Los Angeles

Long Beach…Long on Variety!   Scenic Long Beach, California’s 5th largest city is nestled along the shores of the Pacific, just 20 miles south of Los Angeles. Possessing both the charm of a seaside community and the sophistication of an urban mecca, Long Beach is an ideal year-round destination with a host of unique venues and activities including fishing, kayaking, biking, tennis, golf and more. Home to the Queen Mary, perhaps its most well-known attraction, Long Beach also offers the proximity to the Los Angeles attractions such as Universal Studios Hollywood, the Getty Center, Beverly Hills and more.

Long Beach has emerged as a community with unique neighborhoods and cultural diversity. The seaside community of Belmont Shore is considered a shopper’s paradise and a premier dining spot. Pine Avenue in downtown Long Beach is another area of diverse restaurant and nightlife experiences with musical options from salsa to blues to jazz and everywhere in between. In all Long Beach offers hundreds of dining options, from intimate cafes to spectacular oceanfront restaurants featuring a world of international cuisine. Particularly noteworthy is Stefano’s da Vinci Ristorante, situated at the edge of the private aircraft and helicopter runway at Long Beach Airport. Owned and operated by one of the premiere chefs in Southern California, Stefano Colaiacomo, the restaurant features a theme designed around the very first aviation pioneer: Leonardo da Vinci. This new restaurant features striking décor with a Tuscan accent partnered with incredible cuisine to match the beauty of the environment. The restaurant can hold private parties of 40-150 along with a buy-out for 380. In addition, below the restaurant is a large private aircraft hangar, perfect for a private event for a group of 400.

The East Village district of Long Beach is the heart of the city’s artistic community with distinctive shops and galleries showcasing paintings, sculpture, ceramics, jewelry and designer clothing in an area of historic buildings and noteworthy architectural heritage. For lovers of art and culture, two distinctive Long Beach art museums house very different collections of art. The Long Beach Museum of Art is perched atop a magnificent bluff overlooking Long Beach Harbor and the Pacific Ocean. Its grounds include landscaped gardens, a beautifully restored Craftsman mansion, carriage house, an exhibition pavilion and ocean view gallery. The patio and gardens of the mansion made for a perfect off-site dinner event produced by the Los Angeles ACCESS  team. With the theme of “Mind, Body, and Soul”, 275 guests in attendance experienced a feast for the senses including culinary delights and hands-on activities such as chair massages, art classes, yoga instruction, and a rock climbing wall. In contrast, The Museum of Latin American Art (MoLAA) is the only museum in the western United States that exclusively features contemporary Latin American Art. A highlight of the museum is a 15,000 square foot Sculpture Garden, an oasis representing a Latin design tradition incorporating thick walls, bright colors and low profile fountains. Cacti, succulents, agaves and palms native to the Americas parallel the uniqueness of the MoLAA’s permanent collection.

Let’s not forget to mention the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center with its multiple facilities including the Arena, covered by the world’s largest mural, “Planet Ocean”, by the internationally renowned environmental artist, Wyland. Three exhibition halls offer close to 224,000 square feet of space and the beautiful Terrace Theater seats 3,051 comfortably while the intimate Center Theatre, with 825 seats, allows for excellent visibility from any seat. In addition, 34 meeting rooms and a Grand Ballroom make the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center ideal for all types of special events. Hotels within walking distance of the Center include the Hyatt Regency Long Beach (523 rooms), the Westin Long Beach (469 rooms), and the Hilton Long Beach and Executive Meeting Center (393 rooms).

With its many artistic, historic and cultural options, Long Beach truly offers something for everyone – and getting there is easy! Known as the Region’s “Easy In, Easy Out” Airport, Long Beach Airport hosts Alaska Airlines, US Airways/America West Airlines, Delta Airlines and is a local hub for JetBlue Airways, offering direct flights throughout the United States with easy Domestic and International connections.

To further explore Long Beach and the Greater Los Angeles area for your destination management needs, contact the Los Angeles office of ACCESS  Destination Services.

Orange County

Set the Stage with Stage 17!   In this year, Disney’s “Year of a Million Dreams”, the Disney commitment to bringing new attractions and entertainment to its California and Florida properties is celebrated at Orange County’s Disney’s California Adventure with the grand premier of Stage 17. Stage 17 is the first dedicated group facility inside a Disneyland theme park. Featuring more than 10,000 square feet of carpeted floor space, Stage 17 has everything you as a meeting professional could want in a venue location for your next corporate event. Located right in the heart of the Hollywood Pictures Backlot, Stage 17 is equipped with all the trappings of a working soundstage – configurable lighting and state-of-the-art audio visual systems controlled from a permanent production booth. Fancy extras contribute to the magic of this great venue including a movable stage, hanging video projection screens and a large food preparation area. Stage 17 can accommodate anywhere from 750 – 1,000 guests, but if a more intimate setting is desired, the venue can be sectioned off for a “nightclub” style ambiance. The ACCESS  Orange County team is anxious to be the “producer” for your celebrities in their next starring role at Stage 17, the ultimate “Hollywood” location!

Let’s not forget the many other magical attractions and entertainment components at Disney’s California Adventure Park, a celebration of California’s past and exciting future – a great inclusion for your group’s daytime activity agenda. There’s also Downtown Disney, with live music and a variety of restaurants and shops – perfect for dine-arounds or for a buyout of the House of Blues or the ESPN Zone. In this “Year of a Million Dreams”, allow ACCESS  Destination Services to help make those dreams come true in Orange County!

Contact the Orange County office of ACCESS  Destination Services for all of your Destination Management needs in the Anaheim/Orange County area.

The ACCESS  Orange County Office would like to introduce the newest addition to our Sales team, Tiffany Kelly, Sales Manager. With a background in meeting and event planning, Tiffany is a great addition to the ACCESS  team. Having spent the last several years as a Meeting Planner with a Corporate Meeting and Travel Management Company, Tiffany interacted directly with clients on all levels in program development and operation. Her previous experience is instrumental in understanding the operations side of the business and invaluable to her in her role as Sales Manager. You can reach Tiffany at the Orange County Office at ACCESS  Destination Services or email her at t.kelly@accessdmc.com

Palm Springs

Celebrity Course to Open at Indian Wells Golf Resort! The Golf Resort at Indian Wells unveils a new look as the Clive Clark-designed Celebrity Course is set to open for public play in November of this year. The par-72, 18-hole, championship golf course is the first of two new golf courses to be built at the property. The Celebrity Course replaces the Ted Robinson-designed West Course at the city-owned 36-hole complex. Far from a renovation, the new course (with only four holes following the routing of the old course) is part of a $55 million redesign and restoration of The Golf Resort. That includes a re-design of the second course by John Fought, starting later this year, and a new 53,000 square foot Douglas Fredrikson-designed clubhouse expected to open by November 2007.

Clive Clark, the La Quinta-based course architect and former English touring pro, utilized many mature trees found on the original property to impart the feel of a venerable facility while at the same time delivering a modern approach to golf course design. His use of bunkers places a unique stamp on the course. Many of the bunkers form the high point of a larger sweeping contour, and they are located in-play for tactical consideration and out-of-play for visual appeal.

Most of the holes are oriented north/south to take advantage of the majestic views of the San Jacinto, Santa Rosa and San Bernardino mountain ranges, and an Indian Wells icon, Eisenhower Mountain, stands sentinel to the south. Wildflowers create a colorful, natural backdrop. Each hole is designed to be somewhat sheltered from the others to elicit a feeling of solitude. The new design includes a variety of long and short par-4s, par-5s that will promote scoring for players of most levels and some demanding par-3s. The golf course’s seven water features – waterfalls, creeks and ponds – come into play, and are designed to have both aesthetic and strategic appeal. The ACCESS  Palm Springs team looks forward to introducing you to this new addition to the desert resort communities on your next site inspection.

For your next group activity or team building event, contact the Palm Springs office of ACCESS  Destination Services.