequently on television shows as a location shoot spot. I’m very proud of this install, and prouder of the way it turned out.”Nullaoreet lor ad tat, consent atue