During the 1960s and ’70s, the Sunset Strip pulsated with rock ’n’ roll clubs and a spirit of youthful rebellion. In 1996, more than two decades later, Ian Schrager reinvigorated this iconic stretch with the opening of the Mondrian Los Angeles. Now, he’s back with the West Hollywood EDITION, yet another fashionable hotel that captures the boulevard in the midst of a renaissance.“This property is quintessentially LA, but without any of the clichés. It’s sophisticated, laidback, casual, but glamorous,” he explains. “It manifests the location and the era.”
The first West Coast outpost of the luxury lifestyle brand Schrager founded in partnership with Marriott International features both architecture and interiors by London-based John Pawson, who also handled the residences at the Miami Beach EDITION and is working on the Madrid outpost. Located on the site of the former Rat Pack hangout Scandia, the 190-room, 20-residence newcomer is home to a refined spa and four F&B concepts, including the rooftop pool, which crowns the terraced deck and is hidden by a wall thick with foliage.
The Ardor restaurant features a lush garden terrace
Ardor is outfitted with leather, bronze, and charred wood ceiling beams
Every space “leads into each other,” says Pawson. “The building is set back quite a long way from the road, so when you arrive, there’s this huge breathing space with the forecourt, which Ian filled with plants. Then you enter the [double-height] lobby and see Sterling Ruby’s artwork, an instant Los Angeles introduction.”
Ruby, one of the leading lights of LA’s contemporary arts scene, created the installation SCALE (EDITION), a mobile integrating industrial objects that hints at the appealing grittiness also lurking on Sunset. It’s an edgy juxtaposition to the use of classic materials like western red cedar (“I’ve always liked California woods,” says Pawson), classic Italian travertine, Nero Assoluto black granite, and European black walnut in the layered, residentially informed lobby.
The lobby opens up to a circular outdoor firepit; a white-and-black spiral staircase leads to the gym
Socializing unfolds on the scalloped bar’s walnut and cane stools, or at the billiards table swathed in French yellow cloth. “It’s a fantastic place to gather,” Pawson says, pointing to the courtyard’s circular firepit as another glamorous hangout spot. Ardor restaurant, which flaunts leather, bronze, and charred wood ceiling beams, also celebrates the outdoors with its garden terrace.
A Schrager staple, Sunset nightclub was handled by New York firm Bonetti/Kozerski Architecture, a longtime collaborator that also contributed to the public spaces and guestrooms. The subterranean venue evokes a low-key glamour with “a hidden away feeling more common of a New York club as you descend the dimly lit staircase made of black sheet steel,” says firm partner Dominic Kozerski, “but once you’re inside, the design attitude is more that of an LA lounge.”
Refined materials in the lobby juxtapose the Sunset Strip’s grittiness
Silk area rugs underneath marble-topped coffee tables and plush blue sofas inspired by artist Donald Judd are elegant touches in the lobby, while dramatic green velvet drapery helps bring the outside in. In contrast, the calm palette of the guestrooms takes cues from the hotel’s relaxed California setting, with Pawson melding Siberian larch paneling with whitewashed teak. Views of the Pacific Ocean and Hollywood Hills homes are framed by floor-to-ceiling glass walls that reveal a sundrenched escape from the bustling street below. The city’s “incredible light,” informed the design, he explains. “It’s so bright and extraordinary.”
Pawson credits the hotel’s lavish touches to Schrager. “Our palettes have always been slightly different, but it’s rather good,” he says. “You propose things and he tweaks them, or he brings his [ideas] to the table, and somehow, together, you end up with something unique.”
Flanked by foliage, the rooftop pool deck overlooks the Hollywood Hills
This article originally appeared in HD’s May 2020 issue.
