Brentwood Associates, one of California’s largest venture-capital...

Brentwood Associates, one of California’s largest venture-capital firms, has seen the wisdom in what a few dozen other venture-capital firms have done and has opened an office in Orange County.

The Los Angeles firm has teamed with one of its general partners, Martin Hubbard, who heads Hub Associates in Santa Ana, to open a joint office in the Center Tower building next to Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa. Brentwood also has an office in Menlo Park run by Ed Zschau, the entrepreneur-turned-politician who ran unsuccessfully as the Republican nominee against Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) last year.

The two companies are holding an invitation-only open house tonight at the posh Center Club.

Brentwood put together a syndication group in June to help buy Teachers Management and Investment Corp., a Newport Beach firm that handles a $700 million real estate portfolio for teachers.