Cue Up: Teragram ballroom opens it’s doors

Unless it’s part of your commute, most of 7th street west of the 10 doesn’t lend itself to more than apartment buildings and corner stores. Until this weekend, like, on May 31st.

With the grand opening of a highly anticipated rock music venue, we’re just as excited about the place as we are the face behind it. Michael Swier has a way with space. And he’s turning the lights back on in one of LA’s most respected past times. Resurrecting the vogue of a rock venue, Swier transforms a former silent theatre (circa 1913) on seedy strip downtown into a serious music establishment: Teragram Ballroom. Can we say ambitious? LAC took a private tour and can absolutely vouch that these walls breath legendary already. Rooted in hall-of-famers and with a cult following it’s no surprise when Signor Swier lights up like a human stage as he speaks about filling the space with music.

I have been waiting for the perfect opportunity to contribute to the music culture of the West Coast, Los Angeles, and when I learned about this venue I knew this was it” …. “I’m excited about the energy happening throughout Los Angeles. There is a young energy with a new generation of music influence I’m excited about…

A New York bred music mogul, he is the man behind Bowery Ballroom and Mercury Lounge. Enough said. Curating space for brilliant music savants, performers and absorbers alike, for Swier crafting the perfect music club is in his DNA. On Friday, after a year+ of renovation and custom built assets the final layer was placed atop 1234 W. 7th Street with what will easily become  an historic icon for decades to come. The Teragram Ballroom marquee.

Hotsing 600 music patrons, the venue is coated with hand-crafted custom digital wallpaper from Brooklyn-based artisans Flavor, and grounded in stained cement floors. Patterned gold etchings resemble a range of symbolic art from the fleur-de-lys to a surveillance camera, and the Teragram insignia paired with guitar pic vectors. Two old Hollywood-era style bars separate the main hall upon the entrance. With an OG ticket booth to the right and local brews to the left, the entrance alone is a hashtag in waiting.  And the bathrooms. Do we mention the b+w art deco tiled stalls? We just did.  But there’s more. The part we can’t put down in words. The je ne sais quoi of Michael Swier and his team that revels in memories and experience and then unravels throughout the echoes between the woods, the walls, the soundbox and the lighting. The part that breathes of ageless guitars and drums kits and black boots (insert anything AC/DC anything Bowie). The writing is on the wall, Teragram is already a grand slam.

Swier has been waiting for the perfect opportunity to plant seeds in LA for his West Coast debut and two years ago when his partner proposed the space, it was on. It was only a matter of time before the transformation would become the Teragram Ballroom. The lineup is set to capture independent and underground talent catering to a range of alternative and traditional rock music. Teragram Ballroom is set to open May 31st for select invitees, with Spoon in the house. We foresee the locale becoming a staple and hope it remains an ongoing destination with a revolving lineup here. Another