{"id":463510,"date":"2026-09-14T16:58:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T16:58:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/463510\/"},"modified":"2026-09-14T16:58:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T16:58:17","slug":"silver-lakes-divine-new-boutique-hotel-boasts-one-of-l-a-s-most-splendid-dining-rooms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/463510\/","title":{"rendered":"Silver Lake\u2019s divine new boutique hotel boasts one of L.A.\u2019s most splendid dining rooms"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s kind of astonishing that a destination-worthy hotel has eluded Silver Lake<\/a> for so long, right? After all, the neighborhood has been synonymous with a certain sort of L.A.-cool for roughly three decades. But aside from Silver Lake Pool & Inn\u2019s motel glow-up a few years ago, there hasn\u2019t really been a proper place for travelers to rest their heads in the area.<\/p>\n

Hotel Lucile<\/a> stands to reshape the hospitality map along Sunset Junction\u2014and the wider neighborhood\u2014with one of L.A.\u2019s splashiest hotel-meets-restaurant openings in recent memory. As of today, the 95-year-old church-turned-hotel is welcoming overnight guests to its 25 rooms, and it\u2019s bound to be packing locals into Sous Sous<\/a>, a Southern-inspired French restaurant situated in the divinely detailed nave.<\/p>\n

Situated at the corner of Griffith Park Boulevard and Lucile Avenue, about a block up the street from the faded polka dots of Sunset Triangle Plaza, Hotel Lucile has taken up residence at a 1931 Romanesque Revival sanctuary, built as a Presbyterian church and later used as everything from a performance theater to an antique market. It\u2019s worth clarifying upfront, given the surprising number of people who\u2019ve asked: No, it\u2019s not the infamous Katy Perry church<\/a>\u2014the former convent the singer was once interested in buying is located a couple of miles up the street in Los Feliz. The confusion is understandable, though: Perry\u2019s dramatic legal battle over that property involved a local restaurateur who once owned and later relinquished this church in Silver Lake, with plans for a hospitality conversion<\/a> that never came to fruition.<\/p>\n

\"Hotel
\nPhotograph: Courtesy Chase DanielHotel Lucile <\/p>\n

\"Sous
\nPhotograph: Courtesy Chase DanielSous Sous <\/p>\n

But Casetta Hotels<\/a>, which specializes in reviving bygone businesses and buildings into contemporary boutique hotels, has managed to turn the empty church into an alluring destination, with many of the building\u2019s most distinctive details still intact. You\u2019ll check in where you once would have received holy water. Stained glass depictions of the 12 apostles look out over the dining room. The iron-framed windows in the guest rooms are all original. And though it doesn\u2019t toll anymore, the bell tower still stands and anchors the view from the rooftop.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe amount of people that came in as second-, third-generation Silver Lake people, they were like, \u2018Thank God you guys are keeping the essence of the building,\u2019\u201d Jennifer Armbruster, president of Casetta Hotels, tells me during a tour of the property earlier this month.<\/p>\n

That essence also includes the idea of a church being a neighborhood gathering place, and for locals, on-site restaurant Sous Sous will be the space to fill that role. French for \u201cunder\u201d or \u201cbelow,\u201d the ground-floor dinner spot\u2019s menu mixes together two separate southern regions: France\u2019s Nice and Marseille as well as the United States\u2019 Charleston and New Orleans, all under the care of chef Patrick Costa and beverage director Lee Zaremba, the team behind Arts District pizzeria De La Nonna<\/a> and its adjoining bar, the Let\u2019s Go Disco<\/a>. Expect a seafood-focused meal that swaps rich, buttery decadence for olive oil and spice, and a bar menu\u2014stocked with bright wines and a wide selection of N\/A offerings\u2014that narrows the cocktail focus more onto New Orleans, with a Sazerac, frapp\u00e9 and brandy crusta, plus a classic take on a martini.<\/p>\n

\"Sous
\nPhotograph: Courtesy Patrick Michael ChinSous Sous <\/p>\n

\"Sous
\nPhotograph: Courtesy Patrick Michael ChinSous Sous <\/p>\n

\"Sous
\nPhotograph: Courtesy Patrick Michael ChinSous Sous <\/p>\n

Speaking of martinis, if you spend the night, you just might spot general manager Anthony Gutierrez delivering one to your door around 5pm. Certainly a singular hotel amenity, he says the door-to-door martini cart started as a joke between him and Laney Langenstein, the company\u2019s head of marketing and strategy, after a 14-hour day that left them ready for a cocktail.<\/p>\n

With the doors to the hotel now open, Gutierrez runs the day-to-day operations, but he\u2019s already invested plenty of time behind the scenes. He\u2019s been with Casetta for just over five years, nearly the hotel group\u2019s entire lifetime. Since 2019, the company has worked on transforming storied SoCal properties into boutique stays, and Gutierrez splits his time overseeing some of these, including the Surfrider Malibu<\/a>, Big Bear\u2019s Hotel Marina Riviera and the Pearl Hotel<\/a> in San Diego. But for the past two years, he\u2019s also doubled as the project manager on the final stages of Hotel Lucile\u2019s construction, and since the start of the summer it\u2019s been his sole focus.<\/p>\n

When Gutierrez first joined the project, he stepped inside of an unkempt church, with dulled wood beams and holes in the wall and ceiling. He compares it to the opening of the series Fear the Walking Dead, which debuted with a scene in a dilapidated church amid the outbreak of a zombie apocalypse. And you guessed it: That was filmed at what\u2019s now Hotel Lucile.<\/p>\n

\"Hotel
\nPhotograph: Michael Juliano for Time OutHotel Lucile <\/p>\n

Now it\u2019s a radically more refined environment, and one that changes by the hour; the hotel\u2019s \u201cfind your light\u201d tagline is no joke, with shifting patches of jewel tones that stream through the stained glass windows in the dining room and staircases. (Though Sous Sous is currently only open for dinner, on aesthetics alone, I\u2019d suggest grabbing an early reservation so that you can still catch some sunlight filtering through the windows.)<\/p>\n

The stained glass is a strong motif, one that even works its way into the rooms and retail shop. \u201cAll of our properties have a good luck charm that\u2019s related to their history and story,\u201d Gutierrez explains. \u201cAnd with the stained glass being original\u2014about 100 years old\u2014we were looking for some way to honor it.\u201d The Casetta team\u2019s research kept pointing them to Janel Foo of Pasadena\u2019s Stained Glass Supplies<\/a>, who crafted a pair of glass coasters that, when placed together, mimics the pattern of the stained glass behind Sous Sous\u2019 banquettes. (Side note: I\u2019ve coincidentally taken a fused glass class at Stained Glass Supplies to make this style of coaster, and I highly recommend it.)<\/p>\n

\"Hotel
\nPhotograph: Courtesy Chase DanielHotel Lucile <\/p>\n

\"Hotel
\nPhotograph: Courtesy Chase DanielHotel Lucile <\/p>\n

\"Hotel
\nPhotograph: Courtesy Robbie ZieglerHotel Lucile <\/p>\n

You can\u2019t wander far at Hotel Lucile without bumping into something beautiful to look at. The super-local Rhett Baruch Gallery curated a rotating mix of artwork (for sale<\/a>) in the guest rooms, restaurant and common areas. And Uprise Art commissioned artist Erin Lynn Welsh to create a pair of murals for the dining room: a beautifully textured, red-hued landscape of Eaton Canyon\u2014started well before the Eaton Fire\u2014and a blue-green representation of Elysian Park on the opposite wall. Elaborate floral arrangements top the pew-like seating areas (which can be cleared out to open up the floor for special events) in the dining room, where Heather Tierney of the Butcher\u2019s Daughter<\/a> also sourced decor and vinyl from France.<\/p>\n

\"Hotel
\nPhotograph: Courtesy Chase DanielHotel Lucile <\/p>\n

\"Hotel
\nPhotograph: Courtesy Chase DanielHotel Lucile <\/p>\n

\"Hotel
\nPhotograph: Courtesy Chase DanielHotel Lucile <\/p>\n

The periphery of the restaurant space is for now just for hotel guests. The front portion of Sous Sous will be curtained off during the day and serve espresso, coffee and grab-and-go items for lunch and dinner to hotel guests. Above it, the choir loft\u2014which offers an incredible bird\u2019s-eye view of the church auditorium\u2014serves as the hotel\u2019s true lobby, with couches clustered around cafe tables, to which you can order drinks from the bar below. You\u2019ll find a similar setup on the rooftop, which is surrounded by an herb garden and native flora and offers an up-close perspective of the church\u2019s bell tower and peek-a-boo views of the Downtown L.A.<\/a> skyline.<\/p>\n

\"Hotel
\nPhotograph: Courtesy Chase DanielHotel Lucile <\/p>\n

Armbruster expects these spaces to move into a second, more public-facing phase around November or December. The cafe will launch full lunch service and the choir loft will welcome neighbors via a coworking-like membership service (which will include access to some of the hotel\u2019s other amenities). The for-hotel-guests pool will operate a mobile bar, and much farther down the line, a building that the hotel owns on the south side of the pool will be converted into a wellness space with a sauna, cold plunge and spa services.<\/p>\n

\"Hotel
\nPhotograph: Courtesy Chase DanielHotel Lucile <\/p>\n

Most notably, the rooftop will open up to folks with a reservation for Sous Sous, with hopes to host small DJ sets, wine tastings and events with local partners. It just might become Silver Lake\u2019s first proper rooftop bar\u2014but don\u2019t expect a full-blown scene. Gutierrez takes being an inviting and upstanding neighbor seriously, so he notes that for the rooftop, \u201cwe\u2019re not going to be open excessively late, we close at a responsible hour.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Hotel
\nPhotograph: Courtesy Chase DanielHotel Lucile <\/p>\n

\"Hotel
\nPhotograph: Courtesy Chase DanielHotel Lucile <\/p>\n

As for the hotel part, you\u2019ll find 25 rooms spread across three floors; as of publication, weekday prices for the next few months start in the mid-$400s per night, while weekend rates nudge closer to $500. On my tour, I first scoped out a premium king room (the third tier of room sizes) that upgrades the standard, calmly colorful accommodations with a sitting area and work desk. No matter the configuration, the bathrooms are exquisite, with green or white tiling paired with brass finishes, and frosted stained glass windows in the shower that add a gentle but sublime glow to the bathroom. You\u2019ll find local touches, too, like robes that come from Venice\u2019s Parachute, and snacks and sundries in the mini bar that are put together by\u2014who else?\u2014Erewhon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Hotel
\nPhotograph: Courtesy Chase DanielHotel Lucile <\/p>\n

\"Hotel
\nPhotograph: Courtesy Chase DanielHotel Lucile <\/p>\n

I was also taken inside of the Lucile Suite, the top-of-the-line room with a soaking tub, second bathroom, cozy arched seating nook and direct access to a slender, private courtyard at the center of the building. I peeked at some footage from a pre-opening dinner held here, with a long table set up in the center and wine chilled in the fountain on the edge of the space; it\u2019s easy to see the potential of a deep-pocketed patron buying out a block of rooms or the entire hotel for a wedding or corporate event.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s plenty that should attract the typical solo or small-party out-of-town visitor. \u201cIf you want to sincerely ingrain yourself in the local neighborhood, this is the place to be; if you\u2019re looking for truly unique architecture and art, this is the place to be,\u201d Gutierrez says. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to have our 25 guest rooms worth of travelers filling [Sous Sous] every single evening. It will be people from L.A., so if you want to get ingrained with the locals, this is where you\u2019re going to go.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s kind of astonishing that a destination-worthy hotel has eluded Silver Lake for so long, right? After all,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":463511,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[8091,48,52,51,47,50,49,8092,2422],"class_list":["post-463510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-categories-travel","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-news-transport-travel","tag-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=463510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}