Design world cool-girl Kelly Wearstler is appropriately behind Santa Monica Proper, a boutique hotel seeking to emulate California cool. This West Coast outpost is the latest in the Proper Hotels family, from Viceroy Hotel Group founders Brian De Lowe, Alex Samek, and Wearstler’s husband Brad Korzen. 

This latest West Coast branch started with the Santa Monica Professional building, designed by Arthur E. Harvey in 1928 in the Spanish Mission Revival style and originally used for medical suites. Howard Laks Architects has seamlessly married the character of a 8 landmark building with contemporary architecture, to create the first new luxury lifestyle hotel in over a decade. 

Kelly Wearstler took lead from classic Santa Monica history, both visual and cultural, throughout the hotel. Striking objects dot the public spaces, a result of custom collaborations with L.A artisans for original artworks and monolithic installations,An assemblage of both new and vintage pieces add to the layered aesthetic and sense of the unexpected.

271 guest rooms and suites, many with terraces, boast views of the surrounding landscape. Each is furnished with mid-century European inspired pieces, from curvaceous settees and wings chairs to geometric wall sconces. Embody the relaxed sophistication of the California lifestyle, with interiors inspired by the colors and textures of the neighboring coastline. 

Kelly Wearstler’s signature flair for eclectic materials and textures are restrained within a neutral palette, including tile-clad structural columns, abstract, irregular parquetry, and transitional full-height archways of timber or travertine. Private spaces relate to Santa Monica’s iconic coastal lifestyle, featuring a multifaceted mix of organic tones and textures.