Just days ago in Los Angeles, the Sunset Tower was hosting Golden Globe soirees at the Tower Bar downstairs, as nominees squeezed into their ceremony-ready ballgowns and tuxes in the suites upstairs, the City of Angels looming gloriously behind them.
That seems like a distant memory after three days when unrelenting wildfires tore through the Pacific Palisades and Altadena—the two worst fires in the history of Los Angeles, happening simultaneously, burning through thousands of acres of land and destroying buildings, businesses, and cultural landmarks. Numerous people have lost their homes, and at least five residents have died. The restaurants that hosted the starriest Golden Globe parties—Disney at Funke, Universal at Lavo—are closed for the foreseeable future.
But in order to accommodate local evacuees, the Sunset Tower Hotel—one of the great West Hollywood Art Deco haunts, with its beloved Tinseltown canteen, the Tower Bar—has stayed open. It’s currently giving shelter to those who have either lost their homes or been asked to evacuate. Owner Jeff Klein has been on the ground each night, hanging with Tower Bar regulars who have taken up residence in the hotel for what is decidedly not a staycation, and the hotelier has been trying to give comfort to those who could lose everything. The Sunset Tower will always be glamorous, but right now it’s putting a roof over the heads of those who have faced disaster.
The Sunset Tower Hotel in Los Angeles, California.by Michael Buckner/WWD/Penske Media/Getty Images.
“It’s undeniable that there’s stress—people have lost their homes, lost personal belongings. There was a woman I was talking to last night in the Tower Bar who was staying in a hotel. She took her jewelry, but she forgot to take letters that her mother, who’s no longer with us, wrote her,” Klein told me by phone from LA on Thursday.
“Hopefully what we’re able to provide is a quick escape from the stresses and anxieties that they’re going through, by providing hospitality and a cool place and a nice drink and some live music and whatnot, to really just kind of alleviate all the stress,” he went on. “For an hour or two, they can come downstairs to the lobby bar, or to the Tower Bar, and have dinner, but it still doesn’t take away from all that’s going on.”
It’s a scene that’s playing out across the city’s favorite haunts—the Los Angeles Times sent a reporter to the Beverly Hills Hotel to check out the luxe vibes, and TMZ is reporting that there’s little capacity at the Peninsula, the Waldorf Astoria, and the Four Seasons. Klein, who also runs the no-photos-allowed members club San Vicente Bungalows, wouldn’t name names, but during non-disaster times, regulars at the Sunset Tower Hotel have included those at the tippy top of the worlds of film, fashion, media, and art: think Tom Ford, Bill Murray, Mick Jagger, Jeff Koons, Bryan Lourd, and Jennifer Aniston. And everyone wants to experience a shred of normalcy at a time when, if you look outside or look at your phone, all you see is fire and ash.
“It’s nice to just know that something that makes you happy, you can come back to, and it’s still there and it’s still standing,” Klein said. “And it’s the same piano and bass player, and same stiff cocktails, and the same vibe and energy, and the wood-panel walls and the glow of the lights. I think it’s just nice when other things have been taken away from us.”
