An A-list folk rocker built this jewel-box concert hall, just when downtown L.A. needs it

Ben Lovett, keyboardist for Mumford & Sons, is simultaneously managing multiple major projects: the release of his band's sixth album "Prizefighter" featuring collaborations with Hozier, Gracie Abrams, and Chris Stapleton, preparation for a Saturday Night Live appearance and fall arena tour, and the completion of Pacific Electric, a new 750-capacity music venue in Los Angeles. Lovett and his venue-developer firm TVG Hospitality have spent six years converting a warehouse into this flagship venue, which represents the seventh venue for the company. Pacific Electric marks a significant expansion of Lovett's role as a live music entrepreneur in Los Angeles, coinciding with a creatively important moment for Mumford & Sons, the band that led the 2010s folk revival.

"I've never had such a significant moment around a venue launch. It's the seventh venue we've done, but it has never coincided with such an important creative moment with the band. I have to be very disciplined right now."

"In a few weeks, this site will be Pacific Electric, a new 750-capacity music venue that Lovett and his venue-developer firm TVG Hospitality have been converting for six years. It's a small but ambitious entry into a Los Angeles venue landscape that's recovering from fire and economic woes, yet has also seen several jolts of life recently."

"Pacific Electric is a new flagship for the team at TVG, which has become an independent-scene force in the U.S. and U.K. over the last decade. Beyond his band, this project plants Lovett's flag as an L.A. live music entrepreneur too."

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