Workers were tending to what looked like a construction site at times, wheeling in giant statuettes and putting on last-minute touches.
About thirty minutes away, there were preparations of a different kind at a Hollywood gifting suite. Think of it as a market for the stars.
[Ads /]
RELATED: How to watch the 2023 Oscars and who's nominated
"The big benefit is you'll have your picture with the celebrity and the nominee. They can use that for social media so it can boost their sales. It's a win win for everyone," says Nathalie Dubois, the CEO of DPA.
She's been organizing these events for nearly twenty years around big awards shows such as the Grammys.
VIDEO: Lights, camera, rain: A soggy start with new carpet color marks 95th Oscars in Hollywood
Lights, camera, rain: A soggy start marks 95th Oscars in Hollywood
She says her goal is to curate the most unique and special experiences and products and put them all into one place.
Nominees and their associates receive everything from trips to Greenland, to books written by women and a former NFL star, to luxury laundry detergent!
The value? Up to $50,000.
VIDEO: No more red carpet at Oscars? Why champagne will be the color for this year's ceremony
No more red carpet at Oscars: Champagne will be the color for this year's ceremony
[Ads /]
After spotting actor Jake McLean who was one of the Navi in Avatar, the Way of Water...picking up stem cell eye-drops from Japan, Nathalie spilled the beans on who else has visited her suite in the past.
"Sharon Stone. She was my first big star, Charlize Theron, Richard Gere, Girard Butler, so many people," she beams.
MORE: 2023 Oscar-nominated costumes on public display at Downtown LA's FIDM museum
So as the world waits for those A-Listers and many more to make their way into the Dolby Theater Sunday, we asked legendary producer and first Asian American Academy president Janet Yang to fill us in on the carpet color change.
"We hired a woman called the red carpet guru...the person behind the Met Gala red carpet. Her decision, I am only assuming for the purposes of producing the best photographs."
MORE: 'Turning Red' hopes to grab Oscar gold and make history at Pixar
Try convincing the man, dressed head-to-toe in red and known as "The Ambassador of Hollywood" of that!
[Ads /]
"I'm here to protest!"
We'll have much more from Janet Yang on Saturday at 11 p.m., when she talks about some of the historic firsts for the nominees and her goals for making the Oscars a more community-focused, diverse awards show.