Nightlife

LA, please “Don’t Let the Lights Go Out”

Nightlife in Los Angeles is under attack.

It never fully recovered from COVID. The institutions that helped make LA feel like LA have disappeared. Oil Can Harry’s. The Satellite. The Standard Downtown. 

The spaces that remain are facing additional threats. LGBTQ+ bars and nightclubs have had their social media accounts suspended, cutting them off from the communities they spent years building. ICE raids and federal enforcement have created a climate of fear that is keeping people home. 

We need to start treating this like the cultural crisis it is, and do everything we can to keep the lights on for LA’s nightlife scene.

Can we “Just Dance?” 

For generations, Los Angeles has treated nightlife and entertainment as things that needed to be regulated and policed. Our rules have been used against gay bars and LGBTQ+ performers, and remnants of that system are still with us. Venues still face special land-use approvals and Police Commission requirements for something as joyful as dancing. We need a fundamentally different approach to nightlife, one where City Hall is a partner in helping nightlife thrive, not responsible for shutting the party down. We need to: 

  • Modernize outdated entertainment and dancing permits.

  • Eliminate unnecessary discretionary review for low-risk entertainment.

  • Streamline permitting so opening a dance floor doesn't require a series of City department approvals.

  • Give venues a reasonable opportunity to correct minor violations before threatening their ability to stay open. 

“GIMME! GIMME! GIMME!” a place after midnight 

LA’s next great party could happen in a space we already have. Our city is full of underused spaces that could host music, art, and community gatherings; we just need a clearer path to making those events safe and legal. Our rave scene has already shown us what can happen when people take an overlooked warehouse space and turn it into a dance floor. We don’t need to force that creativity into a legal gray area. Let’s: 

  • Create entertainment zones- designated areas allowing open containers- turning our streets into places to gather, reducing car traffic, and increasing local economic activity 

  • Make neighborhood celebrations easier to throw with simple, streamlined permitting 

  • Turn underused spaces into pop-ups, performances, art, and community events.

The ‘Last Train Home’ shouldn’t leave before last call

Having somewhere great to go doesn't mean much if you can't afford to go out or come back home. Nightlife works when artists and nightlife workers can afford to live here, small businesses can afford to stay open, and every Angeleno can afford to participate.

As Mayor, I will:

  • Work with Metro to keep trains and buses running later on weekends and major event nights.

  • Strengthen first- and last-mile connections

  • Deploy Metro Ambassadors in major nightlife areas during late-night hours.

  • Make more housing, affordability, and small-business survival part of our nightlife agenda.


And “When the party’s over,” be a good neighbor 

A great nightlife district should be fun to go out in, and great to live in. Those are not mutually exclusive goals. Our Entertainment Zones will be designed with the people who live, work, and go out in them, with clear expectations around noise, trash, transportation, and safety, and closing time. As mayor, I will 

  • Build a safety plan for every Entertainment Zone, so neither businesses nor residents are left dealing with issues on their own 

  • Bring businesses, residents, workers, and community organizations together to solve problems before they escalate.

  • Coordinate sanitation, transportation, and public-space management so neighborhoods aren't left cleaning up after a night out.

Nightlife should be someone’s “9-to-5” job 

Nightlife touches planning, transportation, policing, permitting, economic development, sanitation, and more. But we don’t have anybody at City Hall who wakes up every morning thinking about what happens after dark. As Mayor, I will:

  • Designate a nightlife czar in the Mayor's Office responsible for coordinating nightlife policy for our city 

  • Create Los Angeles' first permanent Nightlife Commission, bringing venues, workers, artists, residents, and communities into the decisions that affect them.

“THIS MUST BE THE PLACE”

Nightlife is where we dance, where our artists and creative communities get their start, and where LGBTQ+ communities have built safe havens and spaces of belonging.  It's where you might meet someone you never would have met otherwise, and maybe even fall in love. Nightlife allows our giant, sprawling city to start feeling like a community.