LA's Sunset Tower is a Chic, Comfortable Home Away From Home

It’s got that thing. Hard to describe with words. Not overly fancy or super luxurious but elevated with midcentury modern furniture and a lived-in vibe. I felt instantly at home. It has the best pillows and king-sized bed I’ve ever slept in. Jeff Klein told me they’re what he has in his own home.

It’s a small hotel, not part of a huge corporation. Many of the staff have worked there for years. Back in New York I never eat breakfast but one morning I wandered downstairs on my first stay, to sit out on the patio by the pool. I met a waiter named Angel and he’s been my server every morning since. That’s not an exaggeration. 17 years. Barbara, the daytime terrace restaurant host, has been there for 8. They both remember me by name. It's something so unusual in today’s hospitality world, let alone 3,000 miles away from home.

The hotel was originally designed as a luxury apartment building by Leland A. Bryant in 1929. John Wayne, Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor, and Bugsy Siegel all lived there. The Tower overflows with old Hollywood charm. It's impossible to replicate or manufacture anywhere else. The design is unmistakably art deco with a touch of midcentury modern. Its color palette of cream, gold, beige, and brown is soothing. Floor to ceiling curved bay like windows give you an incredible view from bed.

Open the bedroom window and living room window in the suites— you get a dry cool California air cross breeze.

I do my best to stay in the same room every trip I make to LA. The room looks North and West. Down the Sunset Strip, ablaze with billboards. A partial view of the Angeles Mountains. Chateau Marmont. Green tops of trees. The unique Los Angeles orange glow of the setting sun always drapes across the sprawling flats.

After 17 years of visiting LA mostly for work, I’ve found an incredible group of friends. It seems to expand every year, and I’m really here to see them. When you’re visiting for a few days like I am, plans stack up. And staying at Sunset Tower makes things easy. Because friends and work acquaintances want to come hang at the hotel. It’s a great place for a drink. Or dinner at the Tower Bar. For this trip I wanted to explore why I’m so drawn to this place. Over the years I’ve noticed other creatives gravitating to the hotel as well. I’ll often recognize photographers, stylists, painters, magazine editors, art dealers and writers.

In 2014 I had my second photography book published. In it was a photograph of my feet hanging off a bed in my favorite room at Sunset Tower. The floor to ceiling windows, the view I always think about, in the background. But the hotel has a strict no photography policy. I had a few friends in common with Jeff Klein. Tracked down his email to ask permission to use the picture in the book. He quickly and kindly wrote back. To say yes. And that he wanted to see the book when it was published. I was relieved and somewhat pleasantly surprised.

Ten years later I emailed him again. This time I wanted to interview him for this story. Two minutes after hitting send— Jeff replied. I asked if I could make a portrait of him too. Again, the answer was yes. He was generous with his time. The following is our conversation, along with a few pictures. 

Thanks for sitting down with me. I read somewhere that years ago you had every job in a hotel in New York? Can you tell me more about that? Is that how you learned the business?

I did. I started as a bellman. I was a server, I was housekeeping, front desk, everything. I had this boss who taught me the hotel business and another boss who was the CEO of the company. They were both mentors to me.

Did they wind up helping you open your first hotel?

Yes, I was General Manager at this point. I was also helping with construction and finding deals. They said to me, when you’re ready, I'll be your first investor. And we became partners, we opened a hotel in New York City. We opened on September 11, 2001. That was our opening date. Not a good day to open a hotel.  

And then this (Sunset Tower) hotel went up for sale. It was a dump. Nobody would buy it, they kept on lowering the price. In fact, you could get a house in Beverly Hills, a medium- sized home, not a mansion, for what I bought this hotel for. It was so weird that it didn't look like this. It wasn't really rundown, just kind of tacky looking. It had been redone in the 80s. I knew there was something here. Because of the bones of the building, I thought it could be like a West Coast, younger, cooler version of The Carlyle, a Two MICHELIN Key property. 

And I get the sense that you knew exactly what you wanted to do. What you wanted it to look like when you bought the hotel? Am I right?

I did. Yes, exactly. I knew. I wish I kept the renderings that we had drawn in 2004. It looks exactly how I had hoped. 

How did you know it would work?

I didn’t know it would work. But what I would say is my only gift, my only talent is seeing ghosts in hospitality buildings.

What do you mean by "seeing ghosts?"

I think I can look at a property and what it currently is and really imagine how the space can work.

It clearly worked.

I think so too. And, thank you. Especially in a town like this where things kind of come and go quickly. I wanted this place to be a timeless fixture, part of the fabric of the community.

Were the rooms drastically different before you renovated?

Everything was different. The towel bar was storage space. The front desk was around the corner on the other side. It had this 80s decadent modern deco thing that was going on. It was very much about a faux black marble, shiny formica. It looked very fake. I thought, you know, this property should feel layered, the way it was designed in the 30s, which is really what I think we've achieved here.

As a New Yorker it has been like a home away from home for me. 

Well, New Yorkers— it’s our number one market. 

Why do you think that is?

New Yorkers really respond to this hotel. I think honestly, because it's what I call, cozy-comfy sophistication. In a town that is often very unsophisticated, and also not cozy nor comfy. 

Would you mind telling me about the lead-up to the purchase of the hotel. How old were you at the time? Was it stressful? What do you remember?

I knew I would get it because no one wanted it. I was 33 when we started the negotiations. 34 when we finally bought it. I was young. I cobbled money together from investors. It was a different time. You could borrow a lot of money then. 

When you’re 33 you’re fearless, but I didn't know it would work. And actually, a lot of people, including my own mother, told me it wasn't gonna work. People told me, LA doesn't want something sophisticated. That's not who goes to LA. And I was very lucky because the city was changing at the same time that I bought the hotel. It was going from a one horse town of Hollywood, to becoming a more interesting place where artists were moving to. The art world was moving here. Fashion was moving here. And so it was—a lot of it was luck. My timing was luck. And I wish I could say I was smart enough to foresee this. I wasn't, but I was very lucky that it happened as this was getting renovated.

At the same time, New York started getting too expensive for people. And so, where could an artist afford to live? LA, which is so spread out! You don't have to live in Beverly Hills. In the 80s people were renting lofts in Soho for 300 bucks a month because nobody wanted to live there. Or in Meatpacking or Chinatown. So we in LA benefited from that significantly.

How have you kept the hotel and the crowd that is drawn to it, so consistent?

In general, our customers are so repeat, that we save rooms for them. We expect a certain number of calls the day before. And we’ve had a certain group of people that have gravitated to us. And it's important to me not to be too expensive. I really struggle with that, because I'm obviously a businessman, but I don't want this to turn into just a bunch of, you know, boring rich people.

I’ve always wanted to live in a hotel. Have you done that or would you?

That would be a nightmare for me. Even when I have to spend one night— because all I can think about why isn’t the valet’s tie on correctly? Or why something else isn’t perfect. I want everything to be done well.

This is something I’ve noticed about the property at my many stays over the years. A good example is the Sunset Tower branded famous pinkish tan bathrobes. They are always perfectly tied and hung exactly the same on the back of the bathroom door. 

What is your life like outside of the hotel?

Truthfully this hotel takes up most of my time. My life is here.

Nostalgia for another time seems to be very in focus today. Do you think the hotel benefits from that?

Yeah, that's I think part of why this property is successful. That's why there's lines around the block at Bemelmans Bar in New York. Right? People from downtown and Brooklyn, shlep all the way to the Upper East Side now to go to Bemelmans and wait in line in the cold. I find it fascinating. So interesting. It's a new thing too. I don't remember anyone doing that pre-pandemic.

I have noticed over the years that the people working here have not turned over virtually at all. Angel and Barbara at the restaurant in the morning. Ness, the manager. Why do you think that is? How have you managed to keep the same people?

Yes, Angel has been here 20 years. Max in the restaurant as a server. We’ve had housekeepers that have been here 18 years. That to me, is the greatest of all compliments. Because having customers like that is great, but to me, especially today, having employees stay that long is the greatest thing. It’s just really hard to do. They're all very loyal, but I'm loyal to them. It's a very rare thing. And really, to me is the greatest accolade possible.

It’s also rare that this hotel hasn’t become part of a larger corporate group or conglomerate.

Look, it's been one of the last holdouts. They've certainly come to us and offered us crazy amounts of money. I'm sure there will be a day when I just can't say no but I don’t see that day coming anytime soon.

What is something special about the hotel that is a small detail, probably overlooked, that you really like?

There's so many. I don't know if you noticed the vintage books in the front. There's something about little things that a normal hotel wouldn’t have. And when you talk about Rosewood or LVMH— I’m not sure they would focus on this type of object. Because they're not moneymakers. They really are more kind of a passion. Little projects for us. The Gift Shop is another example of that. The ashtrays, postcards, notepads.

The room is not ultra fancy, high luxury but there is a perfect balance of how it’s designed and yet feels like home. It has the most comfortable bed and pillows I’ve slept on in any hotel. How did you know to design it this way?

Well, we ended up buying the mattresses that I use in my own home, and a version of the linens that I use too, so it’s very personal. I know what my guests are sleeping on because I've slept on them myself, and I know how comfortable it is. I always say, I want to know what my customers are getting. I've been hands on since the start.

Last question. It’s been a long and successful career as a hotelier. How have you stayed the course? You haven’t sold out. What’s kept you so motivated and focused?

It's really just what I’m passionate about. I'm not motivated by money. If I were, I would be doing things so differently. I love what I do. I love the people I work with. I love the customers. I love creating these experiences. And truly— I feel like the luckiest person on earth. I genuinely feel every day, like I can't believe I get to do this. You know? I’m grateful and lucky for this life. 

Hero image: Aaron Stern / Jeff Klein