Newly Reimagined Culver Hotel Voted #1 Most Romantic Boutique Hotel in California

The minute she walked in, it was love at first sight. The iconic Flatiron shape … the grand spaces…the rich Hollywood history… the location at the nexus of one of the most centrally-located cities in the greater Los Angeles area … Maya Mallick, the newest owner of the historic Culver Hotel, was convinced she could make the neglected property great again. Mallick – who was born in the U.S. and raised in Switzerland by an entrepreneurial family of hoteliers – purchased the hotel in 2007, after 10 years in the fashion industry. For the next eight years Mallick carefully curated a reawakening of this “Sleeping Beauty” in one of L.A.'s fastest growing creative hubs and “it” neighborhoods.

The dream came full circle last month when the 46-room Culver Hotel was voted the #1 Most Romantic Boutique Hotel in California and Top Ten in the nation by the readers of USA TODAY. Mallick's grand vision for the hotel is validated each time: the hotel's Grand Lobby is bustling with cocktailing crowds enjoying the nightly live music, a bride and groom are celebrating their momentous day in the Crystal Dining Room, a business meeting is being held in one of the property's artful event spaces, a family is enjoying Sunday Brunch on the garden patio, or when a guest checks in from near or far.



Built in 1924 by the city's founder, Harry Culver, the hotel was later owned by Charlie Chaplin, who legend has it, lost the property in a poker game to none other than John Wayne. The property is next door to the historic Culver Studios and a few blocks from the legendary Metro Goldwyn Mayer Studios, now Sony Studios. Cast members from classic films like Gone with the Wind and the Wizard of Oz – including the 124 ‘Munchkins' – stayed at the hotel. Greta Garbo, Ronald Reagan, Judy Garland and Clark Gable are just a few of the legendary stars who maintained part-time residences at The Culver Hotel. Today numerous television shows, movies or commercials shoot in and around Culver City, with parts of the hotel's exterior and interior having doubled for a street in London, an apartment in Barcelona or a café in Paris.

With Mallick's background in fashion, her love of design and long-time hobby of antiquing, she carefully perused vintage markets, exclusive interior design shops and family heirlooms to select furnishings for both the rooms and the public spaces. Much of her spirited and eclectic transformation of the spaces was achieved by re-purposing vintage finds with a fresh twist as well as custom designing numerous pieces throughout the hotel. She explains that this was to her the best way to preserve the architectural integrity of the building while honoring the richness of decades past.

“My goal was to curate beautiful and timeless interiors worthy of the hotel's history and create an artful ambiance that reminded me of an elegant European manor,” explains Mallick. “It also needed to be a warm, inviting and fun place that would create a memorable experience for creatives, the local community and visitors from around the world.”



The 46 stylish guestrooms are furnished with The Culver Hotel's signature vintage-meets-modern décor. Guest room interiors are decorated with classic color palettes, rich fabrics, antique dressers and armoires and updated amenities, while white subway tiles, Carrera marble and chrome fixtures accent the classic, 1920's-inspired bathrooms – helping create a balance of historic charm and modern sensibility. While many of the rooms and suites have views of historic Downtown Culver City, the Santa Monica Mountains and Baldwin Hills, no two rooms are exactly alike in this triangle-shaped nearly century old building.

The Culver Hotel has become one of Los Angeles' go to venues for special events ranging from customized weddings to business meetings. Quite fittingly, for its 90th anniversary, the property hosted a Prohibition Ball, where women donned glamourous flapper attire, men wore gangster suits, brass bands played and vintage cars were showcased at the entrance, with Munchkins as the doormen. To top off the fun-filled evening, a feather clad burlesque dancer popped out of a giant birthday cake while 350 guests sang Happy Birthday to the hotel.

The unexpected, residential feel of the meeting spaces – the antithesis of corporate hotel meeting rooms – echoes the creative vibrancy of the neighborhood. The ground floor offers the Renaissance revival elegance of the Grand Lobby and its dramatic counterpoint, the lovely Crystal Dining Room, an intimate space accented with crystal chandeliers and its original checkerboard marble floor. A tree-lined outdoor patio is used as both a restaurant and special even option. The Velvet Lounge is an speakeasy surprise on the Mezzanine Level where Prohibition style meets 1920's Paris, a perfect venue for a memorable cocktail party in a ‘tres chic' VIP setting.

The second floor is an enfilade of bright, inviting spaces, accentuated with white "wedding-cake" moldings and reclaimed parquet floors. These meeting and event spaces – furnished with hand-selected vintage décor – provide a unique and multi-functional setting for social and business events, not to mention one of LA's most stylish backdrops for photos and videos of life's special moments and milestone celebrations.

Located at 9400 Culver Blvd, it is the only hotel in the revived neighborhood of Downtown Culver City. Just 7 miles from LAX International Airport, the hotel is also very close to the 10 and 405 intersection and 5 to 10 miles from popular destinations such as Beverly Hills, Westwood, Century City, Brentwood, West Hollywood, Hollywood, Santa Monica and Venice Beaches and Downtown Los Angeles. The location has become even more convenient with the 2014 opening of the new metro line just a few blocks away connecting Culver City to USC, LA Live, Staples Center, the Los Angeles Convention Center and Downtown Los Angeles and soon Santa Monica.

Visit website: www.theculverhotel.com