A Newly Renovated Historic Landmark With A Ballroom for Grand Events

440 Elm offers a beautiful historic landmark building with elegant finishes as a backdrop for your wedding, corporate, or social event. Built in a Renaissance Revival style, we offer the classic elegance of large columns, numerous arches, gorgeous stained glass, black and white tile, and other picture-worthy elements suited to a high end corporate event or luxury wedding.

Our combination of a large ballroom in our Sanctuary and a large outdoor event space in our Plaza provides a rare urban venue that can handle large weddings, galas, and red carpet affairs.

A Historic Landmark Event Venue

440 Elm is an architectural gem built by renowned architect Elmer Grey in 1913 as the First Church of Christ Scientist. It was immediately recognized by the architectural community for as a significant example of Renaissance Revival architecture in a monumental church building. It was part of a burgeoning Christian Science congregation in Long Beach that filled the facility with 1200 worshippers upstairs and 1000 Sunday school participants downstairs on Sundays as soon as it opened. It changed hands in 1989 as it transitioned to the First Christian Church due to the demolition of their historic church building.

As one of the few large church structures that survived the 1933 earthquake in Long Beach, it was recognized as a historic landmark by ordinance of the city council in 1990.

As of 2022, Bite Catering Couture has embarked on an adaptive reuse of the building as a banquet hall and event space for weddings, corporate and social events. As one of the largest such historic spaces in Southern California, 440 Elm looks to continue a > 100 year role in convening the community around important events and celebrating life's milestones with family and friends.

Amenities

440 Elm offers a glamorous newly renovated historic venue for a single event at a time (generally up to 500 for events with seated dining or 900 in folding chairs or standing). We have multiple spaces:

• a large ballroom with 30' ceilings and light streaming through three stories of stained glass
• a outdoor plaza with several configurations of ceremony space or for activations
• a black and white checkered foyer coming off of large dual staircases with large landings
• an exposed brick lounge with a platform well suited to a band, panel, or other highlight
• a grand courtyard within our classic columns
• a beautiful chef's garden filled with flower-covered arbors and the pleasant sound of dual water fountains

Conveniently Located Between Los Angeles and Orange County in Long Beach

We serve the Long Beach, Los Angeles, and Orange County markets as a rare historic non-hotel property with large indoor and outdoor spaces. Located conveniently in the East Village Arts District of downtown Long Beach, we are about a mile from the Long Beach Convention Center and within walking distance to numerous hotels, restaurants, and attractions. We are a quick drive to the Long Beach Aquarium, Shoreline Drive, and the Pike Shopping area in the Downtown District. We are conveniently located about 15 minutes from the Long Beach Airport (LGB) and roughly 30 minutes from both Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and John Wayne Airport in Irvine (SNA). Our customers tend to be based in nearby locations including Manhattan Beach, Beverly Hills/ Brentwood, Downtown LA, Newport Beach, and Irvine.

Parking options are plentiful nearby and we would be happy to discuss shuttle and valet services relevant to guests coming from a number of potential local destinations.