After 25 Years of Live Music, LA’s Historic Conga Room Closes Permanently

Musician Tito Puente on stage at the Conga Room.

The Conga Room, Los Angeles’s iconic music concert venue, will close permanently on March 27. Throughout its run, the Conga Room saw notable performances by Latino artists like Bad Bunny, the Buena Vista Social Club, and legendary percussionist Tito Puente.

In 1998, the venue opened in Mid-Wilshire with a performance by Cuban singer Celia Cruz five years before her death. The Conga Room’s original investors were recording artist Sheila E. and actors Jennifer Lopez, Jimmy Smits, and Paul Rodriguez. It became known as the West Coast home of salsa featuring Latin music and entertainment and even hosted the second Latin Grammy Awards in 2001. In 2008, the venue moved into L.A. Live.

Billboard interviewed Conga Room founder Brad Gluckstein, who cited several issues surrounding the closure. The pandemic greatly impacted all live music venues. Gluckstein stated that inflation, high interest rates, and a drop in Convention Center traffic led to a changing business model. Gluckstein also said AEG and Live Nation, the two major companies that promote, operate, and manage ticket sales for live entertainment, made booking national acts difficult.

Bad Bunny performs at the Conga Room.

Wax Paper reemerging in Chinatown

After closing in Chinatown last fall, Wax Paper will reopen this Wednesday in the United Foods Building. It will sell sandwiches and soft serve from Close Encounters from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. until sold out, while the Frogtown location still operates seven days a week.

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Cardi B reviews Easy Street Burgers with Keith Lee

Over the weekend, Keith Lee’s 15 million TikTok followers found themselves looking at a review of Easy Street Burger in Studio City by Cardi B. The pair sampled burgers from the restaurant, which Lee initially reviewed in 2023. Easy Street Burger lines were already impossibly long, and will considerably increase now that Cardi B. is on the job.

Something new at Melrose’s iconic Village Idiot space

Transformation of the former Village Idiot space is well underway with Carmel restaurant opening in May. Chef Asaf Maoz of New York’s 19 Cleveland restaurant recently relocated to Los Angeles, where he’ll use an open kitchen and wood-burning oven to shape a rotating menu that draws on food traditions from Syria, Italy, Morocco, Yemen, and Eastern Europe. Dishes on the opening menu include crispy mushroom cigars wrapped in dough with baharat spice and a 72-hour fermented bread baked to order. Drinks will also be seasonal and the restaurant will serve natural wines on draft. The Village Idiot, a well-loved neighborhood gastropub, closed after 16 years in April 2023.

Support women-owned restaurants at happy hour

LA’s women-owned restaurant support group Regarding Her has a lineup of monthly food events, including a happy hour on March 24 at Cuernavacas Grill from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. featuring food by Yuca’s and Jitlada. Full info is here.

Flyer for Regarding Her happy hour.