Late-night club Lola to become Hollywood (again)

The life of a Shanghai nightclub is rarely straightforward, but that is especially the case for Lola. In a curious series of events the Yueyang Lu club, currently in the space formerly known as Hollywood, will soon be re-branded as Hollywood once more.

Lola moved to the former Hollywood space in 2015 after four successful years at Surpass Court on Yongjia Lu, where it had built a reputation as one of the city's best-loved clubs. Despite some inevitable changes from the original Lola, the Yueyang Lu club was known of late for its packed-out late-night house and techno parties, as well as some impressive international bookings from time to time.

So why the change? It seems the owner of the venue together with management has decided the club needs a change of direction, primarily regarding the music policy. 'The music that we think is best for now is commercial hip-hop and house, so [we thought] we would like to take back the name of Hollywood because it's easier to let people understand the change of music,' marketing manager Davide Venturoli told us. There will also be a move away from Euro-centric international bookings.

There have been wholesale changes behind the scenes too. Over the course of recent weeks the entire management team of Lola has left. And this outgoing management team aren't the same team that was behind the original Lola - none of the original founders Tony Aparisi, Xavi Canet and manager Alecs Marta have been involved in the running of Lola for around a year.

If you're thinking the team behind Hollywood are back, that's not exactly the case either. 'Everything has changed. When Hollywood stopped all the people left,' Venturoli said. 'JOBO, the DJ, played Hollywood and Lola and he will be back. But of course we [will] change all the DJs apart from JOBO. What I can tell you is that lots of DJs that were playing some years ago in Hollywood have already contacted me to ask if they can come back. So maybe we will have some DJs from the old Hollywood, but we're not sure at the moment.'

Why did the entire management team leave? Venturoli says he has 'no idea', but clearly there must have been a disagreement about the impending changes.

In terms of what changes clubbers can expect to see beyond the logo and the music policy, Venturoli says: 'Hollywood is back, but it will not be the same Hollywood as before. The new idea of our Hollywood is to keep the very good things and the vibe of old Hollywood and keep all the good ideas and the after-party of Lola. And mix these together but with new ideas.'

Slightly bizarrely, Lola is still going to be open as usual for the next couple of weeks. The team aren't sure exactly what date they will be 'launching' Hollywood, but it'll be around April 15. There will also be a 'closing party' for Lola, details of which we'll share when we have them. We'll reserve judgement on the new club until we see it, but things seem anything but settled at the big metamorphosising room on Yueyang Lu.

Lola 46 Yueyang Lu, near Dongping Lu, Xuhui district. 10pm-late Wed-Sun. 

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