A newly renovated Los Angeles area 3D sports bar touted by owners as the largest of its kind in the world - with more than 30 screens ranging from 42 to 65 inches - is bringing out some of the biggest celebrities for a red carpet event to kick off the reopening.

The bar, SOUTH powered by Vizio, will host a bash featuring NBA stars Blake Griffin of the Los Angeles Clippers and Kevin Love of the Minnesota Timberwolves, as well as actors Josh Duhamel and Kristin Cavallari, all of whom will be donning glasses and clinking glasses as they check out Vizio’s Theater 3D technology. 

The company behind the transformation is MODE Systems, Inc. of Castle Rock, Colo., which talked to SOUTH’s owners about two months ago about the job after installing the original A/V system about four years ago.

Behind The Scenes

MODE installed TVs both inside and outside the bar as well as updating and expanding the DJ booth with an iTunes computer, hooking up 20 DirecTV satellite receivers, six 3D Blu-ray players and six PS3 video game consoles, says MODE owner Marc Headley. Vizio tablets at the main bar, DJ booth and back office can control the entire establishment, he says, and Lutron automated lighting controls fixtures at the bar and outside.

“When we set it up (four years ago), we made sure it was a rock-solid system,” Headley says, noting he didn’t necessarily expect to be back at SOUTH so soon, but he’s glad he was asked. The MX6000 control system that was part of the original job was reintegrated into the new system, he says.

Guests at the grand reopening will watch the Cal vs. USC college football game in 3D, lounge in a Vizio 3D home theater and test their skills in the 3D gaming room, dubbed the 665 room because it houses six 65-inch screens. To get the full effect, they’ll wear Vizio passive, battery-free 3D glasses.

The biggest challenge, Headley says, is MODE had to do its work from about 2 to 10 a.m., when SOUTH was closed for the night, but also had to make sure everything they did wouldn’t cause problems during business hours.

“We pretty much put a TV on any flat surface of the bar, and we hung a few too,” he says, noting that about 20 of the TVs are suspended rather than mounted. “As we went, we had to debug any problems because it had to work the next morning.”

Headley hears Vizio may launch similar 3D sports bars in other cities and says he’d love for MODE to be part of those jobs. Working on the project, he says, has a fan of 3D after initial skepticism. “After you see a lot of the content, I’m a big fan of 3D now,” he says.

The biggest lesson Headley took away from the SOUTH job is to always plan on having an additional rack for possible expansion. While he expects SOUTH to be set for quite a while, he knows the owners might want to add something else and he’ll have to make room in the rack if they do.

Good Early Buzz

Griffin is excited about the new hotspot, saying in the reopening announcement he prefers sharing the new technology experience.

“It’s a lot easier to get to see the technology in a social atmosphere like this than to go in to the store and be overwhelmed by options,” he said.

Adam Milstein, owner and operator of SOUTH, agreed, saying he’s “excited for SOUTH to move forward as a leader in 3D sports viewing, giving people the chance to experience 3D technology in an immersive, social setting.”

View the 8 photos attached to this entry

             

View photos

About the author

D. Craig MacCormack

Craig MacCormack is a veteran journalist with more than 15 years experience covering local and national news and sports as well as architecture and engineering. He joined Commercial Integrator in January 2011. Follow him on Twitter: @CraigMacCormack.

View all posts by D. Craig MacCormack