• Located on Sunset Strip where the Hollywood legend began.
• The poolside deck, resplendent in cobalt blue AstroTurf, has stunning views of Los Angeles and is a signature feature of The Standard.
• The Purple Lounge is one of the trendiest spots in Hollywood and attracts an eclectic and cosmopolitan crowd.
The Whole Story
Sunset Strip is where the Hollywood legend began. All the scandal and the intrigue that has so captivated the popular press for the past seventy-odd years started in the bars, clubs and hotels on Sunset. In the thirties and forties, it was the Mocambo and the Tropicana that pulled the stars and kickstarted the celebrity cult. The fifties brought Sinatra and his Rat Pack, who were regulars at Ciro's, along with the likes of Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield. Over the years places closed and places opened, but the Strip endured as the place for the famous and the would-be famous to hang out. Even the total change of the sixties – with new attitudes, new freedoms and new fashions – did not derail the Strip. Quite the opposite. Jim Morrison and the Doors, Sonny and Cher, Frank Zappa, and Mammas and the Papas were all discovered at a hot new club on Sunset called the Whisky.
The Mocambo and the Tropicana are long defunct, but the Strip is as relevant as it always was. These days the places to hang out and be seen are hotels. At one end of Sunset Boulevard near the corner of La Cienega is the all-white Mondrian, a favourite with the music crowd – the established music crowd. At the other end there is the legendary Chateau Marmont, firm favourite with the film crowd – the established film crowd. In between the two is the brash new upstart, the Standard.
The name is ironic, for it is anything but. The crowd that jam the bar every night is from the worlds of music and film, but they are younger and hungrier, less set in their ways. The Standard is perfect for them and vice versa. It was created for precisely this young clientele, sophisticated in taste but limited in means. This was a niche specifically identified by André Balazs, hotel entrepreneur and proprietor of successful Hip Hotels like Chateau Marmont down the road and the Mercer in New York.
The Standard was not, however, simply a matter of scaling down the ingredients of his other properties. It is a project driven more by attitude than by design concept. It turns convention on its head at every possible opportunity (including the upside-down logo). The only shop in the lobby is Ed's Barber Shop, with the slogan: 'no nicks or cheap cuts' (they also do the odd tattoo). The lobby contains a glass vitrine where a nightly work of performance art is staged in the form of a scantily clad girl reading a book or sleeping in full view of those checking in or out.
The shag-pile carpet in the lobby runs up the wall and onto the ceiling, and the pool deck is surfaced in blue astroturf, The controls for the air-conditioning irreverently read 'blow hard' and 'blow harder', The Cactus Lounge bar features a wall-to-wall desertscape mural of a kind last seen (some might say thankfully) in the seventies. The matches - especially the matches - sum it all up. In four surfer fluorescent shades they promote 'Hollywood Bail Bonds, unashamedly proclaiming 'you're only one call away from freedom - anyone, any jail, any time'. If you happen to be part of a new band intent on having a good time, this place is it, and the matches might provide more than a laugh.
But do not be misled by all the irreverence, Behind the Standard's bag of tricks there are very sound foundations. The beds are identical to those in Chateau Marmont, the pillows are down-filled, and each room is equipped with a personal stereo system and a squillion channels on a widescreen state-of-the-art TV. The phone jacks are for internet access and offer high-speed ISDN connections, and the hotel is fully equipped with business facilities, including a funky conference room (even if most guests don't know it), On the design front too, there's plenty of pedigree. The arched lamps in the lobby are Italian classics by Achille Castiglioni, lamps in the diner-restaurant are by Alvar Aalto and the overall scheme was inspired by Gio Ponti, The curtain fabric is an Andy Warhol print, for which the hotel had to seek special permission from his estate. Even the orange bathroom tiles are a re-edition of an American classic, and the loos are - well of course - by American Standard, None of the ingredients, however, were meant to be viewed separately. It's the mixing of so many funky details and design classics that makes the Hollywood Standard such an unusual hotel experience.
Originally built in 1963, this hotel used to be called the Thunderbird, The slogan of the Thunderbirds TV series was 'Thunderbirds are go', Add another 'go' and the slogan works perfectly for the Standard.
The Rooms
Sunset rooms overlook ‘The Strip’ and beyond to the Hollywood Hills. The 295 sq ft rooms are equipped with sumptuous Platform Beds, oversized down pillows, mood lighting, large screen TV’s and WIFI Access. They are decorated in a striking yet tasteful manner, with baby cacti, electric orange tiled bathrooms, Warhol print poppy curtains and much more.
Medium Rooms, at 330 sq ft, enjoy Poolside or City Views and feature a balcony or patio.
At 500 sq ft, the appropriately named X-Large Rooms enjoy an open plan lounge area and poolside or City View from the balcony/patio.
Other rooms types are available.