Dear guest,
This week, I have been residing in the city of angels after an intense (in a good way) time in NYC. Who doesn’t need touching grass in the form of an Erewhon smoothie after five days in the Big Apple? 🍎
In the tPH universe, NYC represents the grunge-y, rockstar glam, anti-wellness side of hotel lore. LA is, in many ways, part of that same continuum, as it has historically been the scene of some hardcore rock n roll and movie star action – although the vibes are vastly different.
So without further ado, let’s continue to immerse ourselves in glamour, motorcycles, hidden bars, city sights, and neon lights, this time on the West Coast, including my stay at the Sunset Tower Hotel.
Welcome to Turndown Service, where we immerse ourselves in an experiential detail or sentiment.
In this letter: Overheard at the Sunset Tower Hotel, room service mac and cheese, and the Sunset Strip.
Oh LA, where do I even begin?
Palm trees around me and a rental Jeep underneath, it’s easy to buy into the romance of a city where so many people come to make it.
I am here to do some serious boots-on-the-ground journalism, which in this case means a) familiarizing myself with the vastness of what LA hospitality has to offer, and b) tracing the steps of yet more jet-setting rockstars of the 70s and beyond.
For my latter goal, I did not have to look further than my hotel room balcony, where I could see the Sunset Strip, home to an insane concentration of legendary music venues such as the Whisky a Go Go (played by The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, and Mötley Crüe to name a few), The Roxy Theatre, and rockstar-approved hangout Rainbow Bar & Grill.
Let me tell you, just being in the vicinity of such history can make your own life feel cinematic.
I <3 world building and historical hotels
We have previously discussed how a hotel can almost be an alternate reality where you are free to reinvent yourself and make good use of the liminal space that is not-home.
The argument I made before is that what makes this reinvention possible is the anonymity of the hotel space, and that it belongs to no one in particular. However, I think my experience at the Sunset Tower made a missing piece click for me:
For a hotel to be able to offer a legendary stay fit for rockstars, it needs to not only offer its guest anonymity, but also successfully embed them into an almost cinematic world of wonder by the means of world building.
Case: the Sunset Tower Hotel
The Sunset Tower Hotel occupies a 1929 Art Deco tower that used to be luxury residences, with residents including John Wayne, who used to live in what now is the hotel gym (and kept a cow on his balcony to always have fresh milk for his morning coffee), Marilyn Monroe, and infamous mafioso Bugsy Siegel, whose old apartment is said to be today’s Tower Bar.
While the address was prestigious in the beginning, its reputation started to deteriorate when hippies and other free-spirited, anarchism-oriented groups (such as rockstars <3) took ownership of the area.
Finally in the early 2000s, hotelier Jeff Klein brought the place back to life, and, I must say, did so with utmost taste and attention to detail.
There are certain house rules that really differentiate the Sunset Tower universe from the rest of the world: no photos, no phone calls, no laptops in the restaurants and common areas which was, firstly, very refreshing, and secondly, gave the whole place a secret society air to it.
Without screens, the golden light and the low murmur of the terrace become the whole world, and I overheard many interesting stories shared over those pool terrace tables (direct quote I noted down in my journal: “he just buys everything with daddy’s card and takes girls out for dinner at the Chateau [Marmont]”)
In a place like this, you can’t help but feel like you could be anyone and do anything, which I think is the magic that occurs when you combine anonymity with a setting (a world) in which to re-piece yourself together.
Below, as is becoming tradition after legendary stays, my experience in bullet points:
The Sunset Tower Hotel, West Hollywood, California
Valet worked like a dream, seat was always adjusted back to my settings when I got the car back
Golden lighting in and out of room
Complimentary mini bar
Mac and cheese from room service was amazing (trashing the hotel room once again)
The pool area had a view over the city
Staff was incredibly friendly, hospitable, and attentive, but still laid back in a way which I read as very Californian (disclaimer: coming from a non-Californian)
Fantastic robes and nicely branded slippers (no one has wowed me with slippers yet)
Staff uniforms were very fitting, with valet and terrace restaurant personnel in (of course branded) piqué shirts, and reception suited up
Saw an influx of glam people every evening (while I for contrast walk in with my VS Pink shopping bags and Erewhon hot bar dinner)
$5 poolside iced coffees
Super mattress and bed linens
Excellent leaning into the history of the property. There was a little booklet on my bedside table with the story of the place which I loved because I would have searched for that information anyway.
Absolute cinema
If NYC hotel lore is about grit, LA hotel lore is about excess and tan babes, and nobody did excess quite like Mötley Crüe.
The most famous story is how in December 1987, Nikki Sixx was reportedly declared clinically dead for around two minutes at the Franklin Plaza Hotel (which no longer exists) before a paramedic brought him back with adrenaline. As the story goes, he left the hospital, went home, and wrote ‘Kickstart My Heart’.
With this, I leave you. After a bicoastal tPH tour, I feel like I came close to touching something eternal when it comes to the world of hospitality, if not archetypal.
The archetype of the outlaw is described as one of revolution or change, with the attitude of ‘rules are meant to be broken’. While this can tip into destruction without purpose, which is the shadow the rockstar has to carry, I believe so much beauty and LIFE!!! can come out of leaning into our rebellious fantasies.
I hope you enjoyed your stay, dear reader. Coming up soon: more LA stories (more Erewhon, Santa Monica Proper, and Korean Spa, less adrenaline rush) - hope to see you here again next week.
Yours truly,
🌴 Emma