Tuesday, September 25, 2012
In Venice Beach, A Coming Out for Silicon Beach
These days, it's not unusual for a handful of tech and startup mixers and events to be going down on the westside. Still, there was something special about the Nextspace @ Amplify Grand opening on Wednesday night. Something very, established about it.
I've lived in Los Angeles for ten years now. And when you live in a city that long, you're bound to find yourself at a Hollywood, celebrity-driven party. These parties are always the same. High-end hors d'oeuvres, an open bar with top-shelf liquor and little entertainments throughout the event. This grand opening had all of that, right down to the fortune-teller-for-hire in the corner.
Amplify.LA and Nextspace have definitely made a mark with this event which was, as told to me by Amplify's Managing Director, Paul Bricault, essentially to celebrate the end of work on their new building.
The Nextspace @ Amplify campus is an attractive co-working space designed to foster working, learning and networking. Set on the corner of Main street at Windward Circle, it positions itself in the heart of Venice. Memberships start at $99 per month.
As I enjoyed the DJ, food and drink, I spoke with several Silicon Beach denizens. With all of the attention the LA tech scene has been getting lately (Forbes has been predicting it to outpace it's northern neighbor all year), many were calling this a "coming out party" for Silicon Beach.
To those like Avesta and Cameron Rasouli of CoLoft, there isn't anything surprising about all of the attention SoCal is receiving. "We just doubled our space and we're still can't keep up with the demand for office-space to work in." If the boom in tech entrepreneurship in the southland is any indication, Silicon Beach has arrived and is here to stay.
Travis Oberlander has been chronicling the local technology scene for socalTECH, with a particular focus on the startup accelerators and activity in Silicon Beach. Photos courtesy Amplify.