"The building has lived several lives," Hotel Lucile general manager Anthony Gutierrez told the Los Angeles Times before the opening. "It has always been a place for people to gather."
The gathering place opened on September 14, 2026, at the corner of Lucile Avenue and Griffith Park Boulevard. It's a 25-room hotel built inside the former Bethany Presbyterian Church. If you live a few blocks away and won't be checking in, the hotel comes down to one room: the old chapel, now a restaurant and bar called Sous Sous. The rest of the building is mostly for guests. That one public room is also exactly what neighbors fought over a decade ago.
A Corner That Has Gone by Several Names
The whitewashed building has stood near Sunset Boulevard for almost a hundred years, and it has had several congregations and tenants. Here is the short version of its many lives:
- 1930 to 1932. Architect Scott Quintin designed the church in 1930. It was built from 1931 to 1932 for about $75,000, according to local historian Eric Brightwell.
- 1965. East West Players, the Asian American theater company, made its first home here. It stayed until the early 1970s.
- 1980. The shrinking congregation merged with a Korean congregation to form Bethany United Presbyterian Church. It later became Pilgrim Church, the name that showed up in local coverage for years.
- Mid-2000s. Services ended.
- 2013. The Silver Lake Neighborhood Council's Urban Design & Preservation Advisory Committee took up a proposal for a 26-room hotel with a restaurant and bar, Patch reported.
- 2014. The city approved the conversion, including alcohol sales.
- 2020. Casetta Hotels took over the long-term lease from the Presbytery of the Pacific, which still owns the property.
- September 14, 2026. After six years of renovation by Casetta, Hotel Lucile and Sous Sous opened.
What opened in 2026 is very close to what went before the committee in 2013. The plan called for 26 rooms and the hotel has 25. Both had a restaurant and bar. Even the style label depends on who you ask. The city's SurveyLA inventory lists it as Mediterranean Revival, and the hotel's own description calls it Romanesque Revival.
The Long Argument Was About the Bar
In 2013, nobody was objecting to beds. Nearby residents complained to the neighborhood council about having more and more places serving alcohol nearby. They also raised parking, and the council board voted to look into it. A zoning administrator first denied alcohol and dancing. The City Planning Commission overturned that decision on appeal, and the Times reported in 2018 that the full conversion, alcohol sales included, was approved in 2014.
So the room the neighborhood argued over is the room the neighborhood can now use. Sous Sous seats about 120 people and serves dinner only, with occasional live music on the chapel stage. Eater LA lists its hours as 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and until 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
Parking, the other 2013 concern, turned out the way neighbors guessed. The hotel has no on-site parking. Guests and diners rely on valet service and street parking, which the Times called "already tight in the neighborhood." If you live within walking distance, the easiest way to get to dinner is on foot.
The building has no formal landmark protection. SurveyLA rates it as appearing eligible for the California Register and for local listing, but that is not a designation as a Historic-Cultural Monument. What survived the renovation is there because the operator decided to keep it.
What Survived Inside the Chapel
Casetta brought in Venice design firm Electric Bowery. The team restored the original stained-glass windows and arches, filled the room with antiques and jewel tones, and added custom banquettes and an upstairs lounge that looks down on the dining room. The upstairs lounge is the old Choir Loft, which sits beneath original stained glass. The interior arches, masonry and woodwork are still there. So is the rooftop cross, which the hotel lights at night. The church bell stays silent.
"We did preserve as much as we could of the original beams and stained glass," Casetta's Laney Langenstein told the Los Angeles Times.
Eater LA describes a bar built to look like a church organ, with a tall center arch. Lee Zaremba, the operations and beverage director from De La Nonna in the Arts District, runs it. His drinks include a fried green tomato tequila cocktail with an Old Bay rim, an espresso martini made with mezcal and chicory, and a Sazerac made with rye infused with toasted coconut.
According to Eater LA's opening report, chef Patrick Costa's menu mixes French cooking with the hospitality of the American South:
- Oysters with an Espelette pepper rim and a seasonal mignonette
- Hush puppies with honey butter and serrano chile
- Bouillabaisse for two
- Le Burg, an eight-ounce bistro burger on a toasted potato bun
- Roasted and grilled chicken with a three-day chicken jus
The kitchen gets herbs from the hotel's rooftop garden and buys from the team's longtime farm and vendor contacts. Local artists' work hangs throughout the building, and the hotel partners with Skylight Books in Los Feliz. Costa told Eater LA the menu will stay mostly the same all year, with small seasonal changes. Tables can be booked through Resy.
What Stays Behind the Room Key
The rest of the old church is split between hotel guests and private bookings:
- Rooftop deck. For hotel guests only, according to Eater LA.
- Café. Serves breakfast and lunch to hotel guests, the Times reported.
- Sanctuary, Choir Loft, organ lounge, courtyard and pool deck. The hotel's events page lists these for private dining, weddings, company retreats and cultural events.
If your street has watched this corner sit empty since the mid-2000s, the realistic way to see the restored stained glass up close is a dinner reservation, or a private event booked in one of the old church rooms.
When the Relatives Fly In
The building has a second use for neighbors, with the holidays coming. Rooms started at $441 a night plus a $50 amenity fee at opening. Management also offered a "locals rate" of 15% off for guests with a California state ID, which the Times described as a launch offer. Confirm both rates directly with the hotel, since launch rates change.
Room layout matters if you're hosting a group. Of the 25 rooms, 24 have a single king bed and one has two queens. Most have showers rather than tubs. The one suite has its own courtyard patio and fountain. The hotel allows children, though the Times noted the layout doesn't really encourage them. Rooms come with minibars curated by Erewhon and other partners, and staff push a martini cart through the halls. A couple visiting for Thanksgiving fits the room plan. A family of five needs more than one room.
Guests also get the parts neighbors don't: the rooftop, the café and the Choir Loft in the morning. Your houseguests may end up seeing more of the old Bethany Presbyterian than you do.
We love a story like this at Jose Prats: a 1931 building with its stained glass, arches and beams kept rather than stripped. If a character home of your own on these streets has a history worth keeping, we'd be glad to walk through it with you. Discover character homes and schedule a showing.
