Here’s where to watch the World Cup in L.A. if sports bars aren’t your thing.
soccer-watching is your thing but sports bars are not, there are several alternative venues in L.A. serving up screenings of this year’s World Cup.
Two art museums have even gotten into the game, the Hammer Museum and LACMA. Below is a selection. If bars are your thing, Eater LA has a great roundup of L.A. watering holes, whose cultural diversity proves that all the world is represented in LA.
Note: DnA was puzzled to discover that L.A.’s newest hip boutique hotels (*cough* LINE and Ace) are not screening the World Cup in their public spaces. Soccer, after all, is the “beautiful game” for more than the art of the sport. It’s a fashionista’s must-watch, as more and more soccer players, like Japan’s gorgeous Keisuke Honda, (below) make the Beckham-like move from pitch to runway.
1. Hammer Museum, Westwood Village
Eat, drink at Ammo, check out Made In LA, opening June 15, and enjoy the games being screened in the Hammer courtyard and Annex.
2. Paley Center, Beverly Hills
A must if you want perfect audio and video quality in a comfortable auditorium in a Richard Meier building.
3. Ray Stark’s Bar, Mid-Wilshire (LACMA)
After checking out the LACMA exhibit reinterpreting soccer through visual art Fútbol: The Beautiful Game, go watch a game at Ray Stark’s Bar on the LACMA campus.
4. Altitude Rooftop Pool at SLS
Renting a cabana poolside atop an LA hotel to watch the World Cup may not be cheap, but it won’t set you back as much as a flight to Brazil! SLS hotel will provide you and your friends with a small screen and cabana for luxury, semi-private viewing.
5. Hotel Shangri-La
Ok, it may not be a rooftop, but no less inviting a soccer viewing venue is the plaza of the renovated Art Deco hotel in Santa Monica.
If you aren’t a soccer fan, but don’t want to miss out on the excitement of the World Cup, here’s a great guide for beginners. And for more on the beautiful part of the game, read Simon Doonan’s appreciation of the bevy of gorgeous players.
If you know of other locations for the design-inclined to watch the World Cup, please send them our way at dna@kcrw.org.
