Drinks Won't Be Fun for Everyone at Palihouse Santa Monica

Stylish hotelier Avi Brosh is putting his touch on Santa Monica's historic Embassy Hotel Apartments, a small Spanish-style hotel two blocks north of the Third Street Promenade, turning its rooms into "beach-inspired pied-à-terres." But his dream is one woman's nightmare.

Part of Brosh's vision is to open a lounge in the hotel's lobby that serves coffee to guests during the day and cocktails and snacks at night. To serve alcohol, the hotel, now called Palihouse Santa Monica under his ownership, needs a license from the state and a permit from the city. The permit could restrict, among other things, the lounge's operating hours.

In an interview last week, Brosh said the hotel's neighbors, some of whom live just a couple of hundred feet away, should not to rush to judgment about how the bar would impact their block. That is tough for one of the hotel's closest neighbors, Laura Wilson, to accept. Her apartment's bedroom window overlooks the front courtyard, which leads to the lobby's entryway.

"It's the longest and safest place I've ever lived, and it's quiet," the 13-year resident said. "It's too close to a residential neighborhood to have that type of activity."

An attorney by trade, Wilson said she is it making her full-time "job" to tell her neighbors about what the Palihouse is proposing. Before the city permit is approved, she and other residents will be able to weigh in at a public hearing.

"I'm going to do my best to stop it," she said.

Designated an historic landmark by the city in 2003, the Spanish Colonial Revival-style Embassy was built in the mid-1920s and will remain a hybrid hotel designed for extended stays with condominiums when it reopens in June. It is currently closed for renovations, mostly fresh paint and new furniture.

Stepping into the lobby feels like walking into a California mission, there are brick-colored tile floors; white stucco walls; arched doorways and high ceilings with dark wood beams.

The permit application is to sell alcohol in minibars in the hotel rooms, which are renting from $350 to $1,500 nightly, and drinks from the lobby until 2 a.m.

Brosh's Paligroup purchased the Embassy quietly in the fall. It already operates two trendy hotels in Hollywood and West Hollywood, which gets mixed reviews from guests who praise its "Los Angeles coolness" but complain about noise and loud parties.

Here's what one San Francisco-based guest wrote on tripadvisor.com:

I really wanted to like this hotel. Great location, fresh decor, spacious, comfortable rooms. Nice to have space to spread out and a kitchenette available. However, if you are wanting peace and quiet--or at least a hotel without booming club music infiltrating your space--you will need to look elsewhere

Brosh and his team said they want to protect residents' quality of life but have not reached out to them about their plans. Comparing Palihouse Santa Monica to the West Hollywood location is like comparing apples to oranges, they said.

"West Hollywood is like five times the size with a full-service restaurant," said Kirsten Leigh Pratt, who oversees Paligroup's branding.

They did not yet have any solutions for how they would keep guests from disturbing residents, but they did say there won't be any standing room in the lounge, meaning they don't expect it to get too packed.

"This is not a party hotel," said Brosh. "It's not like we do Red Bull parties, we don't do wet t-shirt contests."

But Wilson fears even under the best circumstances, guests will be noisy as they stand outside the valet or in the alley, where they might smoke cigarettes.

"I'm sure it's not going to be a night club-type place," Wilson said. "But just visit any of the lobby lounges at one of the Santa Monica hotels and see how they loud they get."