The tall man in a turban still skates along the Venice boardwalk with an electric guitar belting out songs.
At Muscle Beach, a never-ending assortment of athletes and body builders thrills tourists on the sand.
And just around the corner, a 20-foot mural of Jim Morrison “graces” the side of a shabby apartment building in which the dead rock star is said to have lived.
Venice Beach as we know it.
But a stone’s throw away on Pacific Avenue and Main Street, a new kind of energy is building. It is here that the Erwin Hotel has been transformed from a 34-year-old cookie-cutter Best Western into a quirky boutique lodge for adventurous travelers.
More associated with bohemian lifestyles, colorful artists and free-flowing drugs, Venice has never been known for hotels even though the area has long attracted tourists. If they need a place to stay, they generally find something in nearby Santa Monica or Marina del Rey.
Last year, Erwin Sokol, who opened the hotel in 1975 under the name Marina Pacific, decided that all that should change. So he hired Joie de Vivre, a San Francisco company specializing in developing and managing boutique-style hotels. Now, several months and $3 million later, the newly renovated 119-room Erwin Hotel – renamed for its owner – has opened its doors.
“For a long time Venice has been looking for a hotel to call its own,” said Benjamin Malmquist, who manages the place for Joie de Vivre. “I’m very proud that we’ve created one that reflects what this place is about.”
Added the 74-year-old Sokol: “They zeroed down to create a concept that fits in.”
360 degrees
Perhaps the hotel’s most visible feature is a rooftop lounge, the only one in Venice, which offers a 360-degree view that takes in Catalina Island, Griffith Observatory and the Hollywood sign on clear days. Already, the lounge, which serves cocktails and light snacks, has become a draw: On an average weekend night, Malmquist said, it attracts as many as 500 visitors and hotel guests.
The hotel also features indoor skylights, wide blue hallways lined with works by local artists (many of them Venice street scenes), a new restaurant called Hash, and expansive rooms featuring wide-screen TVs and balconies with ocean views.
As might be expected, the price is not Best Western: $229-$399 per night in summer, and $179-$349 during the rest of the year.
“It’s a humble family hotel being injected with new life and spirit to become a landmark destination for visitors and the local community,” gushes a company release.
To date, according to Malmquist, the hotel has maintained an occupancy rate of about 80 percent during the summer. It’s not as high as he’d like, but not bad in an industry adversely affected by the economy.
Since the Erwin opened last month, the hotel has been trying to attract guests with a couple of specials that you might only find in Venice: two hours of surf lessons plus accommodations and breakfast for $399; and, for the same price, an Ink & Stay Package including a room, tattoo from an in-house artist, Lubriderm lotion, and an ice-pack and bottle of tequila for recovering from the wounds.
So far there’s only been one taker: a couple honeymooning from Australia.
The distance they traveled doesn’t surprise Sokol. “Venice has changed,” the hotelier said. “People come here from all over.”
Big step
Of course, whether the Erwin will manage to capture a significant portion of the tourist business remains to be seen.
Bruce Baltin, a consultant with PKG, a hospitality consulting firm in Los Angeles, believes the place will succeed.
“It’s the first hotel of its kind in Venice, and the highest level in terms of quality,” he said. “I think it’s significant and fits perfectly into the Venice market.”
In recent years, Baltin said, the seaside community has been gradually improving, most evident in its selection of restaurants. The newly constituted Erwin Hotel “is obviously a big step in that direction that will positively effect the perception of Venice. I very much expect it to succeed.”
Kay Briski, executive director of the Venice Boardwalk Association, which represents most businesses on the strand, believes the hotel will encourage other owners to spend more money on their businesses.
“It sets a new standard for Venice,” said Briski. “I think we will see more improvements now, as business owners try to keep up.”
Most guests on a recent Friday seemed to like what they saw.
Flares Hadid, a Berlin-based organizer of fashion trade shows, said he’d made many business trips to Southern California but had never stayed in Venice.
“Before I always stayed in Santa Monica,” he said. “The balconies here are beautiful; it’s a cheap option at the beach.”
Milka Von Rhedey, a Las Vegas magazine publisher on vacation at the shore, couldn’t have agreed more.
“I think it’s very beautiful,” she said of the hotel. “The architecture is really amazing; this morning I opened the drapes and there was the ocean.”
