West Hollywood’s Most Committed Night Out Just Turned One

Photo Credit: sbe and Zouk LA

A year into its West Hollywood residency, Zouk Los Angeles is still the loudest thing on the block. Literally and otherwise.

The short version: Singapore’s Zouk Group and LA’s own sbe — Sam Nazarian’s empire, the man who has spent the better part of two decades deciding what this city goes out to — joined forces and planted a 16,500-square-foot nightclub on La Cienega that somehow managed to make the rest of LA nightlife feel slightly underdressed by comparison. This wasn’t Zouk’s first American rodeo, either. The brand had already embedded itself on the Las Vegas Strip since 2021, doing exactly what it does best — making the room feel like the only room that matters — before Hui Lim and Nazarian decided LA was next.

It works. Overwhelmingly well.

Photo Credit: sbe and Zouk LA

The space itself — designed by Christian Schulz and the team at Studio Collective — is stadium seating wrapped around a dance floor, a DJ booth big enough to feel genuinely monumental, and The Mothership overhead (their words, but fair — the multidimensional ceiling lighting situation is the kind of thing you describe to people the next morning and they think you’re exaggerating). There’s an exterior patio lounge, a private lounge that doubles as a green room, its own entrance, its own patio, its own bar. Because of course there is.

The lineup this past year reads less like a booking calendar and more like someone’s very ambitious Spotify wishlist made real: Travis Scott, Lil Wayne, PlayBoi Carti, The Chainsmokers, Metro Boomin’, Gunna, Shaboozey — twice, apparently, once as performer and once as patron, which is a very specific kind of endorsement. The Grammys’ Billboard Power 100 landed here. Clive Davis was in the building. Mariah Carey was in the building. Justin Bieber has been in the building multiple times, which either means the vibe is immaculate or the guest list is very good at its job. Probably both. The regular-patron situation is equally unhinged in the best way — Jamie Foxx, Nina Dobrev, Julianne Hough, Zoey Deutch, David Dobrik — the kind of room where you stop doing double-takes because there’s simply too many to keep up with.

Photo Credit: sbe and Zouk LA

Hui Lim, for his part, sounds like a man who knew exactly what he was building. “LA is where culture, community, and creativity collide,” he said, “and it’s been inspiring to see our vision flourish here.” Nazarian, who has been reshaping this city’s nightlife for twenty-five years and shows no signs of slowing down, framed it as continuation rather than arrival: “Having spent the last two decades defining LA nightlife, I am incredibly proud of how sbe continues to pioneer and disrupt the culture.”

High praise. Arguably deserved.

A year in, Zouk LA isn’t just surviving the notoriously fickle LA nightlife landscape. It’s setting the pace.

One year. One Mothership. Apparently just getting started.