If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.
Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (USD365.22), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.
How do you become a legend in a city full of legends? If you’re historic hotel the Georgian, it helps being tall and bright turquoise (with panoramic views of Ocean Drive, Santa Monica Beach and the mountains beyond), and host to the Golden Age’s A-list (Clark Gable, Charlie Chaplin, Jean Harlow…), with a sumptuous Havana art deco look, which was how hotelier Rosamond Borde created a superstar back in 1933. Nowadays, neighboring buildings may be taller, but the hotel holds its mighty stature, with touch-ups by BLVD Hospitality and Fettle Design, and much frivolity and fun. Rooms’ champagne buttons summon a bellboy in retro uniform with a bar cart, a rotary phone in the lobby plays secrets from the past and cocktail-fuelled evenings are as star-studded as they ever were.
Noon, but flexible, subject to availability and on request. Earliest check-in, 3pm. Luggage can be stored.
Prices
Double rooms from £336.91 ($421), including tax at 15.2 per cent. Please note the hotel charges an additional resort fee of $38.02 per room per night on check-out and an additional local city tax of $6.50 per room per night on check-out.
More details
Rates don’t include breakfast; the à la carte offering starts from $8 for pastries. A $33 a day hotel fee (plus taxes) covers a range of extras, including a welcome glass of champagne or wine and bottles of water on arrival.
Also
The Georgian may be historic, but the vintage building is fully wheelchair accessible, with an elevator, and City Kings, City Double Queens and Ocean One-Bedroom Suites that have roll-in showers or mobility bath tubs.
At the hotel
24-hour gym (with Peloton bikes, treadmills and dumbbells); art gallery; library; boutique; beach-cruiser bicycles to borrow; charged laundry, dry-cleaning and fluff-and-fold service; free WiFi. In rooms: smart TV with casting capabilities, Marshall speaker, minibar, Harry Josh hairdryer, sapphire-hued knit bathrobes, and R+Co bath products. Suites have a Polaroid Instax camera, Victrola record player and vinyls from Ubiquity Records, a selection of art tomes from Arcana Books and a Nespresso coffee machine (only available on request in rooms). Almost all of the suites have restored vintage call buttons for ‘champagne’, ‘dessert’, ‘book club’, or ‘the usual’ (a treat tailored to guests).
Our favourite rooms
The first glimpse of your seductive hideaway for the night might be through the original ornate golden peep-holes restored on each door. And within, Fettle’s design experts keep the throwback fantasy going, with art deco’s shapely traits in furnishings and fittings: scalloped-velvet headboards, custom globe-shaped crystal lights set into chandeliers, Thirties-evoking furnishings, diamond tiling in bathrooms, and signature turquoise edging. As well as a cocktail-making kit, minibars carry Kama Sutra weekender kits to add a little more play to your stay, and most suites have buttons to press for ‘champagne’, ‘dessert’ and more… It would be a shame not to throw open your windows to the salty breeze, so go for a room with a coastal view; the ocean-facing suites – named Hudson, Harlowe and such after famous bygone guests – have extra luxuries: a little more room for your oversized stoles, steamers and hat-boxes; a Victrola record player and vinyl curated by Ubiquity Records; and artsy tomes from Arcana Books.
Poolside
There’s no pool on the property, we’re afraid; however, you only need to cross the road and pad over some soft golden sands to reach the swimmable waters of Santa Monica Beach.
Packing tips
If you own anything maribou-edged or peacock-feather-topped; dripping with gemstones and pearls; or plunging enough to push the limits of the Hays Code, then bring it along. Gents, this applies to you too, but you could also opt for the classic tuxes, tails or herringbone. And the hotel has a small boutique selling cult brands, such as Salt & Stone deodorant, Mason Pearson hairbrushes, and Frette towels.
Also
Ding ding, indeed – we love the bellhops’ throwback powder-blue uniforms.
Pet‐friendly
Up to two well-behaved pups (under 25 pounds) can stay in a room for $125. Beds, bowls and treats will be provided, but dogs mustn’t be left unattended in rooms and should be leashed at all other times. Cleaning fees may apply. See more pet-friendly hotels in Santa Monica.
Children
While the hotel is more sparkling coupes and caviar than child-friendly, kids can stay; Bloom baby cribs can be added to all rooms, and Jay-Be rollaway beds can be placed in suites, both for no charge.
Sustainability efforts
When the Georgian opened in 1933, it swiftly became an A-list hangout dubbed ‘the First Lady’ of LA, hosting the likes of Clark Gable, Carole Lombard and Marilyn Monroe. However, it fell into disrepair over the years – but thanks to BLVD Hospitality’s Jon Blanchard and Nicolo Rusconi (instrumental in introducing the Ace and Soho Warehouse to Downtown LA and revitalising the area), this art deco dahling is primed and preened for a roaring comeback. They’re hoping to pull off a similar act for this neighborhood too, giving Santa Monica the cool cachet next-door Venice has been slowly building. Alongside this piece of LA history being salvaged, recycling is thoroughly done, there are electric-vehicle charging stations, paperless check-outs, LED lighting, no single-use plastics, and low-flow toilets and shower-heads. The hotel also puts a donation from each booking towards the Kind Campaign, which brings awareness to the negative impact of bullying, offering help to those who've experienced it.
What’s more romantic than hearing the ocean crash in the near distance as you clink something sparkling on a balmy night, with the scent of the surrounding peach hibiscus on the gentle breeze? Nada, that’s what.
Dress Code
Imagine Truman Capote’s invited you to a ball, and wear something as sharp as his witticisms (to make sure you’re on the right side of them).
Hotel restaurant
If you’ve ever wondered what those black-and-white Hollywood parties of old would look like in Technicolor, the Georgian’s restaurant (formerly the Red Griffin, where movie stars and mobsters rubbed elbows) brings the magic like The Wizard of Oz transformation scene. It’s spread out over sumptuous spaces with original moldings and cornices restored, stone starburst-floor-tiling inlaid, walls painted a delicate pink, and yellow-quartzite tables and custom couches in duck-egg-blue, sunshine yellow and coral installed. To one side there’s a horseshoe-shaped bar, and out front, under a navy-striped awning, is the buzzy Sunset Terrace, with beach views and foliage styled by local nursery Rolling Greens. For the menu, chef David Almany has looked to the Mediterranean (for 24-month-aged prosciutto with pear mostarda; five-cheese cacio e pepe; orecchiette with asparagus, lemon bottarga and garlic breadcrumbs; and branzino with olive relish); and further east, with Japanese-style eats (Shigoku oysters with kumquat, chilli and lime; uni linguine); and Cali-cool fare (citrus and avocado salad; steak with bone-marrow gremolata). And even if you’ve had one too many martinis, make it down for breakfast (or brunch) for bulging burritos, challah French toast, filet mignon and eggs, or tins of Georgian caviar served with sweet-potato chips and scallion-mascarpone dip. For the Georgian Room, an intimate and exclusive dinner-only venue, bring your Hollywood glam for dinner and a show (and maybe some celeb sightings).
Hotel bar
A coating of jade-marble blocks, topping of globe lamps, crown of a gilt chandelier, arch of backlit bottles and stools set out like a poker match: the hotel’s Sunset Bar is a starlet in its own right, accessorized with pink-dyed ostrich feathers, mini red theater curtains, and stately palms. It’s certainly a cinematic scene for bar director Jerom Morris’s Thirties-inspired cocktails: the spicy Prima Donna with tequila, green chilli, jalapeño, lime, pineapple, and mint; or the thematic Shoreline, with Japanese whiskey, spiced lapsang souchong, rum, banana, pineapple, clarified milk, and sea-salt foam. Italian digestivi are also a strong suit here, and for bottles from legacy producers from Italy and California, get stuck into the riveting ‘wine book’ as you take in the view from the leafy terrace. The Library has an honesty bar filled with free wines, digestifs, limoncello, soft drinks and water, available to pair with something by Joan Didion or Eve Babitz anytime day or night. And, the after-parties are at the Georgian Room, a more hush-hush venue (bookings essential) that’s kept patrons giddy for decades, with its mean martinis, live jazz and surprise guests.
Last orders
Breakfast is from 7am to 10am; brunch is on Fridays and Saturdays, 8am to 2pm. Lunch, Monday to Friday, is from 11.30am to 2.30pm; and dinner is 5pm to 9pm, till 10pm Thursdays and Fridays.
Room service
Whether you want a very intimate dinner, snacks for stumbling in after-hours, or breakfast the next morning, in-room dining is available round-the-clock.
The Georgian hotel is a vibrant turquoise splash between the white tower blocks of iconic Ocean Avenue and Santa Monica’s palm-lined beachfront strip.
Planes
LAX is a 20-minute drive away on a good day, and up to 50 minutes in heavy traffic. The hotel can arrange transfers.
Trains
Believe it or not, LA has a Metro system; the E (Expo) Line’s Downtown Santa Monica stop is a 10-minute walk away from the hotel, and you can ride it, via Culver City, to Downtown LA. From here, you can connect to glamorous main hub and Amtrak stop Union Station on the D Line.
Automobiles
LA might be an infamously gas-guzzling city (wheels are essential if you want to explore other neighborhoods), but there are free electric-vehicle charging points at the hotel to keep your explorations green. There’s no carpark onsite, but valets can take care of that for you for $62 a night, with in-out privileges (a plus because parking spots are elusive around these parts).
Other
It might be a slog with a suitcase in tow, but you could bike, board or blade from the airport along the coast through Venice Beach to Santa Monica.
Worth getting out of bed for
If the Georgian was any closer to Santa Monica State Beach, it would be the most stylish merperson hangout in LA. It even looks like it on land, with its striking turquoise frontage (and, yes, has popped up on the Accidentally Wes Anderson Instagram account). You’ll spend a lot of time frolicking in the water, swimming; riding surf, long or paddle boards; and snorkelling; or on the sand playing volleyball, cycling (the hotel has beach-cruisers to borrow on a first-come, first-served basis – book an hour beforehand) or showing off your best slo-mo Baywatch run (parts were filmed by Santa Monica Bay). The Pier is an iconic site, especially the Ferris wheel at its tip, the first solar-powered one in the world, no less. It was built in 1909, but still draws crowds for its small amusement park, the Looff Hippodrome and classic carousel, and aquarium – film and music events are held here throughout the year, and there’s the marker for the end of Route 66 to pose by. Camp as can be, and unabashedly pink, World of Barbie lets you live out the doll’s plastic-fantastic life, and Third Street Promenade is a car-free shoppers’ haven, where you could brush up your improv skills at MI’s Westside Comedy Theater’s classes. A farmers’ market showcases the region’s rich produce on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays; and the Santa Monica History Museum delves deeply into the area’s past, looking at its Native American roots and the wartime aviation industry that caused it to boom (population-wise). Third Street and Downtown are also colorfully covered in street art, and Bergamot Station houses various galleries under one coolly contemporary roof; plus, come February, Santa Monica is now host to the Frieze Art Fair. And, the Georgian shares this strip of shoreline with two other very notable addresses: the Eames House (now home to the Eames Foundation) and the Greek- and Roman-art-filled Getty Villa. To the south Venice Beach has its famous boardwalk, Muscle Beach, skate park and canals; and to the north the Santa Monica Mountains unlock a whole new landscape of vertiginous hikes, parks and preserves, wildflower spotting, and horse rides – just watch out for bears. If you prefer to cosy up at the hotel, local bibliomaniacs Arcana Books have stacked the Library’s shelves with works by Joan Didion, Eve Babitz, Christopher Isherwood and Hugo Guinness, among other art tomes; you can stream Alo Moves' HIIT, yoga and meditation classes through your room's TV; Gallery 33 showcases pop-up exhibitions by local, internationally renowned, and up-and-coming artists, and pick up the receiver of the vintage rotary phone in the lobby, and you’ll hear voices from the past telling tales of the hotel.
Local restaurants
The Westside might not be LA’s go-to for gourmands, but there are rich pickings for the hungry here – from dive-y local heroes to upscale date-impressors. Chez Jay’s has been a Googie-build fun-central since 1959, gathering a compendium of stories over the years: one of the free peanuts they give out was taken to space with Alan Shepard and on its return Steve McQueen threatened to eat the ‘astro-nut’; Marilyn Monroe and JFK had secret trysts here (and maybe went back to the Georgian after – both frequented the hotel); and the Pentagon Papers were allegedly leaked at one of the curtained-off tables. The food feels inconsequential, but is really rather good elevated American: filet mignon surf and turf, swordfish au poivre, shrimp curry, wedge salad… Ivy at the Shore is a retro kitschy spot, busy with bamboo and florals, but well-loved for its menu of smoked salmon and crème fraîche pizza, mesquite-grilled wagyu carne asada and lobster ravioli in a house sauce as pink as the walls. At the other end of the spectrum is elegant modern French eatery Pasjoli, in a brick-lined, industrial space, serving up crab with strawberry and rhubarb; stuffed quail with caramelized fennel ragoût, drizzled in blackberry-peppercorn jus; and bitter-chocolate soufflé. Massilia is just as edgily elegant, but with a more Moroccan lean, serving fragrant tagines and merguez pizza; and 1 Pico is a bright white coastal spot overlooking the beach with a buzzy terrace and a menu divvied up into sections headlined ‘Embark’, ‘Restore’ and ‘Forage’. But if you can’t stomach that, you will be able to stomach sustainably farmed Hokkaido scallops; Monterey brussel sprouts in golden balsamic, agave and garlic; and giant bone-marrow-lacquered tomahawks to share.
Local cafés
Cult grocery store Erewhon is worth nosing around whether you scoff at spending $26 for oxygenated water, or have taken on a side-hustle to stock up on herbal green popcorn, Moon Juice dietary supplements and raw kale chips. It also has a café, serving healthy things, such as Japanese 7/11-style onigiri wraps, chaga muffins and mighty-green salads, alongside breakfast burritos, taquitos and cheesecakes. Farmshop is similarly healthful (and wealth-requiring), but with cocktails too. It’s part of the Brentwood Country Mart, so you can pick up a Sweet Rose Creamery cone for dessert and browse indie shops (the Goop flagship is here if you’re running low on uniquely scented candles…). At Back on the Beach, you can gaze out to Catalina Island and the mountains while tucking into breakfast pasta or salmon tacos; Bar Monette dishes up cicchetti (you might not find Aunt Wendy’s treviso with passionfruit, or truffled creamed corn with sea urchin in the Veneto, but they’re delicious nonetheless); and Stella Barra slings dough for the likes of cacio e pepe pizza.
Local bars
The Georgian's art deco glamour is echoed at Bar Chloe, a space of intricate woodwork, velvety button-backs and glittering chandeliers, plus coffee negronis and cheeseboards. And the Misfit is another vintage vixen, all soaring ceilings and swishing drapery, with cocktails both shaken and stirred, alongside pitchers of sangria, local wines and beers.
Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this colorized vision of vintage Californian glamour on Santa Monica’s palm-lined Ocean Drive and unpacked their tie-dye t-shirts and flea-market treasures, a full account of their gazing-out-to-the-blue-on-blue-horizon break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside the Georgian on California’s coast…
Step through the silver screen and back into Hollywood’s Golden Age at legendary hotel the Georgian. Here, tasselled keys hang in neat rows behind the front desk; bellhops in sky-blue, gold-buttoned uniforms and drum caps wheel your luggage to your room on those carts that look like they’d be fun to ride, or turn up with a clinking bar trolley when you press your room’s ‘champagne’ button; shapely Havana art deco styling sets the scene for discreet celeb sightings and a couple cocktails too many; and outrageously glamorous restaurant and bar spaces have walls that feel quite chatty about the movie stars, mobsters and elite figures that hung out there over the decades. It was built in 1933 by Rosamund Borde, who commissioned noted architect Eugene Durfee to create a turquoise-fronted art deco darling, that – at the time – was the tallest building along Santa Monica’s Ocean Drive at eight storeys. Much like the potent cocktails in the bar, the beachside setting, panoramic views and impeccable taste on display proved a heady concoction, and caught the attention of stars such as Charlie Chaplin, Clark Gable, Carole Lombard, Jean Harlowe, Bugsy Siegel, Al Capone, and Marilyn Monroe, the Kennedys…alongside the influx of greased-up workers from the Douglas Aircraft Factory and World War II servicemen. In step with Hollywood’s highs and lows, the hotel’s starry clientele found new hangouts and the building needed a little TLC, until lo, a comeback was staged by BLVD Hospitality (responsible for revitalising DTLA with the Ace and Soho Warehouse) and Fettle Design, who together restored the cornices, moldings, doorway medallions and golden peepholes; added bright furnishings with the scalloping, starbursts and geometric gilding of old; and created a new gallery (where actress Sharon Stone held her first exhibition), library curated by Arcana Books, and partnered with Ubiquity Records to curate vinyl for the suites. A five-star sequel for a five-star stay.
