Celebrities know West Hollywood is the real epicenter of awards show season and most especially during Oscars week, so how do you getaway to LA like today’s A-list stars? Here’s our Oscars in West Hollywood #WeHo 2016 Travel & Viewing Guide:
Most celebs and musicians prefer to stay in trend setting West Hollywood more than gritty and urban Hollywood. During awards show season, West Hollywood’s chic design and neighborhood boutique hotels are packed with stars, musicians, comedians, entertainers and their family, beauty and publicity entourages.
The Babylon Suite at The Grafton on Sunset Boulevard
Why? Because WeHo has more privacy, breathtaking views and a veritable feast of LA’s most chic accommodations, day spas, makeup artists, hair salons, designer showrooms and jewelers as well as some of LA’s best and most hip places to eat and party all day and night. Plus, some WeHo hotels are walking distance to The Sunset Strip’s legendary dance and music clubs like 1Oak, Whisky A Go Go, The Roxy and Viper Room.
However, there’s two important reasons why WeHo is the most sought-after place to stay during Oscars week, including: 1) Elton John’s Aids Foundation Academy Awards Viewing Party in West Hollywood Park; and 2) the party-of-all-parties after The Oscars ceremony at Sunset Tower Hotel’s Vanity Fair After Party.
Vanity Fair hosts the most sought-after Oscar party tickets in town at mysterious art deco masterpiece, Sunset Tower Hotel. (Security at Vanity Fair’s star-studded soirée is supposedly so tight guests are shuttled to the basement rather than through the historic hotel’s gilded front doors.) Formerly a 1930s apartment building with residents the likes of Marilyn Monroe and Frank Sinatra, Sunset Tower Hotel has a new mystique today. Proprietor Jeff Klein has a strict no photography, total privacy policy so A-list celebrities such as Jennifer Aniston and top industry execs like the Weinsteins can discuss movie deals in the hotel’s legendary Tower Bar. Famed bar man Dimitri still pours a perfect dry martini in this wood-paneled gentleman’s club (it’s no wonder the Mad Men cast throws parties here.)
Above: The Sunset Tower Hotel as seen from Andaz West Hollywood’s Presidential Suite. (Credit: Sheryll Alexander)
Across from Sunset Tower is Andaz West Hollywood. Formerly known as 60s-90s rock musician magnet hotel, “The Riot Hyatt,” Andaz is now a swanky hi-rise hotel right on the Sunset Strip packed during awards show season with stars and music industry taste makers. The Andaz has the tallest rooftop pool in LA at 14 stories high and it has a striking view of Sunset Tower Hotel from above as well as a 360-degree view of The Hollywood Hills, The Sunset Strip and the LA basin.
The bathtub from the Andaz WeHo’s Presidential Suite is unprecented in LA.
Just across from Andaz and down the street from Sunset Tower is celeb magnet and design-forward hotel Mondrian Los Angeles. This fancy Sunset Strip property has stunning skyline views and now features BRAVO TV’s Top Chef Brian Malarkey at Herringbone WeHo. The Mondrian, however, is most known as the home to SkyBar. This poolside lounge has killer LA views of both bikinis and skyline. Now on its fifth year, SkyBar at Mondrian LA hosts a reserve-in-advance Oscar viewing party, which starts at 4 p.m. with a red carpet entry and is sponsored by Moet & Chandon Champagne and Peroni Italy.
In-the-know locals and industry types book themselves early (by calling 310-432-2000) into the now annual Oscars viewing party at WeHo’s most classic film-friendly modern Italian restaurant, Cecconi’s. Starting at 4 p.m. with the red carpet arrivals, Cecconi’s has its minimialist-meets-organic interior and charming patio festooned with flat screens. Guests are greeted with a complimentary glass of bubbling prosecco. The restaurant’s popular standard menu is on tap as well as specially-crafted appetizers and cocktails.
The Butterfly Room at WeHo’s Cecconi’s is the perfect place for a swanky do-it-yourself viewing party.
Sunset Marquis is another hotel made legendary by the music industry’s fascination with WeHo. A virtual who’s who of the recording world have stayed in the plush suites and villas here while producing albums in the Nightbird Recording Studio, which is tucked secretly away in the hotel’s basement. The Sunset Marquis is a lush garden oasis amongst WeHo’s concrete jungle and many celebs return year after year for a quiet suite amongst the tree-lined gardens.
The Sunset Marquis’ Presidential Villa includes a bathroom suite with fireplace and flat screen TV.
Perched in the Hollywood hills, the 20s-era Chateau Marmont touches West Hollywood’s border and has a storied and sometimes infamous celeb history. Comedian John Belushi died here and the hotel has literally been home to a veritable line-up of stars who especially love to stay in the hotel’s private bungalows. Plus, this mysterious art deco hotel attracts A-listers like Scarlett Johansson to its legendary outdoor patio and indoor “living” room.
Set just behind The Sunset Strip on San Vicente Boulevard, The London West Hollywood’s glamour and walking distance to legendary music clubs gives it enormous star appeal. The sumptuous suites include humungous soaking tubs, mosaic-tiled bathrooms and separate vanity areas for beauty makeovers. The London also has the largest private screening room in LA along with an entire floor of brand new uber private and plush suites.
The Royal Suite at The London West Hollywood has its own very private balcony for sun bathing au naturel.
Some stay in WeHo for its residences in quiet and trendy neighborhoods like Normal Triangle’s Petit Ermitage, Le Parc Suites Hotel, The Chamberlain and Le Montrose Suites Hotel. All four of these boutique hotels makes visitors feel like they are living the WeHo lifestyle in apartment-like residences complete with in-house dining and rooftop pools.
The chic rooftop pool at Norma Triangle’s The Chamberlain Hotel in West Hollywood.
A cozy chic fireplace suite at West Hollywood boutique hotel, Le Montrose.
Not quite a hotel and not quite apartments, The Charlie is a collection of quaint board-and-batten cottages nestled inside an English garden. Each bungalow is named after a star who once lived there (such as The Gregory for Gregory Peck) although today’s A-listers (Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson) now inhabit The Charlie for its central LA locale and lovely livability.
The master suite inside The Gloria cottage at The Charlie Hotel in West Hollywood.
If you are on a budget or just prefer the Air BNB lifestyle, check out the listing just east of West Hollywood and west of Hollywood proper in an enclave known as Hollywood Hills West (or LA 90046).
More residential and country than WeHo and less gritty than Hollywood, LA’s 90046 is a haven of charming cottages, historic 20s-40s art deco buildings, modern skyscrapers and all the excitement of Sunset Boulevard, Santa Monica Boulevard and Melrose Avenue.
This highly walkable slice of LA makes for the perfect LA vacation, especially if you Air BNB in a backyard guest house with shared pool just steps from your private garage-turned-hipster cottage such as this beauty: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/2326099
For more Oscars on a budget ideas, consider the party at Taste on Melrose. This hip Weho restaurant is celebrating this year’s Academy Awards in its expansive new atrium space. Guests can casually watch all the Oscars action while washing down apps with $6 cocktails from the happy hour menu. Must book in advance by calling 323-852-6888.
However, you will need a gilded invitation (well, nearly) to attend the most exclusive Oscars viewing party in LA. Sitting just on the edge of West Hollywood and Beverly Hills, the members-only luxurious and uber trendy Soho House always has a chill viewing “party” with no reservations tables and assorted free bubbly for celebs and their entourages.
#WeHo is where the stars and visitors from all over the world come to stay, shop, play and live the good life in the heart of LA’s historic, glam and irreverent city: West Hollywood.
