"The amount of people that came in as second-, third-generation Silver Lake people, they were like, 'Thank God you guys are keeping the essence of the building,'" Casetta Hotels president Jennifer Armbruster told Time Out in September, shortly before Hotel Lucile opened at the corner of Griffith Park Boulevard and Lucile Avenue.
The building has kept its essence. For anyone who lives within walking distance, though, it hasn't fully opened its doors yet. A little over five weeks after opening day, a neighbor can get into exactly one part of it, the dinner room, during exactly one window, the evening. The lounge, the rooftop and the daytime cafe are open only to the 25 rooms' worth of overnight guests. Casetta's plan to open those spaces to the neighborhood is scheduled for later this year, so for now the church's old job as a gathering place runs on dinner reservations.
The church a block up from the polka dots
Hotel Lucile sits about a block up Griffith Park Boulevard from Sunset Triangle Plaza. The building went up in 1931 as Bethany Presbyterian Church, in the Romanesque Revival style. It later served as a performance theater and an antique market, and according to Time Out, the opening scene of Fear the Walking Dead was filmed inside while it was still a ruin. Eater LA reported that Casetta spent six years renovating it.
It is also not the former convent that spent years in a well-publicized legal fight. That one is a couple of miles up the road in Los Feliz. Time Out says the mix-up comes up often enough that the hotel's team now addresses it directly.
What survived the conversion is the reason to go inside. Stained-glass windows of the 12 apostles look down on the dining room. The iron-framed windows in the guest rooms are original. The bell tower no longer rings, but it still stands. Local names show up throughout the building. Rhett Baruch Gallery curates a rotating mix of art in the rooms and common areas, and artist Erin Lynn Welsh painted two dining-room murals, one of Eaton Canyon and one of Elysian Park. Janel Foo of Pasadena's Stained Glass Supplies made a pair of glass coasters that, set side by side, reproduce the stained glass behind the banquettes. Eater adds a partnership with Skylight Books in Los Feliz and herbs grown in the rooftop garden.
Who gets which room, five weeks after opening
This is the part the opening-week coverage passed over quickly. Here is how the building splits up, based on what Casetta told Time Out at opening:
| Space | Open to neighbors now? | What's planned |
|---|---|---|
| Sous Sous dining room in the nave | Yes, dinner only | Menu stays mostly the same year-round |
| Daytime cafe at the front of Sous Sous | Hotel guests only, espresso and grab-and-go | Full lunch service, expected around November or December |
| Choir loft, the hotel's lobby | Hotel guests only | A coworking-style membership for neighbors |
| Rooftop with herb garden and bell tower views | Hotel guests only | Access for people holding a Sous Sous reservation |
| Pool | Hotel guests only | A mobile bar |
| Building south of the pool | Not open | A wellness space with sauna and cold plunge, "much farther down the line" |
Armbruster said she expects the second phase around November or December. No membership price or start date has been announced. For now, the hotel's own events page lists the choir loft and roof deck as spaces to book for private events.
The rooftop is the plan most likely to change the block. General manager Anthony Gutierrez hopes to host small DJ sets, wine tastings and events with local partners up there. He also made a promise to the neighbors living around the corner of Lucile Avenue: "we're not going to be open excessively late, we close at a responsible hour." Time Out suggested it could become Silver Lake's first proper rooftop bar.
Dinner is the way in, so here is how dinner works
Sous Sous opened on Monday, September 14. It comes from the team behind De La Nonna in the Arts District, chef Patrick Costa and operations and beverage director Lee Zaremba. In its opening report, Eater listed hours of 5 to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
A few practical details for a weeknight visit:
- Book, but don't give up without a booking. The Resy page says reservations are a good idea and the restaurant always keeps a few seats open for walk-ins.
- Go early for the glass. Time Out recommends an early reservation so you can still see sunlight coming through the stained glass, which throws shifting patches of jewel tones across the room as the day goes on. With sunset coming earlier each week this fall, the 5 p.m. seating gives you the best chance of seeing it.
- Parking is mostly a short walk. Resy notes valet at the hotel, plus "usually a spot or two" on Griffith Park Boulevard or up Lucile Avenue. For most neighbors, walking over is easier anyway.
The menu combines southern France with the American South. Eater describes oysters with an Espelette pepper rim and a seasonal mignonette, hush puppies served with honey butter and serrano chile, a bouillabaisse for two, and an eight-ounce burger called Le Burg with caramelized onions, cheddar and Dijonnaise. Costa told Eater the menu will mostly stay the same through the year, with light seasonal updates.
The bar may be the better reason to stop in on a whim. It's built to look like a church organ, with a high center arch. Zaremba's list includes a fried green tomato tequila drink with an Old Bay rim, an espresso martini made with mezcal and chicory, and a Sazerac riff made with rye infused with toasted coconut. In its September 30 review, The Infatuation described "a bottleneck to get into Sous Sous" and concluded that "if you want a slightly fancier atmosphere in Silver Lake, a few Sazeracs at Sous Sous will do the trick."
When the church is full, or it's daytime
Dinner-only access leaves gaps, and two other fall changes fill them.
When Sous Sous is booked solid, the other September opening is a short drive down Sunset. Briciola opened in mid-September at 3131 W. Sunset Blvd., in the former Spoon & Pork space. The name means "crumb" in Italian, a nod to the size of the room. Owner Mattia Raimondi, born in Belo Horizonte and raised in Northern Italy, developed the menu with Rome-born chef Matteo Di Nicola. Before moving to Los Angeles, the pair ran Cedro in Newbury Park, which Michelin recognized. Eater's October 1 story points to dishes like bolinho de bacalhau, cavatappi in a pink sauce made with cachaça in place of vodka, and spaghetti alla nerano made with queijo Minas.
For daytime, when the hotel has nothing open to locals yet, the market named for the neighborhood has landed closer to home. The Silverlake Flea started nearly 20 years ago in Silver Lake. It moved to the Taix parking lot in Echo Park in 2019 and then to a studio lot in Atwater Village last April. According to The Eastsider, it has now moved to 1900 N. Vermont Ave. in Los Feliz, where a representative said the market would be "back in an area where many of our amazing vendors live and work." The flea's own site lists hours of 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday.
Put together, a Silver Lake weekend this fall can mean Saturday morning at the flea on Vermont and dinner under the apostles on Griffith Park Boulevard. Hotel Lucile's daytime life starts only if the lunch counter and choir loft open on the November or December schedule Casetta described. For more on how the neighborhood's center of gravity has been shifting, our summer piece on Silver Lake drifting west on Sunset covers the stretch just below the church, and the Silver Lake neighborhood page collects the rest.
Seeing original stained glass and iron windows in a dining room makes you look at the details in your own house a little differently. If you live in an older Silver Lake home and want to know which original features are worth keeping, restoring or putting front and center someday, Alex Lozano is glad to walk through it with you. Let's Connect.
