Hotel Lucile - How A 1931 Los Angeles Church Became A 25-Room Hotel With A Bouillabaisse Habit

The windows in the old sanctuary carry the names of the twelve apostles, Judas Iscariot included. Builders working on the renovation found a honeybee hive in the structure, and a local print series now commemorates it. The dining room is a former chapel where 7.6-meter (25-foot) curtains can be drawn back to open up the room, and the kitchen is run by the team behind a Los Angeles pizza restaurant.

This is Hotel Lucile, a 25-room hotel in a restored 1931 church and rectory in Silver Lake, and it has more past lives than most buildings manage in a century.

Inside The Silver Lake Neighborhood

Hotel Lucile sits at 1829 Griffith Park Boulevard in Silver Lake, an artistic neighborhood that has long attracted artists and architects. You can walk to Sunset Junction, the neighborhood’s cluster of restaurants, shops, culture and nightlife, so you don’t need a car for an evening out.

The area has a literary streak. Several streets are named after works and figures of classic literature, and the hotel’s name comes from one of them. Lucile Avenue is rumored to be named after “Lucile,” an 1860 poem by Owen Meredith. The hotel plays along. On your first night, a brass incense holder and cone are left in your room with an excerpt from the poem.

The hotel also works with local partners to get you out into the neighborhood. Usal Project organizes neighborhood runs and field guides, and an on-site library comes from the local bookstore Skylight Books.

From Presbyterian Church To Theater To Antique Market

The building went up in 1931 as Bethany Presbyterian Church, designed by architect Scott Quintin. His design followed ecclesiastical tradition but quietly introduced early modernist influences, and the Romanesque Revival details are still the building’s defining look.

Over the decades it housed several congregations. It was also an early home of East West Players, one of the first Asian American theater companies in the country. Later, an antique market filled the former sanctuary.

Casetta, the hotel company behind the project, kept as much of the original building as it could. The stained-glass windows, the ceiling beams of the sanctuary, the iron window panes and parts of the wood floor all survived. Architecture and interior design studio Electric Bowery, led by Lucia Bartholomew and Cayley Lambur, handled the redesign.

They took inspiration from Peggy Guggenheim and the idea of a salon, a place where creative people gather to talk. The interiors mix vintage furnishings and collected antiques with contemporary work by Los Angeles artists, and the hotel runs a rotating art program with Rhett Baruch Gallery and Uprise Art.

The best-known pieces are the two murals by Erin Lynn Welsh. Eaton depicts Eaton Canyon and looks toward Altadena and the San Gabriel Mountains. Elysian is based on the gardens and native plantings of Elysian Park. The artist painted Eaton months before the January 2025 fires, and it now reads partly as a record of a landscape that changed.

Sous Sous: A Chapel Dining Room With Two Souths On The Menu

Sous Sous seats roughly 100 people in the former chapel, under the high ceilings and original stained glass. The curtains that frame the grand central bar can be pulled back to open the room to the dining area, where custom banquettes sit in alcoves along the nave. The original stage can be turned into a private dining space.

The name is the French word for “under,” and it’s also a wink at the concept: two versions of the South. One runs from Nice and Marseille in the south of France, the other through Charleston and New Orleans. Seafood, spice and seasonality connect the two.

Executive Chef Patrick Costa was born in Southern California and spent seven years of his childhood in Rome. He later cooked at Chicago’s Michelin-starred L2O under Laurent Gras, was executive chef at The Hart and the Hunter, and worked at Tartine before co-founding De La Nonna with Lee Zaremba. Zaremba, now Operations and Beverage Director, previously oversaw beverage programming for Chicago’s Boka Restaurant Group.

The bar draws on New Orleans. The Sazerac has an absinthe rinse and toasted coconut. The Espresso Martini is made with reposado tequila, chicory and an absinthe mist. Another drink turns the Southern dish fried green tomatoes into a savory margarita with an Old Bay salt rim and dill. The wine list moves between established Old World producers and newer natural winemakers.

The food leans on seafood, herbs, citrus, chiles and smoke rather than butter. The raw bar changes with the catch, and the oysters are finished with Espelette. The hamachi crudo comes with Virginia peanuts and chile, and the shrimp cocktail is made with fermented Fresno chiles and fresh horseradish. Among the main dishes are polenta-crusted blackened rainbow trout and a brick chicken made with Mary’s Organic chicken, served with jus, frisée and lemon.

The centerpiece of dinner is the Bouillabaisse for Two, with clams, mussels, halibut and shrimp in a saffron broth, served with toasted bread and aioli. Le Burg is a cheeseburger with caramelized onions, beef demi-glace and a rémoulade-inspired sauce on a sesame potato bun. For dessert, there’s a Meyer lemon tart with a Nilla Wafer crumble and a McConnell’s vanilla bean sundae with hot fudge and candied pecans.

The Rooms: Six Ways To Stay

The 25 rooms are arranged around a central courtyard. They come in six types, ranging from about 20 to 50 square meters (218 to 536 square feet): Petit King, Signature King, Premium King, Loft King, Loft Double and the Lucile Suite.

Most rooms have narrow-plank original wood floors, steel-framed windows, antique and vintage furnishings, and original artwork. Bathrooms have classic tile and, in select rooms, stained-glass windows. You’ll find Parachute linens, Aesop bath products and a minibar stocked with Erewhon snacks, plus drinks from local partners such as De Soi, Loomen water and Anytime Farmhouse spirits.

A few details tie the rooms to the building. A stained-glass coaster by local artist Janel Foo, the hotel’s good luck charm, sits by the water setup. A brass “Solitude” do-not-disturb tag copies the church’s original hardware. Each room also has a custom ceramic piece by Tish Cyrus-Purcell.

Signature King

The Signature King measures 21 to 25 square meters (230 to 267 square feet). It has a king bed, a dedicated workspace and a walk-in shower, and it sleeps two.

It sits between the compact Petit King and the larger Premium King, and it suits you if you want to work in your room for part of the trip.

Loft Double

The Loft Double is the room for traveling in a group. At 36 square meters (384 square feet), it has two queen beds, soaring ceilings, a dedicated workspace and a walk-in shower, and it sleeps four. It’s the only room type in the hotel with two beds.

Lucile Suite

The Lucile Suite is the largest room, at 50 square meters (536 square feet), and it’s a one-bedroom suite.

You get a king bed, a separate living room, a reading nook,and a powder room. The suite also has its own private courtyard with a view of the landmark clocktower.

The bathroom comes with a double vanity, a walk-in shower and a separate soaking tub.

The Roof Deck: City Views And A Herb Garden

The Rooftop Deck is reserved for people staying at the hotel, and it looks out across Los Angeles. Breakfast and lunch can be ordered up here by QR code.

The roof also has a garden growing basil, rosemary, tarragon, lavender and peppers, which are being grown for possible use in the Sous Sous kitchen. The music up here is meant to sound like a long, easygoing afternoon, with Khruangbin and West Coast indie.

The Pool Deck: A Hidden Garden In The Middle Of The City

The pool sits in a courtyard that Electric Bowery modeled on European-style courtyards, with greenery, preserved architectural details and comfortable seating. Cabanas by Business & Pleasure Co. frame the cocktail pool, and the pool is closed to anyone not staying at the hotel. Food and drinks can be ordered poolside by QR code, and the playlist leans the same way as the roof’s.