Palihouse West Hollywood Hotel Reopens, But Not in West Hollywood
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Palihouse West Hollywood isn’t technically in West Hollywood. But hotelier Avi Brosh, founder of hospitality group Palisociety, has his reasons for giving his newest property the name.
“I really want this [new spot] to be a 2.0 from the first property that we ever opened, the original Palihouse hotel on Holloway,” says Brosh of reopening his Palihouse West Hollywood boutique hotel on West 3rd Street in the city of Los Angeles. It replaces the previous location on Holloway Drive — which was inside the city boundaries of West Hollywood — and which closed during the pandemic. (The building is now occupied by Soho House’s Holloway House.)
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“I thought it sort of made sense to me that we would blur the line a little bit in terms of exact location,” continues Brosh. “I just felt like even though technically it wasn’t in West Hollywood, people know that name and understand that brand.”
At this reincarnation of the hotel, guests enter from the porte-cochère valet area on S. Orlando Street into the charming lobby, where Palisociety’s signature quirky-meets-traditional European-influenced design aesthetic is on full display, from the wood-paneling and green-and-white tiled flooring to floral wallpaper on the ceiling and the two ceramic Great Danes flanking the room. “My approach to the entry was to create something that’s very warm and theatrical, so you know right away you are in a place that’s sophisticated and bespoke yet doesn’t take itself too seriously,” says Brosh, who oversees all interior design in-house.
The boutique hotel’s 95 guest rooms — decorated in rust, terra cotta and deep green hues — are generously sized, from 330 to 660 square feet. Some are suites; many have balconies. And each room is kitted out with retro-chic Smeg mini fridges.
Elsewhere at the hotel, there’s a guest-only swimming pool and lounge area (featuring a complimentary lemonade and candy bar) and a fitness room on the fifth floor.
Palihouse West Hollywood — located not far from The Grove and the Beverly Center shopping malls — also includes two dining spots: the all-day Lobby Lounge Café & Bar featuring an outdoor patio and serving up Caesar and Cobb salads, lobster tacos, and chicken paillard, and Mezzanine Sushi, a sake bar and destination for hand rolls, nigiri and pressed sushi, plus wood-fired okra, shiitake mushrooms and bacon-wrapped asparagus. “We created this Tokyo-style sake bar with Japanese fingers foods and sushi,” says Brosh. There’s even a sushi take-out window on West 3rd Street that’s open at lunchtime from 11 am to 1 pm.
Brosh — whose expansion plans include forthcoming Palihotel properties in San Diego and Hollywood — says that the biggest challenge with reopening the hotel in its new West 3rd Street location was contending with the “early 80s L.A. vibe” of the building, which previously housed the Orlando Hotel and has been home to two prior restaurants, Cleo and The Churchill.
“I would say that Los Angeles wasn’t necessarily renowned for its architectural prowess in the early 80s. So we had some challenges related to trying to take what is otherwise a somewhat aesthetically challenged building and give it texture, layers and a sense of warmth, as well as give it more of a presence on the street. It was one of those buildings you drove by all the time and you didn’t even know it was there.”
To that end, Palisociety added awnings to the property to give it “a little more of a pedestrian scale,” painted the exterior in contrasting green and cream and added “a lot of landscaping,” he says, adding of the overall design goals, “We tried to make it feel more European. I wanted it to feel it could stand the test of time.”
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