Originally Posted By TP2000 House of Blues is closing and it's moving to GardenWalk next year. Story is at the OC Register, but here's the short version. House of Blues at Downtown Disney, a tenant since the mall opened in 2001, is closing when its lease expires in early 2016. They have leased the space of the UltraLuxe Theaters in GardenWalk, which is closing in two weeks. They will remake the theater space into a larger venue than what they've had in Downtown Disney, going from 23,000 square feet to 40,000 square feet, and plan to open this winter. Disney has not announced what they will do with the House of Blues facility, or what tenant may be interested. Full story here... <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.ocregister.com/articles/anaheim-677066-house-blues.html">http://www.ocregister.com/arti...ues.html</a> That's a pretty specific building designed as a concert venue. I'm not sure they can repurpose the building easily without gutting it, or just bulldozing it and starting from scratch. Should be interesting to see who or what goes in there by 2017 or 2018. As for GardenWalk.... Yeesh.
Originally Posted By dagobert >>>Doesn't the WDCO own a stake in House of Blues?<<< I'm not sure about that, but I know it was founded by one of the Hard Rock Cafe co-founders.
Originally Posted By leemac <<Doesn't the WDCO own a stake in House of Blues?>> Live Nation Entertainment own HoB now and has done since '06. They have stabilised the brand portfolio to just 12 sites - they only own 2 and lease space for the other 10. This location will probably need to be razed and rebuilt. Repurposing that site will be very challenging due to its unique layout for concerts and F&B.
Originally Posted By leemac <<As for GardenWalk.... Yeesh.>> HoB was always a strange fit for DTD Anaheim - it has a big draw itself for concerts and therefore the tourist and casual traffic at DLR isn't their core audience. They were never happy about the parking arrangements at DTD and the lack of convenience. They would always have been better off at places like The Block at Orange and GardenWalk where parking is closer and cheaper and they can dominate the location.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Wow, this seems like pretty big news! I only went to HOB once (usually deterred by concert-related hassles that made it tough to just stop in for a meal or drink), but it seemed to do steady business, even during times when the rest of DTD was pretty quiet. I wish them the beat of luck at GardenWalk, but everything over there seems to struggle. Hopefully doubling their footprint won't kill them I'm also curious what will replace HOB. The set up for their loading dock left us with the awkward empty spot on the north side of the plaza between HOB and Tortilla Joe's. If the replacement is no longer a concert venue that would need to accommodate tractor trailers, it seems like it would be pretty easy to reconfigure that area into another large restaurant or a handful of shops
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt <<Doesn't the WDCO own a stake in House of Blues?>> "Live Nation Entertainment own HoB now and has done since '06." And before '06?
Originally Posted By leemac ^^ Isaac Tigrett was the key founder - he started Hard Rock with Peter Morton in '71. HoB was primarily funded by Harvard University's endowment fund initially - the first location was in Cambridge, MA. They subsequently went to other investors to expand the brand - Disney had a stake but it was driven by a tech entrepreneur called Andrew Filipowski. He sold a business to CA for several billion. When Seagram was selling its entertainment assets HoB picked up the Universal Concerts arm. I think that was '99 or so. It bulked up HoB as a promoter of concerts and helped them gain traction in that competitive market. It also made them attractive to Live Nation who bought them in '06. Live Nation used to be part of Clear Channel Comms.
Originally Posted By leemac <<I only went to HOB once (usually deterred by concert-related hassles that made it tough to just stop in for a meal or drink), but it seemed to do steady business, even during times when the rest of DTD was pretty quiet. I wish them the beat of luck at GardenWalk, but everything over there seems to struggle. Hopefully doubling their footprint won't kill them>> I'm no expert on OC entertainment venues but there seems to be very little in the area considering the catchment area. Schlepping up into Hollywood or Downtown seems to be the usual option. HoB is a draw in itself - their artists drive the traffic. It isn't the casual guest or even that reliant on footfall. I'm sure they will do well - no-one has got the movie theater to work there. I've always enjoyed the gospel brunch on Sundays - its a lot of fun and incredibly sociable. I'd recommend it to anyone - people particularly love the make your own Bloody Mary station!
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "They subsequently went to other investors to expand the brand - Disney had a stake..." OK, that's what I thought.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "I'd recommend it to anyone - people particularly love the make your own Bloody Mary station!" Praise the Lord!
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA Had a few meals there - ordered a pulled pork sandwich one time, and as I was just about to take my first bite, caught a whiff of the meat - smelled like dog poop. Sent it back of course, but even today, we refer to it as a 'pulled poop' sandwich.
Originally Posted By TP2000 I think GardenWalk will have its own problems with parking, especially after big concerts let out. There's lots of parking at GardenWalk, but it's all narrow ramps that lead to badly designed toll booths that back up very, very quickly and make the parking ramps even worse. GardenWalk also charges much more for parking than Downtown Disney does. Your first 3 hours are free at Downtown Disney, with two additional free hours if you get validated at House of Blues or any other DTD restaurant. That's 5 hours of free parking at DTD for any House of Blues customer. GardenWalk starts charging you parking rates after the first hour, but who knows how they will handle validation once House of Blues moves in.
Originally Posted By darcy-becker I've walked through Garden Walk twice and it seemed pretty dead both times. Maybe House of Blues will liven it up.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>I'm no expert on OC entertainment venues but there seems to be very little in the area considering the catchment area.<< I'm also no expert, but it seems interesting that they're moving closer to The Grove of Anaheim, which is in the baseball stadium parking lot. I've never been to an event/concert there, but logistically it seems like a better setup for those sorts of things, since there is ample parking and easy freeway access <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.citynationalgroveofanaheim.com/">http://www.citynationalgroveof...eim.com/</a>
Originally Posted By skinnerbox <<HoB was primarily funded by Harvard University's endowment fund initially - the first location was in Cambridge, MA>> Totally miss that place! Actual house off Cambridge Square rebuilt into restaurant with small performing area at the end of the old attic space. It was the smallest in the HOB chain, but that's what made it so special. The larger HOB establishments at WDW and Vegas lack the charm of the original, to the point of almost being an entirely different operation.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox <<Actual house off Cambridge Square...>> Oops. I meant Harvard Square.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder FWIW, HoB has closed it's location on the Sunset Strip too. They plan on re-opening at another location, but haven't decided where just yet. Also, to clarify, Isaac Tigrett opened the first location in 1992 in Cambridge partnered with Dan Ackroyd. The group Aerosmith, musician Paul Shaffer, the late River Phoenix, James Belushi along with Harvard were also involved. Since Live Nation took over in '06, they've never been happy with the performance of either L.A. area location. According to some musicians I know who played quite often at the Sunset Strip location, there's no guarantee that place finds a new home. Acts that played there would also play Anaheim, and often one venue would take business away from the other for certain acts. For example, an act would sell poorly for Anaheim but sell out Sunset or vice versa. Their objective was to sell out both place every time. They're going to evaluate if it makes sense to have two HoBs so close together.
