Mic Drop Karaoke Los Angeles

Mic Drop is the first national karaoke club conceived as a fully immersive performance experience. The interior design is a collaboration between the owners, Leo & Oliver Kremer, and Amy Morris of The Morris Project, a James Beard Award winner celebrated for creating immersive brand worlds that spark emotion and leave a lasting impression.

Their vision transforms a night out into a cinematic, full-sensory spectacle. Set within the former home of the Larrabee Recording Studios, the design honors music history while amplifying it with contemporary Art Deco drama, rich textures, sculptural curves, and a glow that feels equal parts backstage electricity and Old Hollywood allure.

From private studios to the main stage, every spatial move is choreographed to build anticipation, spark confidence, and blur the line between guest and headliner. A place where heritage meets high glamour and every voice gets its spotlight moment.

Oliver and Leo researched karaoke culture firsthand across the globe, arriving at the project with a rich archive of references that informed every detail. Their immersion in the category made for a collaboration that was as creatively rigorous as it was personal. It was a joy working so closely with both of them.

The ground floor is anchored in red, referencing the intimate music lounges of the 1920s. Upstairs, blue takes over embodying the live energy of the night and the feeling of a city that never quite winds down. Together, the two spaces create a journey: from the soul of music's origins to the feeling of where it takes you. This was especially important since the location was once Larrabee Studios.

The restored Art Deco exterior reclaims its architectural gravitas with subtle neo-classical detailing and illuminated arched windows. Architectural lighting by L'Observatoire International, the studio behind projects for the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles or the National Museum of Qatar, washes the façade in a refined cinematic glow, transforming the building into a beacon after dark. Color changing lines of light at the top of the building and entrance canopy pulse, hinting at the beat of music within.

Guests enter through a flash of reflection and rhythm. Cut mirror panels fracture the light, while a gold disco-tiled host stand acts as a jewel-box focal point, playful, polished, and instantly performative. Gold mirror light bulbs at the wig display evoke a backstage dressing room, as guests prepare to transform into performers. The arrival moment is designed as the first “applause.”

The heart of Mic Drop channels Hollywood Regency theatrics with unapologetic drama: richly fringed red velvet curtains, a zebra-carpeted stage, and high-gloss lacquered walls that bounce and refract spotlight beams. A graze of light wrapping the back wall enlivens the velvet’s texture while providing a glamorous backdrop to the stage. Lights integrated into steps and toe-kicks highlight brass and zebra carpet finishes while guiding guests. The room is calibrated for transformation bringing the singer center frame in their own silver-screen fantasy.

The brass back bar ripples in a continuous curve, echoing the building’s Deco arches and the cadence of music itself. A red marble bar top grounds the space in sultry elegance, while monochromatic red walls and velvet banquettes wrap the room in a saturated warmth. A bar front light with subtle indirect detailing and Art Deco table lamps on the marble top invite with their warm glow. Vintage Murano glass wall sconces and uplit bottles sparkle at the back bar. The strategy is intentional: warmth, reflection, and curvature combine to keep the energy fluid and the room feeling alive.

Behind the bar, an unexpected social stage unfolds, similar to that of a backstage. An open-plan bathroom anchored by a marble-and-brick-glass communal sink beneath a Deco chandelier, turns a transitional space into a moment of connection. Sweeping crescent stairs rise gracefully toward the VIP entry, adding movement and ceremony, or a place for rest.

At the stair branching off from the main lobby, colored lights grazing the ceiling and walls transform the stair into an immersive tunnel saturated with color, drawing people up to the second floor. Corridors wrapped in blue velvet and traced with slim neon lines create a moody, anticipatory procession. The multi-layered lighting approach of the main floor is intentionally pared back to this guiding line of light as a palate cleanser before guests enter the private studios. Each private studio, named after iconic recording studios, is engineered with concert-level sound and lighting, giving guests the visceral thrill of stepping onto a headline stage. Intimate in scale yet grand in experience, these rooms deliver the fantasy of stardom with the polish of a professional production. The design mimics that of the main room giving guests an equally glamorous experience no matter where they choose to sing.