This was published 1 year ago
The Pendry West Hollywood review: A celebrity favourite on LA's hippest street
By Craig Tansley
The Pendry's rooftop pool is a highlight, offering some of the city's best views.Credit: Christian Horan Photography
CHECK-IN
Think of Hollywood chic and it's The Pendry you'll conjure. This is where the beautiful people come – that's not to say it's pretentious, it's that just that everyone here looks like they belong in the movies. Built on the site of Sunset Strip's iconic The House Of Blues, here's a hotel with the lot: rooftop restaurants with killer views over the city, rooms that look over the Hollywood Hills, your very own bowling alley and a clientele that includes the city's most famous music and movie stars.
THE LOOK
The restaurant Merois, sits on the hotel's top floor with staggering views of downtown LA and Sunset Boulevard. Credit: Christian Horan Photography
Occupying an entire city block in the heart of the Sunset Strip – LA's hippest music, film and cultural street – you're across the road from The Comedy Store where you might stumble on Chris Rock playing a secret gig. People don't typically walk in LA, but they do here in West Hollywood. Everything is accessible from your hotel – so go on, ditch the wheels. The hippest LA restaurants, bars and boutiques are all within a five-kilometre radius. It's likely someone famous will be checking in beside you, though there's enough star power from the moment you walk into the lobby courtesy of an enormous psychedelic light installation that should belong in a modern art museum. The rooftop pool is a highlight, offering some of the city's best views. There's also a 100-seat live music venue on-site and an exclusive social club for high-powered members. You might like to just chill instead at the spa, complete with IV therapies and injectable vitamins.
THE ROOM
There are 149 guestrooms and suites and every one of them offers sweeping views across LA, though you'll get to choose the LA views you prefer (The Hollywood Hills, perhaps? Downtown LA? Sunset Boulevard?). Colours are inspired by the Californian sky and the Pacific Ocean (every shade of blue), there are huge marble bathrooms, exposed timber floorboards, velvet chaise lounges and floor-to-ceiling windows that ensure you don't miss a centimetre of the LA skyline.
It's likely someone famous will be checking in beside you.Credit: Christian Horan Photography
FOOD + DRINK
The chef who made the Sunset Strip famous as a fine dining hot-spot (when he opened one of California's best eateries, Spargo) is in charge. Celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck returns to Sunset Boulevard courtesy of The Pendry's two new restaurants. The most striking of them, Merois, sits on the hotel's top floor with staggering views of downtown LA and Sunset Boulevard. Stroll straight from the rooftop pool to a restaurant serving Japanese, South-East Asian and French-inspired cuisine. There are more relaxed options downstairs on an al fresco terrace at Ospero.
OUT + ABOUT
Oh boy, it's all here. The Sunset Strip has been nightlife central since the 1920s, go find up-and-coming and big-name bands at bars which launched everyone from The Doors to Guns'n'Roses (The Whisky-A-Go-Go or the Rainbow Bar & Grill). Just down the road you'll find the liveliest street scene in California in LA's most vibrant LGBTQ neighbourhood, while there's every kind of restaurant you can think of within a 10-minute walk of your hotel.
THE VERDICT
Anyone seeking the LA rock star treatment will get it here – though don't let that put you off if you're not. While The Pendry's undoubtedly showy (the rooftop pool is where beautiful bodies go to be seen) – it's not at the expense of a more subtle luxury. You mightn't recognise Chance The Rapper in the lobby beside you, but you'll be impressed by the carefully curated art pieces in your room, and the extra touches you'll only find in LA's finest hotels.
ESSENTIALS
Rooms from $US472 ($700) a night. 8430 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood. See pendry.com/west-hollywood
OUR RATING OUT OF FIVE
★★★★★
HIGHLIGHT
For out-and-out impressiveness, nothing beats the views and the ambience of rooftop restaurant, Merois, especially at sunset when the lights of LA start to shine.
LOWLIGHT
Pick your times carefully for the hotel pool – anyone looking to swim laps after 11am should look elsewhere (this is an LA rooftop pool, you should be toned already).
Craig Tansley travelled courtesy of The Pendry and Visit West Hollywood
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