On Saturday night in Hollywood, up-and-coming electronic musician Mindchatter performed to 1,200 people at a sold-out Fonda Theater. He finished a little after 11 p.m. and, at midnight, he was back on stage at the Spotlight, a few blocks from Hollywood Boulevard.
Judging by the lines outside, much of the Fonda crowd followed him back to this new 300-seat venue, which resurrects the original name of the bar at 1601 N. Cahuenga Ave. The Spotlight was once one of the oldest gay bars in Los Angeles. , a raw beacon from the dawn of queer activism until its closure in 2011, a trajectory of almost 50 years.
After a few short-lived incarnations and a pandemic shutdown, Spotlight is now part of a growing club music circuit run by Kobi Danan, the owner of Sound nightclub just a few blocks away. It's far from his only new endeavor in the area: his concert promotion company Framework recently shut down Hollywood Boulevard for a massive rave with DJs Fisher and Chris Lake that drew 12,000 fans.
In a neighborhood packed with new nightlife investments and some of the country's busiest restaurants, Spotlight is a small but significant new entry for one of the region's agenda-setting developers.
“When I first moved to Los Angeles, in the mornings after my shifts, I would eat something and on this corner there were always people dressed all in leather coming out of here. I thought, 'This is too early in the morning, what the hell is going on there?'” Danan laughed. “The Spotlight was an anchor, it had a real place in the neighborhood. “We’ve brought it back to that.”
This incarnation is not an openly LGBTQ club like its namesake. “Everyone is welcome,” Danan said, although he acknowledged the expectations of having at least “some concepts for beautiful gay nights,” given the club's history. Spotlight declares its dance music aspirations from the entry. The lobby bar is framed by an altar of portraits depicting dance music legends Larry Levan, Frankie Knuckles and the late EDM superstar Avicii.
There is also a large portrait of Erick Morillo, the house music pioneer who was arrested and charged with sexual assault in 2020. Morillo died of a drug overdose a month later. When asked about Morillo's inclusion there, Danan declined to comment. Kristen Knight, the DJ who came forward as Morillo's alleged victim, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Further inside, a modular DJ booth rises and lowers to make room for live bands and jazz groups in front of a tasteful geometric light wall, with a tidy modernist dance floor leading to an open-air lounge with a roof retractable that can turn the entire place into a free-flowing summer patio with an attached restaurant. The club has a lot less LED glare than Sound – more New Orleans Garden District vibes and it's a lot easier to hang out comfortably.
Deirdre Coleman DJing at Spotlight in Hollywood on Saturday, February 17, 2024.
(Chiara Alexa / For The Times)
The Spotlight's legacy as a delightfully seedy gay bar was a novelty to some of the current young patrons. In the outdoor area, a small group of millennial gay bears said they had just walked in from the street, and one of them admitted, “I thought this was going to be a super straight bar with bottle service.” Upon hearing about his jockstrap story, they decided to stay a little longer to cut some rugs and explore the prospects: “I hope they bring back some of that old vibe, too,” he said.
The Spotlight is already a contender for post-awards season parties, serving as a stage for bigger acts like SG Lewis, Dom Dolla, DJ Tennis and The Dare. Future, Addison Rae and Finneas showed up to celebrate the opening nights. Danan, who is Israeli, recently hosted Spotlight for a private party for a few dozen survivors of last year's Nova festival massacre in Israel, where Hamas fighters killed hundreds of young Israeli ravers.
Danan's Framework firm has seen significant expansion lately. Framework oversees the dance-focused Yuma Tent at Coachella, and last year Danan organized the Afterlife festival at Los Angeles State Historic Park near Chinatown and the Art of the Wild festival in Las Vegas. Opening an even smaller venue down the street from Sound is unexpected, but he sees it as a farm equipment venue to test out emerging acts.
“This is for us to take artists we've never done before and build them up to bring them to the Sound, to the Shrine, and then to a festival,” Danan said. “Festival posters now have more underground house and techno. So this club is an incubator to train artists who do other things.”
Talent agents seem happy to have a new option for jobs outside of the warehouse.
Jason Burnam and Cesar Caudillo at the Hollywood Spotlight on Saturday, February 17, 2024.
(Chiara Alexa / For The Times)
“I'm fed up because I've been a dance music agent for 20 years, and what we have as far as nightlife in Los Angeles, let's just say I don't go out clubbing in Hollywood very often,” said Alex Becket, a CAA dancer music agent who stopped by Spotlight on Saturday night. “But this place is very encouraging if you really want to hang out with your friends and not just have fun. “If I have an artist with a show at SoFi Stadium, this is the perfect place for the after-party.”
The Spotlight comes at a time of great success for the Hollywood neighborhood. Grandmaster Recorders, a DJ-run venue in a historic former recording studio, opened across the street after the pandemic. Bustling bars and restaurants like Mother Wolf, Jemma, Mars and Ka'Teen have once again brought Westside locals and tourists from around the world into a boom, as has a flood of new apartment skyscrapers and hotels like the Dream , a stylish and crazy scene of tourists and club-goers right above the spotlight.
“I've been up and down Hollywood because things can get really bad on the streets, but there's been a lot of new, positive energy,” Danan said. “I have never seen so much change in just a short period of time. “It motivates me to invest and do more things in Hollywood.”
Welcomes any aspiring club competition to try their luck and continue filling the neighborhood. “Do you remember what the Boulevard used to be like?” he continued. “Before there were like 50 nightclubs and bars. That slowly faded away and I think he missed it. “I have enough to deal with, but I think Hollywood has room for a lot more.”
