In its 25-year history in Los Angeles, Crypto.com Arena has experienced many milestones, including its name change from Staples Center in December 2021.

It opened Oct. 17, 1999, with a performance featuring Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band and became the home of three sports franchises — the NBA’s Lakers, who’ve won six NBA championships; the WNBA’s Sparks, who’ve brought home three championships; and the NHL’s Kings, who hold two Stanley Cup titles.

Crypto.com Arena has also hosted record-breaking concerts and tours, such as pop star Taylor Swift’s 16 consecutive sold-out shows; globally televised memorials including one honoring the late Kobe Bryant, who is commemorated with statues around the building; and the Grammy Awards, which it will host in 2025 for the 22nd time.

With the completion of Phase 3 of the arena’s nine-figure renovation project, visitors can soon expect some additions. The third phase revamped spaces such as the Yaamava’ Club and The Lexus Club for premium ticketholders. Premium glass and courtside seat ticketholders can now access the Delta SKY360° Club, formerly known as the Chairman’s Club, which offers food and drinks.

If you’re not a premium ticketholder, don’t fret. There are still plenty of great things to enjoy, including new restaurant concepts and bar and lounge areas. The venue now offers tours, which take visitors behind the scenes of the spaces only previously seen by performers and sports stars.

Whether guests are sports fans or want to catch the latest act topping the music charts and festival scenes, Crypto.com Arena is investing big to make it worthwhile for its visitors. Here are some new restaurant concepts, renovations and offerings for the arena.

Doritos After Dark

The 4,650-square-foot restaurant is the only one of its kind. It first launched as a pop-up in Los Angeles and New York in 2022. Doritos After Dark has a bar, kitchen and indoor dining seats. The walls are black and lit with neon triangles resembling the Doritos chips.

The menu, chosen by Wiley E. Bates III, executive research chef at Frito-Lay, is loaded with Dorito-flavored dishes, as you might expect — from appetizers like the Doritos Flamin’ Hot Veggie Dumplings to entrées like the Doritos Spicy Sweet Chili Ramen-Rito. Then there’s the Dorito Nacho Cheese vanilla cone for an ice cream dessert. The cocktail selections are also spicy, literally. The bar offers a Doritos Flamin’ Hot Limon Mango Chamoyada, a Doritos Flamin’ Hot Limon Late Night Rita, and a Doritos Nacho Cheese Michelada for those opposed to the hot chip.

Other items include Dorito-infused sushi rolls and Nacho Cheese Texas-Style Nachos topped with barbecue burnt ends and pickles.

Bates said there are plans for more items on the menu, which could be seasonal. He added that fan-favorite Doritos flavors and Los Angeles’ food scene were inspirations.

“One thing that excited us about opening Doritos After Dark at Crypto.com Arena was the city’s food scene,” he said. “One of our fall-backs was thinking about what’s happening in food trucks out here and all the different creations of how to serve food like nachos in 100 different ways. That led to this evolution of thinking about this around a table to opening the doors to have people try the food.”

The restaurant is only open during ticketed events, but it will step out of the arena Nov. 15 for a one-night-only Doritos Night Market pop-up at Peacock Place from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Fuku

Celebrity chef David Chang’s spicy fried chicken concept is in the arena’s City View Terrace, the new indoor-outdoor space on the Upper Concourse available to ticketholders. The rooftop area serves cocktails and views of downtown Los Angeles and L.A. Live. Fuku was established as a spin-off of Chang’s Momofuku Noodle Bar, which once served spicy chicken sandwiches as a secret menu item at its New York City location. The menu offers the OG Sando, a Sweet + Spicy Sando, tenders, Sweet + Spicy Tenders and Waffle Fries, with fuku mayo (the eatery’s take on kimchi mayo), ranch and honey mustard sauces.

Lately, the restaurant scene has been saturated with plenty of elevated fried chicken eateries, but this one has an edge. The chicken is habanero pepper-brined and may bring a tear to your eye if you’re not ready. Pair the spiciness with a sweet glaze, and your taste buds could be in for a treat.

“Our chicken is spicy, delicious and crispy and really resonates with everyone,” said Denise Ozturk, venue operations manager of Fuku. “We’ve been in event, concession and brick-and-mortar spaces since we started, but it’s very special to be a part of Crypto.com Arena’s 25th anniversary.”

Ludobab and Trois Familia

French chef Ludo Lefebvre’s Ludobird concession stand has been serving his take on fried chicken on the Main Concourse since 2013, but now he’s adding two new stands. Ludobab will offer Mediterranean fare such as kebabs, pita sandwiches, bowls, salads, a grilled pita burger, falafel, warm pita and hummus. All served with housemade sauces.

Trois Familia is perhaps where Lefebvre’s culinary skills shine most. The restaurant blends French and Mexican flavors to produce combinations such as the double-decker-style potato taco served between two tortillas, with a mashed potato filling made with butter and topped with shaved carrots, pico de gallo and lime. The tres leches cake is a soft treat combining Mexican bakery flavor with a classic French cake.

“I draw the inspiration for these dishes from the culture of Los Angeles,” Lefebvre said. “They’re mi familia.”

added concessions

The concession stands have also been expanded, including Fresh Brothers, a pizza stand replacing Blaze Pizza at Section 109. Menu specialties include deep dish cheese, pepperoni, barbecue chicken and the “Fresh Momma’s” veggie pie. Pizzas will also be available at the new Amazon Walk Out market in Section 301 in the upper concourse, dubbed South Park Market. The other Amazon Walk Out store is in Section 118 on the main concourse, called L.A. Cooler Market. Both these ask visitors to insert their credit card before entering the store and then charge them for the items they leave with, designed for an efficient checkout of snacks, tall can beers and soft drinks.

Sustainability

The arena has a new waste reduction program aimed at reducing single-use plastic consumption through a partnership with r.World. In September, the venue became the first arena in Southern California to introduce a full-time reusable cup program, teaming with partner Levy to replace all single-use plastic cups in its food and beverage destinations with reusable r.Cups. Guests are asked to throw their cups in a yellow specialty r.Cup bin found next to the blue recyclable bins and the black trash bins throughout the venue. Used cups are taken to a wash hub, where they are sanitized and returned for future events.

Nelson Ventures, sustainability program manager at AEG, said the r.Cups are part of a broader set of initiatives that champion sustainability, including waterless urinals, solar energy and LED lights, which are used in place of halogen ones.

“It helps us reduce our impact because we’re not sending any of those cups into the landfill,” Ventures said. “They can be used up to 300 times before their end of life, and when they’re disposed of, the material could be donated to be upcycled into new products. The idea is to dispose of it like you would any cup. The fan behavior doesn’t change, but what does is the way we treat our environment.”

VIP Tours

The new tours offer the public a guided experience that touches on the arena’s milestones over its 25 years. The 90-minute Arena Tour includes insider stories and fun facts, providing visitors insight into the latest renovations and upgrades, including exclusive spaces like the private Lexus Club and Yaamava’ Club by San Manuel suites. Other areas on the tour include artist dressing rooms, Event Level access, and visits to the Tunnel Suites, Delta SKY360° Club and the locker room hallway.

The 60-minute Game Day Tour is a shorter version of the Arena Tour. The most significant difference is that guests cannot access the Event Level or the locker room hallway. Each tour will give guests a souvenir credential and lanyard. Tickets for the tours can be purchased at cryptoarena.com beginning today.

Team L.A. Store

The store was remodeled over the summer and now includes a New Era Hat Wall, Pro Standard Shop in Shop, and Mitchell & Ness Shop in Shop. This season, they will launch self-checkout lines using RFID technology, where shoppers can load a bag full of merchandise and place it on a pad that calculates the totals. Fans can also shop at two new walk-in merchandise stands on the main concourse for team or artist merchandise at events.

Center-hung scoreboard

The arena installed a new center-hung scoreboard from Daktronics on Aug. 14. The six-display, 5,500-square-foot configuration features 41.7 million pixels and hangs above the action of Lakers, Kings and Sparks games, concerts and other events. The scoreboard will also include end wall and ribbon displays.

The main video display is a continuous canvas wrapping around the center-hung structure and featuring 3.9-millimeter pixel spacing. It measures approximately 27 feet high by 170.5 feet in circumference and can show multiple zones of digital content, including live video feeds, instant replays, statistics, game information, graphics, animations and ads.

The bottom display, which sits below the main display, faces the floor below.

It measures 18 feet square and features 2.5-millimeter pixel spacing. Four underbelly displays are fitted along each side of the bottom display and face the sides and ends of the arena. Each display measures 14 feet high by 16.5 feet wide and features 2.5-millimeter pixel spacing. The screens can show supplemental content to the main display while providing visuals to those sitting closer to the floor.