Meeting Planners Experience the Unexpected, “The Cove”

The Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center’s $50 million renovations and ongoing improvements are aimed at creating event spaces that maximize the ability for meeting planners to customize their events while providing turnkey solutions that dramatically reduce costs. Adding to its repertoire of Biz Bash nominated, award winning unique turnkey spaces, The Long Beach Convention Center is set to complete two additional venues this summer: “The Cove,” Southern California’s premier street party venue and “The Wave,” an immersive, state-of-the-art pedestrian bridge.

Incorporating design techniques adopted from TED, a conference which called Long Beach home for 5 years, The Cove special event space occupies the area in front of the Seaside Meeting Rooms below the Terrace Theatre. Six crystal chandeliers hang from the concrete ceiling over the entryway giving the area an aura of urban elegance for arriving guests. The concrete pillars, walls, and ceiling of the underpass are decorated with special light fixtures designed to look like barnacles, fabricated by the same designers who worked on Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. Decorative starfish and other marine motifs adorn the ceiling, walls, and pillars, while vivid arrays of more than 110 LED stage and pinpoint lights provide customizable lighting schemes to suit any planner’s imagination. The total effect will be an under-the-pier fantasy scene.

This space is perfect for pre-function receptions, concerts, and parties and allows for special catering setups and even famed Southern Californian food truck events. “We’re constantly rethinking our spaces and this is a venue unlike anything you’ll see at any other convention center,” explains Steve Goodling, President and CEO of the Long Beach Area Convention and Visitor’s Bureau.

Overhead, providing a more efficient pathway to The Cove from the Promenade side of the Convention Center, “The Wave” pedestrian bridge is another state-of-the-art project at The Center that will be completed this summer. The new pedestrian bridge mimics a breaking wave in design and is illuminated by thousands of customizable LED lights, both inside the canopy, with nearly 100 downlights and landscaping lights, and an additional 70 LEDs along the underbelly of the structure, affording a more pleasurable walk between the Pine Avenue Long Beach Convention Center entrance and the Performing Arts Center theaters, Seaside Meeting Rooms, and the Long Beach Arena.

The elevated bridge will carry pedestrians east above Seaside Way to the Terrace Plaza, significantly reducing the walking time between locations. Its lighted canopy will produce a starry sky effect with custom lighting capabilities. Finally, the foliage and landscaping incorporated in the space will allow for attendees to connect and collaborate as they move from one venue to the next.

With 3,500 customizable LED lights and immersive landscaping, the bridge will be more than just a walkway; it will be a beautifully artistic and colorful addition to our downtown cityscape and the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center.

The Cove is located at 270 East Seaside Way in Long Beach, CA.