We took a chance on this place for our wedding ceremony + reception, as it had just been recently renovated and there weren't many reviews yet. I'm so glad we did! Here's why:
1. The building is truly beautiful. Its gorgeous wood floors, expos...ed brick, high beam ceilings and interesting original details (like the arc cutouts in the walls) make for a stunning canvas on which to plan your event. It's great because it works for all kinds of budgets and styles--it can be totally transformed to fit a unique aesthetic (like we did for our "neon tropical" wedding), but it can also have very minimal decor (aka smaller budget!!) and still be a really classy and impressive backdrop for your event.
2. The owner is so nice, accommodating, flexible and reasonable. I also love that she's a young woman owner!!
3. The location is PERFECT. It's within walking distance of so many hotels and the whole Gaslamp scene, but it somehow feels separated from the bad parts of downtown. It's like this cool urban oasis - smack in the middle of everything yet it's own little world.
Here's my biggest tip when touring this place and trying to envision it for your wedding or event: be flexible in how you see the space! They label a lot of areas within the building, but I hardly used any for what they were intended for, and the layout worked soooo perfectly for me and my event.
For instance, they have this super cool downstairs area that you could use as an awesome bar area, lounge, etc. - but I chose not to allow guests down there at all because for our 125 person wedding, it would have felt too sparse for the guests to spread out over the two floors. Instead, we used it as a setup area for the caterers (this is good to keep in mind! The kitchen is very small, but if you can allot more of the downstairs for kitchen prep etc, it works out fabulously for any hesitant caterers).
There is also a room down there they were referring to as the grooms suite, but I used it as the bridal suite and again, PERFECTION. Megan (owner) has it very nicely outfitted with couches, cute decor and a great full length mirror to get ready. You can then enter the upstairs from one of two ways. It was so key for me throughout the wedding.
Also, there is a kind of sunken area in the back they think of as the dance floor, but we opted to put our own dance floor in the main area and use that sunken place for a photo booth and a quieter lounge area - again, to keep guests mainly staying in one place. And that setup was amazing for us and our purposes.
We had multiple guests comment on the building and how beautiful it was, both when it was fully decked out on the day of the wedding AND when we were doing our rehearsal in the completely empty space.
I am a picky person (ok, I'm a total perfectionist slash control freak) , and I can say that this was the perfect venue for our wedding. If I had it to do all over again, I would choose this place in a heartbeat.