After Hollywood, Burbank (approximately 12 miles north of Downtown Los Angeles) is synonymous with the entertainment industry. Disney World, NBC Universal, Warner Bros. Entertainment and Nickelodeon have headquarters or major production studios in Burbank, and sometimes both. Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien base their chat shows here, and there's no doubt that groups employing Burbank meeting venues would like to catch a glimpse of celebrities on their way to work.
Bob Hope Airport (BUR) is three miles northwest of the center of Burbank. It mainly serves West Coast destinations but does have direct flights to Denver and New York City's John F. Kennedy. The airport also has a direct train link (the only airport in the whole Los Angeles Metro area to do so) to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), which is approximately 30 miles to the south.
The Los Angeles Convention Center is directly 10 miles to the south, and has 720,000 square feet of exhibit space and 147,000 square feet of meeting space.
Meeting venues in Burbank are dominated by the 488-room Los Angeles Marriott Burbank, which has 22 meeting rooms and the 15,015-square-foot Academy Ballroom for up to 2,240 persons; and the 592-room Holiday Inn Burbank, which has 4,000 square feet of meeting space. (Two fun, retro-Burbank choices are the sibling 55-room Safari Inn and 47-room Coast Annabelle, while a very stylish option is the 100-room Amarano Burbank.)
Certainly the biggest noise among Burbank special event venues is the Warner Bros. Studios, where a special-events department can help arrange memorable events for up to 5,000 persons. Other Burbank special event venues may come as a surprise, such as Calamigos Equestrian, which has 75 acres of landscaped grounds on the Burbank edge of Griffith Park, as well as 13,000 square feet of space for groups, including a ballroom for 300. The Falcon Theatre has a 130-seat screening room, and The Castaway has five meeting rooms, three ballrooms, a beautiful garden and fantastic views of Los Angeles.
Dining venues in Burbank include McCormick & Schmick's Seafood, which has two meeting rooms and 5,900 square feet of space for groups; and the Burbank Bar & Grille, which has a Californian menu and three spaces for groups, a heated patio, the Tin Room and the main dining room if numbers are sufficient. Brazilian churrascaria Picanha obviously specializes in tender meats, while Smokehouse, in operation since 1946 and on this site since 1949, is a classic steakhouse with many a story to tell of famous diners. The Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant, with an impressive entrance, brews its own beer and has the Pilsner Room and a patio for groups. Morton's has private space for up to 100 persons.
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