San Francisco Proper Hotel lobby.
Proper unites historic structure with new building in Santa Monica, unveils sleek new build in Austin, restores landmark building for downtown L.A. hotel.
LOS ANGELES, CA – Since its debut in San Francisco in Fall 2017, the buzz surrounding San Francisco Proper Hotel hasn’t subsided, with the hotel continuously winning over travelers with its casual luxury, creative energy, and soulful design. It’s no wonder Conde Nast Traveler included Proper on its 2018 “The Hot List”, AFAR included it on the list of “Best US Hotel Openings in 2017”, and Travel + Leisure named San Francisco Proper Hotel one of the “coolest new hotels in San Francisco."
Now, Proper Hospitality, imagined and developed by the visionaries behind LA-based The Kor Group, is set to open three long-awaited hotels in three of the country’s most happening markets. Santa Monica Proper Hotel, Austin Proper Hotel & Residences, and Downtown Los Angeles Proper Hotel will open in May, June, and September 2019, respectively.
Proper Hospitality is redefining traditional luxury hospitality, targeting a new generation of high-end travelers who yearn not only for elevated services and amenities, but memorable stays and cultural connectivity. Showcasing the best of what a destination has to offer, Proper intentionally selects creative locations and develops a locally immersed program through eclectic designs by Kelly Wearstler, locally curated F&B programming through incredible culinary partners and world-class amenities, providing one-of-a-kind experiences for locals and visitors alike.
Designer Kelly Wearstler serves as creative lead for the Proper brand and is responsible for each hotel’s interior design, drawing inspiration from its respective market while keeping the same level of creativity and style synonymous with the Proper portfolio. Proper has also tapped culinary icons in each city to offer best-in-class food and beverage experiences for guests and locals – another defining characteristic for the rapidly expanding brand.
The first high-end lifestyle hotel to open in Santa Monica in two decades, located at 700 Wilshire Blvd in its downtown core, Santa Monica Proper Hotel will fuse a circa-1928, Arthur E. Harvey-designed Spanish Colonial Revival building with sleek, sweeping new construction to create the city’s freshest, most invigorating luxury hotel.
“We’ve thoughtfully restored the historic building to its original glory, from the exterior details to the rich materials we kept inside,” said Brian De Lowe, President and Co-Founder of Proper Hospitality and The Kor Group. Upon entry into the historic building, guests are transported to Spain with the historic Spanish architecture and Moorish details throughout. Local artists and designers add a touch of Santa Monica layered with soft colors and textures, natural sunlight, and ocean breezes.
In contrast, the new building is monolithic in nature. A natural, organic palette and furnishings evoke the beach with decor reminiscent of what one would find along the shore. The robust, bold details are layered with textures including natural materials, wood, stone, and plaster with metal accents. “As with the design for all of the Proper properties we were intentional about working with local artists to bring a truly authentic and localized experience to Santa Monica Proper. Earthy, raw materials, organic textiles and a layering in of art and landscape bring a rich sensory feeling into the hotel”, says Kelly Wearstler.
In 271 guest rooms and suites, furnishings from a range of styles will typify the relaxed California lifestyle, while a mix of curated furniture will add a sense of timeless residential comfort.
Ascending six floors, guests will be greeted by a sweeping rooftop deck and pool, complete with an expansive restaurant featuring circular indoor/outdoor, eclectic beach-inspired bar, which will make Santa Monica Proper’s rooftop the most sought-after hangout for guests and locals alike. A 2,500-square-foot gym will share Proper’s dedication to wellness and more than 8,000 square feet of meeting space including various meeting areas with capacity for up to 500 will make this Santa Monica’s most proper place for corporate and social gatherings.
Chefs Jessica Koslow and Gabriela Camara will oversee the ground floor restaurant. Koslow is the chef/owner of Sqirl, the trailblazing Los Angeles cafe that has revolutionized California cooking. Camara’s portfolio includes iconic, cosmopolitan institutions like the award-winning Contramar in Mexico City and Cala in San Francisco. Their one-of-a-kind collaboration will feature Mexican and California flavors, ingredients, and techniques in the kitchen, at the bar, and on the table. “We are so lucky to work with Jessica and Gabriela,” said De Lowe. “They are two of the world’s most innovative, groundbreaking, and imaginative chefs… and a perfect fit for Proper.”
Integrated into a Proper stay will be the 3,000-square-foot flagship collaboration with internationally celebrated Ayurvedic guru Martha Soffer, founder of the renowned Surya Spa. Following 10,000 years of Indian wellness principles, Surya’s individually curated programs foster and support physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing and balance through therapeutic massage, steam and oil treatments, cooking, yoga, and meditation. Wildcrafted, plant-based ingredients are blended and created daily for each individual, to relax and rejuvenate. Guests may enjoy single treatments like Ayurvedic facials and scrubs, or Surya’s signature residential Panchakarma Series, lasting 3-21 days. Other spa features include an intimate retail space, yoga and TM classes in partnership with the David Lynch Foundation.
Debuting in June, Austin Proper Hotel & Residences will give the prospering southwest corner of downtown the kind of hotel it deserves. “Austin’s a city full of people who share our appreciation for the idea of a life well-lived, and it’s a natural fit for the first Proper hotel located outside California,” said De Lowe. “This city is booming, vibrant, creative, and just plain cool. It’s one of our favorite places to spend time.”
Austin Proper’s location at 600 West 2nd Street is unbeatable – at the edge of gorgeous Lady Bird Lake, with its trails and water activities, steps from the buzzing 2nd Street District, and close to corporate technology HQs such as Facebook and Google. The 32-story modern high rise will consist of 244 hotel rooms and suites, three restaurants, two bars, an outdoor lounge, two elevated swimming pools, a serene full-service spa and wellness facility and nearly 10,000 square feet of meeting space.
Perched atop the 244-room hotel, Proper will offer 99 luxury Proper-branded for-sale residences – one-, two-, and three-bedroom residences and panoramic-view four- and five-bedroom 2-story penthouses curated with local raw material, hand-crafted tiles and unique original art adding thoughtful details to guestrooms. Their design-forward aesthetic, also cultivated by Kelly Wearstler, sets a new standard for downtown Austin living.
Wearstler’s design for Austin Proper is influenced by the area’s historic, articulate craftsman style homes paying homage to art nouveau and arts & crafts motifs, joinery techniques, textures, and materials. “We’re layering this timeless, historic, stylish sensibility with warmth and intimacy in a new, modern building,” Wearstler said.
Wearstler’s design captures Austin soul. The lobby’s monolithic wooden staircase covered in more than 60 conjoined vintage carpets topped with an assortment of monolith assorted pots by local ceramicist Rick Van Dyke; an incredible five-foot-diameter light fixture whose neon accents recall Austin’s iconic neon signs. In guest rooms, Wearstler calls upon Van Dyke for custom made Tchotchke trays and hand raked cabinet inlay tiles, while Magda Saveg develops intricately designed wall art from string to delicately ornate guestroom walls. On columns, walls, and furnishings throughout the property, Wearstler uses Elmwood, a material indigenous to Austin. Along the corridors of the Condo owner’s floors, custom photos by Barry Stone showcase Austin scenery and landscape, immersing owners into the local city they call home.
Proper Hospitality tapped Austin locals Larry McGuire and Tom Moorman of McGuire Moorman Hospitality to oversee Austin Proper’s food and beverage offerings. The award-winning hospitality and lifestyle company is at the forefront of Austin's best dining and entertainment offerings with Lamberts Downtown Barbecue, Perla’s, Jeffrey’s, Elizabeth Street Cafe, ByGeorge and more. With the opening of Austin Proper, McGuire Moorman Hospitality will be the driving force behind several new concepts, including a ground floor Mediterranean-inspired grill, coffee shop and cafe with take away options, two cocktail bars and a poolside Mexican eatery with dishes prepared on a wood-burning grill.
Downtown Los Angeles Proper Hotel will revive the landmark, Curlett & Beelman designed 1926 red-brick building at 11th and Broadway – a private club in the ’30s, hotel in the ’40s, and a YWCA until 2004. With 148 guest rooms, two restaurants, bars, two unique presidential suites as well as a rooftop with restaurant, bar and swimming pool, even in hotel-rich downtown L.A., Downtown Los Angeles Proper Hotel will offer an experience unlike anything in the city. In true proper form, Downtown Los Angeles Proper offers a complete local experience from the historic architecture reminiscent of early Spanish colonials in Downtown L.A., partnership with the city’s emerging artists and talented artisans to renown local Chefs and restaurateurs.
Motivated by the building’s California renaissance revival flavor and Downtown L.A.’s melange of influences, Kelly Wearstler is creating lushly textured interiors whose masterly mixture of colors and materials tell a singularly L.A. story. Every walk around the lobby, with its 24-foot ceilings, will reveal new details. Dark wood and brown plaster will offset historic architectural paneling and marble details. Hand-selected furniture will balance Proper’s custom designs for a residential, deeply comforting feel. Custom tiles in fresh Spanish-Mexican-California tones will contrast with wire-brushed wood and leather finishes. Striking stained glass, by Pasadena’s Judson Studios, will play off the fabrics and furniture. The front desk, in rich Wenge wood, will boast a bold ceramic base by Los Angeles artist Morgan Peck with hundreds of hand-formed tiles.
The guest rooms and suites boast beautifully restored windows that illuminate deep textures and rich materials, hand-raked plaster walls, artwork by local artists, and ceramic accessories from Los Angeles. Generous bathrooms will glow with more than 100 custom, hand-glazed, artisanal earthenware tiles.
In preserving the one of a kind architecture of the building, Downtown Los Angeles Proper will also unveil two unique suites perfect for special events and overnight stays: a Pool Suite and Basketball Court Suite. The Pool Suite incorporates the former YWCA’s indoor swimming pool into the living area, with a huge custom ceramic mural by emerging L.A. artist Ben Medansky. The Basketball Court Suite transforms a former racquet ball court, later turned basketball court into an event space and guestroom of astonishing proportions.
Driving local flavors to the hotel, Proper Hotels appointed Caroline Styne and Suzanne Goin, the legendary James Beard Award-winning L.A. restaurateurs known for a.o.c., Lucques, Tavern, and The Larder, who will oversee the hotel’s scenic first-floor restaurant, as well as the stunning rooftop lounge with uniquely scaled spaces from intimate corners to a lively restaurant and bar on Proper Downtown Los Angeles’ 5,000-square-foot rooftop with expansive views of the skyline. “We feel such a kinship with the whole Proper group in terms of our cultures and approaches,” Styne said. “And we’re in love with this building.”
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
