{"id":416187,"date":"2026-07-29T04:48:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T04:48:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/416187\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T04:48:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T04:48:25","slug":"anaheims-under-construction-ocvibe-concert-venue-just-might-make-angelenos-a-little-bit-jealous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/416187\/","title":{"rendered":"Anaheim\u2019s under-construction OCVIBE concert venue just might make Angelenos a little bit jealous"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you were to build L.A. Live now, how would you make the mid-aughts entertainment district better? Maybe a little less concrete and a little more greenery? Some improved casual food options? A more seamlessly connected transit stop?<\/p>\n

The folks behind Anaheim\u2019s OCVIBE<\/a> sure seem to have studied its northern neighbor, because the under-construction 100-acre district surrounding the Honda Center can answer \u201cyes\u201d to all of those questions. The first phase of the $5 billion project\u2014including a still-untitled 5,000-person concert venue situated right next to the existing NHL arena\u2014won\u2019t open until next year, but I was invited to take a hard-hat tour last week. And while it\u2019s still very much under construction, it doesn\u2019t require much imagination to see this becoming a regional destination that could even drag Angelenos across county lines.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot going on at OCVIBE, so here\u2019s the quickest version possible: All of the old parking lots surrounding the Honda Center<\/a> are being turned into a mix of restaurants, plazas, offices, hotels, parking garages and residential units\u2014plus the previously mentioned concert hall. The Samueli Family, which owns the Anaheim Ducks, has invested $4 billion into the project, plus another billion dollars of improvements to the city-owned Honda Center.<\/p>\n

\"OCVIBE
\nRendering: Courtesy OCVIBEOCVIBE aerial view <\/p>\n

\"OCVIBE
\nPhotograph: Michael Juliano for Time OutOCVIBE model <\/p>\n

The hotels, residences and revival of bygone nightclub Golden Bear won\u2019t start arriving until 2028, and that\u2019s also when the footbridge that connects the ARTIC train station with the bulk of the development should be ready, though the meandering meadow in front of the transit stop isn\u2019t slated until 2029\u2014sorry Olympic volleyball attendees<\/a>. The six or seven full-service restaurants, including Roy Choi\u2019s Las Vegas\u2013born spot, Best Friend, will arrive sooner, starting in the fall of 2027.<\/p>\n

But the 21-vendor food hall Katella Commons, office building the Weave and the brand-new concert hall are comparatively all right around the corner with a March 2027 opening date. All of these exteriors appeared pretty much complete during my late-July visit, though the leafy plaza that\u2019ll connect them\u2014which will sport a 140-by-30-foot screen capable of broadcasting live from both adjacent venues\u2014was still just a dirt pile for now. And inside the Populous-designed concert hall (that\u2019s the folks who tackled Vegas\u2019 Sphere<\/a>), though the industrial-leaning, music-inspired fixtures and finishes had yet to be installed, the bones of the auditorium were all there, including the 1,700 or so balcony seats.<\/p>\n

\"OCVIBE
\nPhotograph: Michael Juliano for Time OutOCVIBE concert hall <\/p>\n

\"OCVIBE
\nRendering: Courtesy OCVIBEOCVIBE concert hall stage <\/p>\n

\"Underneath
\nPhotograph: Michael Juliano for Time OutUnderneath the balcony at OCVIBE concert hall <\/p>\n

There\u2019s no single L.A. music venue<\/a> I can closely compare the concert hall to; instead it\u2019s kind of a Goldilocks of theater and club characteristics. To return to the L.A. Live similarities, it borrows the multipurpose layout and screen-flanked stage of the Peacock Theater<\/a> (though it\u2019s not nearly as cavernous) with the general admission dance floor and near-balcony intimacy of the Novo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a little bit of the Hollywood Palladium<\/a> here, too: It\u2019s much wider than it is deep, so the seated balcony sections don\u2019t feel terribly far from the stage, while a standing-room-only top-tier balcony offers a bird\u2019s-eye view from either side. (It\u2019ll likely vary from performance to performance whether that standing section is specifically ticketed or open to all.) For folks on the floor, there\u2019s a dedicated entry that dumps out right next to the stage, and\u2014huge news for stans set on getting barricade\u2014access to a proper bathroom while you wait to get in.<\/p>\n

\"Balconies
\nPhotograph: Michael Juliano for Time OutBalconies at OCVIBE concert hall <\/p>\n

\"OCVIBE
\nRendering: Courtesy OCVIBEOCVIBE concert hall standing balcony <\/p>\n

\"Balcony
\nPhotograph: Michael Juliano for Time OutBalcony at OCVIBE concert hall <\/p>\n

The venue isn\u2019t tied to any specific promoter and no shows have been announced yet, but you can expect a mix of music and comedy performances, plus awards shows, banquets and maybe even the odd sporting event or two (during my tour, I was told that the floor could fit a basketball or volleyball court). As far as the caliber of events, the seating capacity holds about a thousand fewer people than the Greek Theatre<\/a> or YouTube Theater<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Regardless of the programming, expect a bar pretty much everywhere you turn, with eight total in the venue. You\u2019ll also find the Gallagher Club, a VIP lounge with a pretty boast-worthy outdoor terrace, and the ground-floor Stretto Caf\u00e9, a daytime dining spot that transitions into a pre-show lounge underneath the 62-foot-tall metallic Stretto installation.<\/p>\n

\"Urban
\nPhotograph: Michael Juliano for Time OutUrban Park at OCVIBE <\/p>\n

\"Terrace
\nPhotograph: Michael Juliano for Time OutTerrace at the Gallagher Club at OCVIBE concert hall <\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t get to tour any of the other buildings or peep on the progress at the spacious plaza on the Honda Center\u2019s south side, but I did get to partake in what I think is a pretty compelling part of the OCVIBE experience: I took the train there. Oh, don\u2019t worry, there\u2019s plenty of parking; almost the entire west side of the development is lined with multilevel garages. But the curved, colorful ARTIC station is just across Katella Avenue from the development\u2014less than a 10-minute walk from the platform to the heart of OCVIBE. My 45-minute Metrolink ride from Downtown L.A.\u2019s Union Station cost $8.75; return service stops after rush hour, so you\u2019ll need to make it onto an Amtrak train ($16) by just after 11pm for the ride back. Why bother diving into these details now? Because, Angelenos, you just might find yourself itching to venture over here in the not-too-distant future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you were to build L.A. Live now, how would you make the mid-aughts entertainment district better? Maybe…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":416188,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[7579,48,52,51,47,50,49,7580,420],"class_list":["post-416187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-categories-things-to-do","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-news-city-life","tag-things-to-do"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416187\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}