The city of Los Angeles has been known by many different names at many different times. LA was known as “El Pueblo de la Reina de los Angeles” during its initial founding in 1781 by 44 diverse settlers who came from northern Mexico of Indigenous, African and European heritage. The moniker “City of Angels” is derived from this initial Spanish name, which literally translated to “The Town of the Queen of the Angels.” The “City of Angels” has subconsciously come to identify LA’s dreamy, empowering and almost exhilarating essence. It’s the city where dreams come true; where clothing, dining and innovative businesses emerge and flourish; where regular boys and girls get scouted on the sidewalk and reach international glory; and where multiple times a year, the music and film industry comes together to celebrate glamour and award excellence. Los Angeles has transformed from a mere city into a living, breathing idea and an ideology of individualism which asserts that each person has the right to be seen, hence the phenomena of “the scene,” pun intended.
Like any living thing, Los Angeles also undergoes cyclical transformations. It grows from a stem into a flower and when it dies, it decomposes into the soil. From the nutrients seeping into the soil, it sprouts into leaves and fruits and flowers — a rebirth where beauty once more emerges. This cycle is especially indicative of “the scene,” which refers to an active and fashionable social environment. In LA culture today, this translates to socially vibrant and cool spots to see people and be seen.
The scene of the 21st century has been witness to two distinct phases: the early 2000s and the 2020s. The early 2000s experienced a surge in the social vibrancy of the scene — and it was a party scene. Television shows such as “Melrose Place,” “Beverly Hills, 90210,” “Entourage” and MTV were the forerunners of characterizing and internationalizing the LA lifestyle. Celebrities emerged from the champagne-soaked throngs of the club, like Paris Hilton, who rose to international fame and infamy due to her lifestyle as an heiress, an incredible spender and a party girl. LA was known for its popular clubs such as Hyde, The Viper Room, Keys Club and 1 OAK which all lined the booming Sunset Strip, bombarded by paparazzi at the door, celebrities packed on the inside and not a single cellphone in sight. Hollywood was pulsing with life, and the city luxuriated in culture and splendor. Celebrities dropped thousands a night on bottle service, neon lights flashed by, sports cars sped down Sunset Strip and the night never ended — it was just after-party on after-party in the hills.
The economic crash of 2008 devastated this party and spending culture, but remnants of the glorious night scene remained and carried on like leaves floating in a breeze during the 2010s up until 2016, which saw a renaissance of its own. Paris Hilton was out and YouTubers were in. Creators like Emma Chamberlain, Jake Paul, RiceGum and David Dobrik characterized a reformed city through continuous “vlogging” and a day culture began to emerge: Urth Caffé and the Melrose Trading Post, shopping at the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica and making videos in front of the Paul Smith Pink Wall. The affirmative death of both these cultures would come in the form of a pandemic — the 2020 lockdown. This death was not the end, however, because just as a phoenix rises from the ashes of destruction, a resurrected scene has surfaced today: a combination of evening luxury and a sun-kissed coffee culture.
The rebirth of the LA scene has come in the form of cafe culture. Artisan coffee shops that are staunch social scenes and have ushered in the new era of daytime social hubs including Maru Coffee (with multiple locations, notably in Beverly Hills) and Community Goods (whose two West Hollywood locations are both insanely popular), as well as the grocery store Erewhon (with many different locations just as bustling as the next). The shift from wild nights out and showy wealth to pulling up to Community Goods in an Alo yoga set from a pilates workout class with a laptop is indicative of a shift in values, mainly a growing concern with beauty, health and wellness. It’s gauche to show off your wealth by literally boasting your money; nowadays, showing off productivity is showing off wealth by boasting dedication to bodily health, the freedom offered by a flexibly-structured work day and the ability to sit at a cafe on a weekday and continuously buy overpriced lattes. A running joke that has arisen within the surfacing culture is “Does anybody go to work in LA these days?”
The dwindling of the club scene has found refuge in the regeneration of an evening scene that champions lounges, hotel bars and live-music restaurants — nights out in an altered state. The top contending “in” evening locations include the Edition Lobby (A hotel on Doheny), Cipriani and its Jazz Café (a high-dining euro spot) and the refurbished club Keys (on Sunset across from the Edition). On the subject of the night scene today, I interviewed the well-known LA promoter Robert Sheehan, a UCLA graduate better known culturally as “Showtime Rob,” to gain authentic information on the cultural transformation.
When comparing the two phases of LA, Sheehan explained how “that [2000s] scene is for sure over. Celebrities used to go out just to hang out at the club. Paris Hilton, the Kardashians, Britney Spears, they would go out to have fun, but that doesn’t happen anymore. I think phones ruined everything — they don’t want to get filmed doing anything crazy. To get a celebrity at the club now they would need to be paid a lot of money,” which signaled the gradual loss of esteem for clubbing.
Although Sheehan agrees that “Covid definitely killed it [the party scene],” he insightfully noted that “it’s definitely coming back in a different way since Covid. The other night, it took me about 25 minutes on the Sunset Strip to get from Bar Lis to Keys just because of how packed the streets were, people getting into Ubers from restaurants and going to clubs. Last weekend I had a client spend 10k a night, and two weekends before, 20k. People are spending again.”
I mentioned my theory of the day culture’s domination of night scenes, but Sheehan alluded to the growing popularity of both. “Brunch is super in right now, getting brunch at cafes like you said. But there is a clubbing scene coming back. Thursday nights are quiet, but I’d say Fridays and Saturdays are good nights,” he said. Sheehan added, “The club is known to be good on a specific night — you know, Thursdays at Poppy or Saturdays at Bar Lis — and people know that the club is going to be good on that specific night and they do want to go out.”
Lastly, to combat growing cynicism on the future of the night scene and what is perceived as the death of previously-booming LA spots, Sheehan tactfully stated that “clubs have a short life span. Bootsy Bellows in my opinion was the best club in LA and they lasted 11 years, which was pretty long. Clubs will be very popular and then suddenly not it anymore. They don’t last that long. It doesn’t mean people are going out less.”
Cities, much like organisms, are capable of change. They adapt for survival, based on the needs, the likes and the dislikes of their residents. For all that they change, however, cities also retain their essence, much like how LA remains a place possible for individualism and personal empowerment, be it material or spiritual — even despite its cultural transformation. Socially, some scenes in LA do remain pertinent, like the hotel Chateau Marmont, which continues to be frequented by celebrities and forever a desirable spot to see and be seen. The Urth Caffe chain continues to be popular after its 2016 boom with prices that thankfully have not changed either. Emphasizing that party culture is not dead, Sheehan said that just because clubs have a notoriously short lifespan doesn’t mean people are going out less. “The scene” has survived through adaptation, and its renaissance is cafe culture: a fresh and dynamic social and cultural hub that has in fact done much good for the city. Cafe culture has ushered in a new emphasis on publicly accessible third spaces and a public desire for walkability in the urban environment. Cafe culture has also provided a social outlet that isn’t dependent on alcoholic beverages or the use of drugs. A culture that emphasizes health, wellness and productivity while fostering social interaction between members of the community is a culture that takes a step towards both personal and external justice.
