The principal owners of the L.A. venue the Teragram Ballroom today announced their latest endeavor to expand further into the L.A. music scene with the addition of a new venue, the Moroccan Lounge, which is set to open in fall 2017.
The Moroccan Lounge will be located in the Downtown Arts District at 901 East 1st Street near the Gold Line's Little Tokyo/Arts District metro station. The 275-capacity venue and will offer a more intimate concert experience and focus primarily on emerging artists.
“It was important for me to open a little brother to the Teragram Ballroom—a fresh, sound-strong venue that supports bands, giving them that first step up to performing in a first rate, state-of-the-art venue,” said venue co-founder Michael Swier in a statement. ”A venue the size and quality of the Moroccan Lounge develops bands with the kind of professional attention and treatment they will come to expect as their careers gain speed and they play the larger, more venerable venues."
Duncan Smith, who formerly worked as a talent buyer at L.A. venue the Resident, will come on as the Moroccan Lounge’s talent buyer. Scott Simoneux, the talent buyer for the Teragram Ballroom, and Johnny Beach, who has long worked for the New York venue Bowery Ballroom as a talent buyer, will also join Smith and oversee talent buying.
The new venue's interior was directed by Brian Swier, (Michael's brother) who also designed the Teragram Ballroom (which opened in 2015), the Bowery Ballroom and the Mercury Lounge among others. "We were inspired by the building's existing Moorish style," he stated, "which kindled memories of Tangier, and the iconic Café Baba, notorious haunt of rock legends."
The building, however, has housed a number of businesses including a diner and a rumored brothel before its latest incarnation as a music venue.
Other who worked on the new venue include acoustical consultant Jim Falconer, sound system designer Jeff DelBello of db Sound Design and lighting system designer Luciano Savedra.
Though the Moroccan team includes Michael Sweir who co-founded New York's Bowery Presents, which global promoter AEG acquired earlier this year, Teragram Ballroom and its founding team are independent.
