Hyde Lounge at Staples Center Bar / Club / Lounge

Downtown, Los Angeles –

Although the Staples Center is best known for hosting mega concerts and Lakers basketball games, hidden away inside this multi-purpose arena is an exclusive hotspot called Hyde Lounge.

Scenesters, celebrities, and industry bigwigs head up via a special elevator, eventually entering a room that looks more like a ritzy nightclub than a place to catch the game.

Regular patrons of Hyde’s sister location in West Hollywood are used to the luxury, while first-time visitors pause to gawk at the rosewood walls, the crocodile-skin bar tops, and the tufted leather chairs arranged around glass tables and floating flat-screens.

The TVs are all tuned to the action on the court below, while rows of cushioned stadium seats and bottle service-only couches attract those in the mood for a more traditional viewing experience.

Perfectly coifed dudes in their Christian Audigier best sling back craft beers at the bar, or snack on gourmet salads and sandwiches worlds apart from traditional stadium grub.

Curtains separate the main area from the VIP room, where models and stars relax on a massive couch dotted with fur pillows, glued to the enormous TV that looms over the crackling fireplace.

Before and after an event at the arena, DJs back in the main room usually help turn the venue into a hopping little club, but no matter what visitors come to see at the Staples Center, the hottest scene will always be at Hyde Lounge.