Palihouse West Hollywood Hotel reopens, but not in West Hollywood

Palihouse West Hollywood is technically not in West Hollywood. But hotelier Avi Brosh, founder of hospitality group Palisociety, has his reasons for naming his newest property.

“I really want this [new spot] to be a 2.0 of the first property we ever opened, the original Palihouse hotel on Holloway,” said Brosh of the reopening of his Palihouse West Hollywood boutique hotel on West 3rd Street in the city of Los Angeles. It replaces the previous location on Holloway Drive – which one used to be within the West Hollywood city limits — and which were closed during the pandemic. (The building is now occupied by Soho House’s Holloway House.)

“I thought it made sense to me that we’d blur the line a little bit in terms of exact location,” Brosh continues. “I just felt that even though it wasn’t technically in West Hollywood, people know that name and understand that brand.”

At this reincarnation of the hotel, guests enter through the porticoere valet space on S. Orlando Street to the charming lobby, where Palisociety’s signature quirky-meets-traditional European-inspired design aesthetic is on full display, from the wood paneling and green-and-white tile floors to floral wallpaper on the ceiling and the two ceramic German dogs that flank the room. “My approach to the entry was to create something that’s very warm and theatrical, so you immediately know you’re in a place that’s sophisticated and tailored, but doesn’t take itself too seriously,” says Brosh, who oversees all interior designs in the home.

The boutique hotel’s 95 rooms – decorated in rust, terra cotta and deep green tones – are generously sized, ranging from 330 to 660 square feet. Some are suites; many have a balcony. And every room is equipped with retro-chic Smeg mini-fridges.

Elsewhere in the hotel there is a pool and lounge area (with free lemonade and candy bar) and a gym on the fifth floor.

Palihouse West Hollywood – not far from The Grove and Beverly Center malls – also has two dining options: the Lobby Lounge Café & Bar is open all day and has an outdoor patio and serves Caesar and Cobb salads, lobster tacos and chicken paillard, and Mezzanine Sushi, a sake bar and destination for hand rolls, nigiri, and pressed sushi, plus wood-fired okra, shiitake mushrooms, and bacon-wrapped asparagus. “We created this Tokyo-style sake bar with Japanese finger foods and sushi,” says Brosh. There’s even a takeout sushi counter on West 3rd Street that’s open for lunch from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Brosh — whose expansion plans include future Palihotel properties in San Diego and Hollywood — says the biggest challenge in reopening the hotel at the new West 3rd Street location was battling the “early ’80s LA vibe” of the building, which formerly housed the Orlando Hotel and was home to two previous restaurants, Cleo and The Churchill.

“I would say Los Angeles in the early ’80s wasn’t necessarily known for its architectural feats. So we had some challenges in terms of trying to take an otherwise somewhat aesthetically challenged building and give it texture, layers and a sense of warmth, and also make it more present on the street. It was one of those buildings that you drove past all the time and didn’t even know it was there.”

To that end, Palisociety added awnings to the property to give it “a little more of a pedestrian scale,” painted the exterior in contrasting green and cream, and added “a lot of landscaping,” he adds to the overall design goals, “We tried to make it feel more European. I wanted it to feel like it could stand the test of time.”