Palisociety encompasses 26 properties around the country and counting, with a strong concentration on the West Coast, including outposts in Westwood and Brentwood, plus two properties in West Hollywood. Hôtel Lili on Lasky Drive in Beverly Hills opened this past spring as the latest accommodation under the brand’s umbrella.
Avi Brosh is the dapper CEO and founder of Palisociety (think Stanley Tucci in the hospitality world), who designed and built his first hotel, Palihouse West Hollywood, in 2008. While that original location is now a Soho House, the brand has since blossomed into four pillars of uniquely stylish stays from Palihouse, Palihotel, ARRIVE by Palisociety and Le Petit Pali.
Steps from Wilshire and Santa Monica boulevards, the stately Beverly Hills property just behind The Peninsula Beverly Hills, was originally built as a private residence in 1939. Under Brosh and his team, the property has been reimagined as an intimate 44-room boutique hotel.
Photos courtesy of Palisociety
The defining characteristics of the Palisociety brand are evident here with an understated sophistication, vintage charm and thoughtful amenities that feel like a home, along with a jewel box lobby bar. The brand takes inspiration from innkeepers of the past, with an approach to comfort, community, and a very hands-on approach with every detail, and Beverly Hills was no exception.
New Jersey native Brosh started in real estate development over 30 years ago on the West Coast, including building private homes in Pacific Palisades, before launching the “Pali” brand in 1998. Brosh recalls that in the ‘80s and ‘90s, Beverly Hills was the center of Los Angeles. “Everything revolved around it from restaurants to shopping. Not to say that that has changed, but Los Angeles has become very dynamic.
Everything from Santa Monica to Downtown now has all these communities with their own personality.” But why, in an area with no shortage of luxury accommodations, was this the right time for a pied-à-terre-style hotel in Beverly Hills?
“You know, my first apartment was right down the street on Spalding,” Brosh told the Courier. “It was a little studio apartment on the second floor. I considered myself the luckiest person in the world to be able to live in Beverly Hills in the late ‘80s. When you live in Beverly Hills and you’re a part of the community, especially when you’re young, it gets under your skin. It just becomes part of your DNA.”
Brosh added to that sentiment, “If you’re a hotelier and you live in Los Angeles, the dream is to have a hotel in Beverly Hills. Can you think of a better place to do it? But for us, we only do a very certain kind of hotel. We do things that are a little smaller, a little bit more neighborhood-centric, very curated and things that are about the neighborhood and not about welcoming people necessarily that are looking for a grand, opulent experience.”
In this ZIP code, where the average hotel room can run upward of $1,000 a night, Brosh is looking at visitors who might not necessarily be on vacation but may have local businesses in the area or meetings in town. “We’re here for people that are coming to Beverly Hills to use it in a way that perhaps is a little bit more about tapping into the community.” His vision was to create a neighborhood-style hotel that has all the same attention to detail, guest services and hospitality, but at a human, and neighborhood scale, along with a much more attainable price point. (Rooms start at $325 per night.)
The inspiration for the design was for guests to feel at home and comfortable, but when they walk outside, still be at one of the best locations in Beverly Hills. “I really wanted to do something that felt solid and to give it a sense of permanence; we really focused a lot on draperies to give it that sensibility.”
Yes, the draperies have a rich texture, particularly the crimson-colored selection in the bar-lounge area where you can linger on a soft leather sofa and sip complimentary lemonade in the afternoons, or a glass of Champagne at check-in. Throughout the common areas and rooms (from various levels of King to Suite), you will find tasteful touches of striped fabrics, velvet pillows, wallpapered ceilings, black-and-white marble-tiled floors, and vintage telephones. Every room is meticulously stocked with a Grind espresso machine, gourmet snacks, a wine selection, and wildly popular Antipodes artisan bottled mineral water imported from New Zealand, along with Diptyque bath amenities and Bellino Fine Linens. While there is no full-service sit-down restaurant on-site, guests can order breakfast, lunch and evening bites from room service, and the lobby bar is open to all with creative martini cocktails and truffle potato chips, among other tipples and treats.
Brosh wanted to focus on something that felt very sophisticated but approachable, and not a throwaway or of the moment. “I wanted to create something that had a sense of history and longevity and a sort of a seriousness to it, and a sense of luxury that people, I think, are looking for when they come here, but that still had all the things that we are known for with mixing, matching, and creating that Pali-sensibility that is a signature element, but we did it in a way that felt mature.”
In the end, Brosh is leaving behind a legacy in his old and still cherished neighborhood. “This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be able to create a hotel that is more accessible, but doesn’t compromise on design, style or location. Even though it’s a very modest building, I was trying to overlay more sophisticated textures and fabrics and surfaces that I felt would do the city of Beverly Hills proud.”
140 S. Lasky Drive in Beverly Hills
thehotellili.com
