December
27
West Hollywood Losing Its Virgin-ity?
[Posted by Peter Debruge]
The rock-star murals in the parking structure were the first casualty. Now it's official: The Virgin Megastore at 8000 Sunset is closing in January after something like 15 years in that location. (Don't worry: This isn't a rehash of the Tower Records situation. The company's doing fine, and the Hollywood & Highland location will remain.)
Oh, how that Sunset & Laurel shopping center has changed over the years. I remember watching my share of seminal indie films as a teenager at the Laemmle theater upstairs, once the chain's flagship arthouse. Now, the theater seldom programs anything more exciting than its Rocky Horror-style monthly midnight screening of The Room, sending key movies to its other locations.
The dejected Virgin employee I spoke with yesterday said the company tried everything to keep their lease, including offering to scale back to a single floor, but the complex raised the rent and didn't want to negotiate. I can't imagine what the building management has in mind. A Trader Joe's was said to be going in where the Sam Ash guitar store used to be, but I gather the deal's off, which leaves only that cruisy Crunch gym and its C-list celebs. What gives?
Update: I haven't had a chance to confirm it, but a friend tells me they're planning to use the shopping mall for office space. It already serves as HQ for TMZ.
Subscribe to this blog's feed
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8341bfc7553ef00e54fc7e6828834
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference West Hollywood Losing Its Virgin-ity? :
Comments