The Historic Hotel Per La Is Of Downtown LA
The property’s lineage goes bank a century to its earliest days as the Bank of Italy
(The City View Olive Suite)
Location: Downtown Los Angeles, CA
Perfect For: A relaxing stay in the heart of DTLA with an emphasis on design
The building at 649 S Olive St. in Downtown Los Angeles has more than its fair share of history. Originally known as the Giannini Place, after banking innovator Amadeo Giannini, the building’s origins date back a century when it was first the LA branch of Bank of Italy before changing over to Bank of America in 1923. Fast forward to 2018, and lodging company Sydell Group would turn the address into the NoMad Los Angeles. That hotel would unfortunately prove short-lived, with the pandemic closing the property in spring 2021. But by early fall of 2022, the doors at 649 S Olive St. were once again open to visitors and locals alike, this time as the grand Hotel Per La.
“So originally when I was at Sydell, we had developed Hotel Per La as the NoMad Los Angeles,” Jeremy Selman, Principal at HN Capital Partners and one time President and Co-Founder at Sydell Group, shares with A HOTEL PODCAST. “Unfortunately (the NoMad) had to close during COVID and my new partner and I, Vipin Nambiar of HN Capital Partners, he and I saw an opportunity to kind of fulfill the promise of Nomad with some slight variations. And so, it's not often that as a hotelier you sort of have a second chance with a building. We recognized at HN that Nomad probably didn't go far enough to connect with the local community and with the Los Angeles community. And we also saw a general opportunity to become the sort of hotel of (LA’s) East Side. And I don't think we've quite achieved that goal yet, but I think we're well on our way. And so if you sort of think about the Los Angeles dynamic, each of the neighborhoods or the districts have sort of a hotel that you can point to that represents and speaks to that neighborhood. And downtown really didn't have that hotel. And so…that's sort of our aspiration. We really want to be of the neighborhood, of downtown. And that actually informed our name, Hotel Per La, which means ‘Of The.’ And so we want to be ‘Of Downtown LA’ That's our aspiration there.”
In changing over from the NoMad identity to Hotel Per La, one correction was emphasizing natural light within the property, especially within the Ristorante Per L’Ora offering on the hotel’s southwest side.
(Ristorante Per L’Ora)
“As a New Yorker, if I think about what really defines Los Angeles, as an environment, that is consistent, whether you're in the Hills, you're in the Flats, you go out to the desert, it's really how the light changes throughout the day,” Selman explains. “It really exemplifies Southern California. And in reimagining the hotel, especially the public spaces, we felt that some of the European influences, in terms of the window treatments and fabric selections, really limited the experience of that light throughout the day. And so, in imagining a neighborhood restaurant in downtown LA, we wanted to kind of balance a little bit of the sort of protectiveness that you would experience, that you would expect out of a restaurant with a celebration of that light. And so, our primary facade, which was the main entrance to the original banking hall, is this beautiful, true divided light, steel mullioned window system. And we just exposed that. So rather than covering it, we took away the heavy curtains. We took away the lace, solar shading, and we just opened it up to that beautiful Los Angeles light. And so whether you're (in Ristorante Per L’Ora) during the day or the evening, you kind of have a sense of where you are through that light.”
In terms of design, Hotel Per La naturally combines both LA-based and Italian elements, as Selman details.
“So the Italian influences really come in the facade of the building. It's a neoclassical building. It references classic Roman design and the interior banking hall also references a lot of this inspiration. So as you come into the main banking hall where Per L’Ora the restaurant is, you'll notice a very Italianate, really Venetian ceiling that is speckled and accented in this beautiful robin's egg baby blue with the colonnade surrounding the old banking hall. And so that's really where you get to sort of experience the volume and excitement of the kind of Italian origins in terms of the Italian. The Los Angeles references that can really be found both in the artwork and in the additions that we did with Jaqui Seerman, who's a really talented LA based designer, when we took over the hotel about a year ago. So the art program was done by a group out of Paris, actually, called Be-poles, they're now called Saint-Lazare. And we have over 5, 000 unique pieces of art throughout the building. I think each room averages something like 30 pieces of art. And most of it was either commissioned or collected. and really ties together some of the Los Angeles inspiration in terms of its subject matter with some of the Italian influences through some of the collectibles. And so you have this melange of both European and Los Angeles that's found throughout the building.”
One holdover from the propperty’s earliest banking days is a repurposed vault in the hotel basement.
“We found this really beautiful bank vault in the basement,” Selman shares. “It actually held, I think, over 12,000 safety deposit boxes. The easy thing to do would have been to demolish it and give ourselves a more nimble easel, so to speak. But instead we really wanted to invite our guests to experience a little bit of the history. So in fact, we converted the bank vault into our public bathroom. So anybody that comes and enjoys the hotel or restaurant, Per L’Ora, can always experience those bank vaults. And even if you don't want to dine with us, please come in and check it out because it's really a unique part of Downtown Los Angeles history.”
Other inspired design elements within the hotel are new, including an Instagram-ready hallway of mirrors just beyond the initial foyer of the hotel.
(Hotel Per La’s hall of mirrors)
“I think that's really where (interior designer) Jaqui Seerman came in. She has a very, both a Los Angeles aesthetic, but a very warm Los Angeles welcoming attitude, which is reflected in her design. And so, we took inspiration from Los Angeles in the changes that we made. So that front entry experience where you're welcome in, regardless of whether you're joining us to sleep or eat, is made to feel like a very transitional space between indoor and outdoor. We have this beautiful terracotta tile that surrounds the walls. We've introduced the fountain there, which gives a sensory transition experience. And then you walk through this beautiful mirrored corridor that takes you into the heart of the hotel, all designed to kind of decompress a little bit.”
The emphasis on service continues upon hotel check in, itself a relaxing experience presented with guest comfort front of mind, Selman reveals.
“(When) you arrive, if you're a hotel guest. into our new check in experience, which removed the sort of standing traditional check in desk for a much softer…it's this sort of wavy concrete, but really supple, desk. It's mirrored by also a curved sofa and really just intended to kind of relax people as they enter the protected environment of a hotel room. And so it's this station by station decompression that we're aiming for as people go from the busy street life of downtown LA, which is vibrant and exciting, to something that feels a little bit more relaxed and just a little bit quieter, which is what happens inside the building.”
Something all guests can appreciate about their stay is each room is designed to delight, with touches ranging from in-room soaking tubs to understated color schemes intended to relax to patio experiences and an array of impactful art selections.
“One of the things that was really important to us at Sydell, and now at HN Capital, is that there are no orphan rooms,” Selman offers. “Whether you're staying on the second floor or in the penthouse suites, we want each room to feel special and we want each guest to have a special experience in that room. And so, on the second floor, you have these very large windows on one side and access to this beautiful courtyard with these sort of semi private, semi shared patio experiences. Many of the rooms in the heart of the building have freestanding tubs that are in the guest room. So you can lounge and socialize. And if you want to watch a movie in the tub, you can pretty much see the TV from every tub. And then it's really this balance of like Los Angeles and Italy. My great pleasure as an owner of the hotel is actually staying in different rooms because I get to experience all the different art. And even to this day after being involved with this hotel for close to 10 years, in one form or another, I'm still surprised by what I discover in the artwork. And so many friends of mine that have stayed at the hotel and guests that I meet. are always excited to be in new rooms because they get to experience the art. And each piece was really, really thought out. And so that made it really special.”
(Soaking tub in the Amadeo Presidential Suite)
While each guest room delivers an elevated experience, one stay stands above all other. Hotel Per La’s Amadeo Presidential Suite is the most spacious guest room on property, offering a dining table for a large group, a kitchenette complete with an oven and fridge, and more, as Selman explains.
“So the presidential suite is actually the size of four rooms. So…you have a lot of scale. But unlike a Las Vegas suite, it still feels very residential and intimate. If you want to have a dinner party for 20, you can have a dinner party for 20 in there. If you want to soak in a beautiful tub in a terrazzo room, you can do that. It has a beautiful large king size bed with windows on two sides, a beautiful sitting area that has a giant desk and if you're a writer and you want to take a little staycation in LA and just have a beautiful place to write and experience the light and the city, you can do that. It really both feels inviting for many different purposes, but also kind of perfect for all of them. Most suites feel too big for me, as a hotelier, because it sort of dilutes the detail of each of the experiences. And so we really took a lot of time in conceiving the Amadeo suite so that whatever it is that you want to do in there feels special and thoughtful and thought out.”
(A gargoyle watches over the hotel’s rooftop pool and Bar Clara)
For more from Selman, check him out on A HOTEL PODCAST, going deep on Hotel Per La’s rooftop pool and watering hole, Bar Clara, other HN Capital Partners hospitality projects, and more.
Find more via Hotel Per La. And subscribe for more from A Hotel Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. Hosted by Jaime Black.
Overnight accommodation provided by Hotel Per La and M18 Public Relations.