Where better to open a design-centric boutique hotel than inside a 1931 Romanesque Revival church in Silver Lake? At least, that’s what Casetta Hospitality Group thought when it set its sights on Los Angeles’ newest boutique haunt: Hotel Lucile.
As only the second hotel in Silver Lake, Hotel Lucile has been a long time coming. And its opening party on September 10 certainly made a splash. Inside the grand, French-American brasserie Sous Sous, a jazz band took center stage as the bar buzzed with conversation. Guests mingled throughout the hotel, taking in the space with plenty of oohs and ahs, while many spilled onto the front steps of the former church, drink in one hand and smoke in the other. Among the crowd was Miley Cyrus, who arrived with her mother, ceramicist Tish Cyrus Purcell, who launched her debut ceramic art collection and exhibition at the opening soiree.
The building itself has lived several lives. Originally known as Bethany Presbyterian Church, it later became an early home to East West Players, one of the nation’s first Asian American theater companies, before transforming into a neighborhood antique market. Now, nearly a century after its construction, it has entered its latest chapter as a design-centric hotel.
Every crack and crevice has been reimagined into a swanky new hangout, with certain areas taking more prowess than others. Just above the former chapel (where Sous Sous now lives), the Choir Loft feels like a private members club, overlooking the restaurant below. It’s the kind of tucked-away spot made for sneaking off for a quiet conversation, morning coffee, or a little reading time.
Designed by Venice Beach-based Electric Bowery, the hotel preserves the building’s character through stained-glass windows, soaring arches, and original architectural details, layering them with custom furnishings, collected antiques, and contemporary artwork curated by Rhett Baruch Gallery and Uprise Art.
The intimate hotel houses 25 rooms, ranging from Petit and Signature Kings to Loft layouts and the 536-square-foot Lucile Suite. Around back, a sun-drenched courtyard leads to a guest-only rooftop deck and quaint cocktail pool.
With its art, food, history, and distinctly Silver Lake spirit, Hotel Lucile feels less like a hotel simply dropped into the neighborhood and more like the next chapter of a building that has always been meant to gather people… and its welcome party simply showed off this aspect.
Guests of the first evening proved what kind of hotel this is shaping up to be: a cultural hideaway for the artists and wannabe creatives alike. It was an evening of “choose your own adventure”: whether that meant snuggling up to the bar at Sous Sous, hiding away on the guest-only rooftop deck, settling into the courtyard pool beneath the lounge cabanas, wandering the hallways and staircases, admiring artwork you’d certainly want to take home straight from the walls (and, great news, you can), or simply taking in the facade that has told more stories than just this one.
You left Hotel Lucile feeling like you’d experienced your own little old Hollywood party, already wanting to relive it all over again.