Youth Served

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Youth Served
Makeover: Cory Hathaway at downtown’s Los Angeles Athletic Club.

This isn’t your grandfather’s stodgy private club – at least, it doesn’t want to be.

A new interior reminiscent of a slick whiskey bar, updated food and drink menus and an exclusive venue complete with a speakeasy-style secret entrance are just some of the additions made over the past few years at the members-only Los Angeles Athletic Club in downtown.

The hip interior is reflective of a shift among many of downtown’s private clubs, which are trying to stay relevant among young entrepreneurs and executives – ones who, thanks to downtown’s revival, have many more entertainment and dining options than executives did a generation ago.

Cory Hathaway, general manager of LAAC, said its efforts have been working. Two years ago, the average age of new members was 35, but now the club is drawing a younger crowd.

“The new members coming in, the average age is 29,” Hathaway said. “Every time we run the stats we’re shocked.”

Hathaway isn’t alone, as other clubs, including downtown’s City Club Los Angeles and Jonathan Club, have undergone renovations of their own as they try to stay fresh.

The majority of private clubs’ revenue comes from membership dues, and many are finding that renovations are a necessary expense if they want to inject a new, younger crowd into their mix of existing, mostly older members. The renovations and changes are especially important as the surge of swanky new restaurants, hotels and trendy fitness studios in the area have made signing up potential members a harder sell.

Larry Ahlquist, general manager of City Club, said its move from Bunker Hill into the City National Bank building allowed it to take on $11 million in badly needed renovations that turned what Ahlquist called “an old person’s club” into something that’s been able to attract new, younger members.

“We redesigned the club because people don’t want to go to old stuffy clubs,” Ahlquist said. “Young will not go to old, but old will go to young.”

Old new again

LAAC was one of the city’s first private clubs when it was founded in 1880. It has been in its current location since 1912 and is now a subsidiary of self-storage company Storage West.

Hathaway, whose family has been part of the club for five generations, became general manager about five years ago and almost immediately started in on renovation projects. He redid the club’s interiors, with new furniture, artwork and higher ceilings in its meeting spaces, and revamped the club’s food and cocktail menus with the help of L.A. cocktail consulting firm Liquid Assets. The menu now features trendy items such as a salad with quinoa and grilled cauliflower, and fried chicken with bacon-infused waffles.

Now, the club is building out new men’s and women’s locker rooms, re-introducing a luxury spa with amenities such as a barbershop and nail salon, and bringing in a restaurant and bar near its indoor pool.

The Athletic Club’s renovations are happening at a time when downtown is seeing a huge influx of development and new, young residents, many of them potential members for downtown’s clubs. But at the same time, those young downtown professionals have more restaurants, bars, barbershops and fitness studios to choose from than their forebears did just 10 years ago – presenting stiff competition for the services that clubs have long offered.

Hathaway said the new offerings have brought in more visitors and new residents into downtown, which has given the club additional candidates for membership. Yet, he acknowledges that running a club can be challenging as downtown draws more hip and upscale businesses.

“Within the entire hospitality industry, you have restaurants, barbershops, boutique hotels and convention center hotels – there’s a lot,” he said. “But running a private club is the most challenging because it’s all of those under one roof and you’re constantly adjusting and adapting what you’re offering.”

Changing tastes

Ahlquist said the changing tastes of younger downtown professionals is part of the reason City Club moved from Bunker Hill in 2012.

“We started doing demographic studies,” he said. “KPMG, Pricewaterhouse and Deloitte were all moving off the hill and the reason was workforce. Millennials – they’re not going to see the opera, philharmonic or ballet. So, when we left the other club this afforded us a blank slate to create a club that fits downtown today.”

When City Club renovated its space, it included larger meeting rooms, a pre-function space with a built-in bar as well as restaurants with expansive window views.

Other clubs, even outside of downtown, are renovating and adding amenities, too.

Soho House West Hollywood has plans for a renovation, and it recently announced a second outpost to be built in downtown’s Arts District. Beverly Hills Country Club, which was recently sold to Chicago investment firm Singerman Real Estate and hospitality development company Meriwether Cos. in Boulder, Colo., also plans to renovate.

Matthew Allnatt, general manager and chief operating officer of Jonathan Club, said its renovations also included updates to its fitness facility and restaurants.

“In the last year, we spent a tremendous amount of money on the facility really upgrading it,” Allnatt said.

And the updates have translated into a spike in junior members – those under 40 – who now make up about 15 percent of the Jonathan Club’s 3,600 members, he said.

Most clubs require applicants to list at least two references, preferably members in good standing. Once invited to join, members can expect to pay anywhere from $1,800 to $30,000 in annual dues, depending on the club and member’s age. At LAAC, members pay about $2,000 a year and annual fees can hit as high as $4,000 at City Club.

Of course, while all the renovations and changes at downtown’s clubs are partly aimed at drawing younger members, they’re also keeping the old guard happy.

Timothy Chrisman, founder of executive search firm Chrisman & Co. in downtown, said clubs need to stay fresh in all aspects from keeping a new look to getting a diverse group of new members – ones that older members are interested in meeting.

“I think the overriding thing is these clubs needed to start appealing to not just younger people who were a product of people who were older members,” said Chrisman, who has been a Jonathan Club member for 20 years. “It’s about diversity. You want a good, broad-based membership that makes it more interesting for members.”

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