Los Angeles

Be the VIP in LA! There is no place to be a VIP like in Los Angeles – where your guests can feel like the stars that they are. With its movie stars, rock stars, and other glitterati, Los Angeles caters to its celebrities in a big way and at ACCESS  Destination Services we utilize our star power to create unparalleled VIP experiences for your heavy hitters!

If it is a Private Club experience you are seeking for your next incentive program or special event, ACCESS  Los Angeles enjoys memberships or “ACCESS” to many members only facilities. Social Hollywood, a multi-faceted restaurant, lounge, club and event complex features an exclusive second floor – “Level II”, a perfect VIP retreat. The VIP Suites at Boulevard 3 are favorite hot spots for the city’s rich and famous and are perfect for intimate events where preferential treatment will be noticed. The members only Foundation Room at the House of Blues Sunset Strip is a secluded club with elegant facilities for entertaining your VIPs with its multiple space options, each with its own unique themed décor and appointments, including skyline views, fireside lounges, plush velvet couches and more. The City Club on Bunker Hill offers exquisite cuisine and elegant décor packaged in floor to ceiling picture windows commanding one of the finest views from on high in the city. To experience the high life outside of the city, allow ACCESS  Destination Services to create a special experience with VIP flair at The Jonathan Beach Club in downtown Santa Monica – just steps from the Pacific Ocean and nestled at the foot of the Santa Monica bluffs.

VIP activity selections are endless. Your guests will enjoy an exclusive private guided VIP back lot tour at Universal Studios where they will visit studio facilities not accessible to regular visitors. From a stop at the prop warehouse to a tour of a working soundstage to being whisked to the front of the line with VIP priority boarding at rides, attractions and shows, the star treatment is evident to your guests. Or, let’s rise above it all and experience Los Angeles from up above, via helicopter, where guests will experience a bird’s eye, unobstructed view of such famous sites as Rodeo Drive, the Walk of Fame, the legendary Hollywood sign, and perhaps a star’s home.

How about a Gala at the backlot of a Motion Picture Studio such as Paramount Pictures for the perfect presentation of a VIP experience, complete with a VIP cart tour where guests may view the sets and filming locations at this Hollywood standard for global entertainment? Dinner is served in a Paramount Pictures Studio sound stage, home to both filmings and star-studded celebrity gatherings.

If it is a mansion or a private estate you are looking for, the ACCESS  Los Angeles team has the inside scoop on multiple venues. One such estate in exclusive Bel Air was fashioned after Marie Antoinette’s summer palace at Versailles and will take your breath away with its gilded splendor. This estate has attracted celebrity clientele since its creation and was prominently featured in Paris Hilton’s Confessions of an Heiress. Another option is a 35,000 square foot mansion on a large estate above Sunset Boulevard featuring 12 bedrooms and 18 bathrooms and multiple on-site locations for your special gala event. Other features to name a few include an indoor pool, a two-lane bowling alley, theater, tennis court, a dining room with an etched glass floor looking down to the pool, multiple fireplaces and a subterranean ballroom which seats up to 250 guests. Either venue is the perfect option for a reception or dinner featuring the culinary delights of celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck.

Equally important to the venue itself is the knowledge of how to craft and stage the event so that guests will enjoy the optimum celebrity experience. This is where ACCESS  Destination Services shines. From a limousine arrival at one of the most photographed studio entrances in the world where guests will have a view of the famous “Hollywood” sign to a staged, red-carpeted entrance at a grand mansion, ACCESS  Destination Services excels in creating lasting impressions for your VIPs throughout their entire conference experience!

Contact the Los Angeles Office of ACCESS  Destination Services for all of your destination management needs.

Orange County

GardenWalk – Taking Root in Orange County!  Complementing an already stellar collection of outdoor malls (a Southern California specialty), including Fashion Island, the Block at Orange, the MarketPlace, and the Irvine Spectrum Center, the Anaheim GardenWalk, opening by year end 2007, will be the most recent addition and a welcome addition at that!

The Anaheim GardenWalk will be Orange County’s newest “lifestyle shopping center”, featuring over 400,000 square feet of unique stores, restaurants and cinemas in a tranquil garden setting. Designed as a natural hub of the resort area and the City of Anaheim, the project is designed to be very pedestrian and to encourage people to walk and linger along the scenic concourses and manicured garden walkways.

The first phase of GardenWalk is scheduled for completion by the end of the year, with several restaurants, including Roy’s of Hawaii and P.F. Chang’s opening along Katella Avenue. Retail shops are scheduled to follow next year, while two or three hotels with a total of 1,200 guest rooms are expected to open in GardenWalk by the end of 2009. States ACCESS  Destination Services President, Candace Bisconte, DMCP, “GardenWalk will be a great thing for planners – a place where they can turn attendees loose on a free night. A past challenge is that downtown Anaheim did not have enough nightlife, but this will take care of that.”

Anaheim, which launched an ambitious revitalization plan for its downtown area over a decade ago, is continuing to reinvent itself with new amenities within walking distance of the Anaheim Convention Center and Angel Stadium, home of the Anaheim Angels baseball team. The ACCESS  Orange County team is excited to be a part of all of the exciting changes precipitated by the Anaheim development projects and we look forward to keeping you posted as progress continues on new off-site venues and the wealth of new restaurants to add to the many dine-around options Orange County has to offer.

For your next site inspection, contact the Orange County Office of ACCESS  Destination Services to hear about all the exciting new offerings to both Anaheim and the waterfront areas of Orange County.

Special note: The Orange County office of ACCESS  Destination Services congratulates team member Robbie Glowczwski, Program Manager, for achieving his DMCP designation.

Spice it up with ACCESS

Peohe’s Pacific Fire Shrimp!  This seafood sensation is courtesy of Peohe’s waterfront restaurant in Coronado, California.

Serves 4-6
1 pound salted butter
1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce
2 tablespoons Tony Chachere’s Creole seasoning
2 tablespoons lemon pepper
¾ tablespoon dried rosemary
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 pound (16-20 medium) shrimp, peeled and de-veined
2 cups white rice, cooked

Directions:

• Prepare fire butter: In a mixer, whip butter on medium for 2 minutes. Add Tabasco sauce, Creole seasoning, lemon pepper, rosemary, and lemon juice. Mix well, and set aside.

• Prepare shrimp: Place shrimp on a baking sheet, making sure shrimp do not touch each other. Brush fire butter evenly over shrimp, reserving 4 tablespoons. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes. Pile white rice in middle of serving plate. Top with shrimp. Garnish with remaining fire butter.

Enjoy!