West Hollywood is filled with dreams. Everyone you meet is either an actor or wants to be one. Most have already made a movie or two and almost all have an agent. With this many dreams and ambitions in the air, this town must also hold a secret or two. In any family, the keeper of the most treasured secrets is the great matriarch and West Hollywood, of course, has its own. They call her the Sunset Tower Hotel.
Created in 1929 as an apartment building to keep Hollywood actors living close to the studios, it was designed in contemporary Art Decor style by architect Leland A. Bryant. In 2004, when hotelier Jeff Klein purchased the building, he nipped and tucked its heart and soul to make it function as a hotel, without losing its original charm.
Today, walk along Sunset Boulevard without looking up and you could almost miss the entrance and sign which sit slightly back, concealed by a low hedge and flowering trees. Whilst the curved corners and floor-to-ceiling glass windows running the full height of the tower are conspicuous, it’s not this that sets this grand hotel apart. What makes Sunset Tower Hotel the most respected in Tinsel Town is her discretion.
No photography is allowed in any of the communal spaces of the hotel – something that is strictly enforced to protect the privacy cherished by its loyal clientele who frequent the hotel freely. When we checked in, cars pulled in and out of the entrance day and evening. Valets stepped in and drove the cars away quickly. Doormen ensured a swift entrance for guests.
The vintage lifts carry guests up to each of its 15 floors. Our Superior Queen Room on the seventh floor was a front-row seat to West Hollywood with views across the city. We pulled back the dusty pink sheer curtains to watch as palm trees cast their shadow over the pool at sunset, enchanting anyone watching into a stupor.
The Queen-sized bed in our room was adorned with soft Egyptian cotton cream sheets with a wide brown border repeated on the heavy drapes and wooden trim along the walls. The pink of the sheer curtains matched the walls and robes, which hung on the back of the bathroom door. Symmetrical brass accents completed the Art Deco feel of the space, while the elegance and sleek vibe continued in the bathroom where Donald Robertson illustrated gold wallpaper gleams against a dark brown and brass vanity unit stacked with the softest, neatly rolled, white towels.
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| While you’re Out There |
| Run by Oprah’s former chef Tal Ronnen, Crossroads Kitchen on nearby Melrose Avenue is probably LA’s most popular vegan restaurant. Aside from seriously delicious plant-based fare, guests are in for the chance to bump into some of Hollywood’s biggest stars – Jay Z, Beyoncé, Miley Cyrus, Joaquin Phoenix and others have all been ‘papped’ here. |
John Wayne’s old apartment on the third floor has been converted into the hotel’s gym. We have it on good authority that Wayne kept a cow on his balcony so his guests could have fresh milk with their coffee. Mansion Fitness occupies the space (sans cow) and is open to hotel guests 24 hours a day.
Mobster Bugsy Siegel’s former apartment on the ground floor is now The Tower Bar and Restaurant, which is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. A-list stars dine here with their families openly, assured that their privacy is not compromised by anyone. Things certainly rack up a few notches in the evening as dinner service begins and the hum of voices from the bar is enough to pull anyone to its nucleus. The restaurant leads out to the small pool and terrace – all of which remain intensely private and discreet at all times. The Maitre D’ knows everyone by name, and any casual meetings are anything but coincidental.
Certainly, staying here is a bucket list experience and we loved sleeping in our beautiful room which we hoped would whisper her secrets to us while we slept. However, if moving around and snapping everything in your eyeline is your thing, this is certainly not the hotel for it. The floors remain quiet. Service is intensely discreet and your entire floor might be taken up by an A-lister’s entourage without you having the faintest idea that it happened. Make no mistake. This is Hollywood; baked cookies at turndown served with a side of closed ranks.
Whatever happens within this tall tower and however things may turn out, any lady worth her salt knows you never kiss and tell; an old-fashioned sense of honour at odds with the oversharing culture of the strange new world of fleeting fame. It is this enduring legacy that has cemented this Grand Dame in Hollywood for 92 years. Who are we to argue with it?
Photography courtesy of Sunset Tower Hotel
