London Meets Hollywood At This Chic Location At The Sunset Strip
I went to a press event and wound up at a party.
A full-blown am-I-in-the-wrong-place party where the champagne corks were popping so often it provided a soundtrack, speciality gin and vodka cocktails were being poured along with endless wines, and the crowd was so gorgeous and well dressed it was like I was in a Hollywood movie.
In a way, I was, for I was at a press (and more!) preview of the opening of the London Bar and the remodel of the Boxwood restaurant at The London West Hollywood hotel in Los Angeles.
“We like to blend London with L.A.,” Executive Vice President Karim Lakhami told PubClub.com, and at this event, I felt like I was at Austin Powers’ London shag shack without leaving Los Angeles.
I was about the only one not dressed in black (Hollywood) and a female and male model were attired in colorful and stylish – depending on one’s style – outfits one would not expect to see on this side of the pond (London).
After arriving and checking in with the hosts, my PubClub.com associate and I were given our choice of champagne or wine (we both chose wine) and instructed to walk through the movie theater. Yes, a movie theater in a bar! Actually, this is a screening room for Hollywood press to review new flicks and is not open to the public, but just having it shows what a cool place it is at The London WeHo.
We then emerged into the bar area and this is where things turned from from press event to party. The place was crowded with so many nice-looking people it was like being in a happening singles bar. We walked up to the bar and ordered drinks. I kept with the wine (Hollywood) while my associate had one of the speciality drinks, the gin-based Limey Rose (London).
Later, Lakhami spoke of a drink called the Goldfinger (named after a favorite James Bond movie), where they roll out a cart and infuse gin right at your table and then sprinkle it with gold dust. It’s always good to have an excuse to go back to a place, right!?
The bar area, large and bright (definitely not Hollywood; it’s designed to be like an English country house) spilled over into a back room, or the restaurant. People were sitting on couches eating plates of food. This area is a series of couches and seats and it’s perfectly laid out so you can be engaged in your conversations while also checking out what’s going on around you. That touch is most definitely a Hollywood thing.
To eat, there were bowls of seafood containing shrimp so large they barely fit on the plate, a soft ice cream area and chefs lined up in front of small burners in what at first glance appeared to be an omelette station, but was instead was a rosetto station. Yes, I’ll take the sautéed mushrooms, some shrimp… Fantastic.
But my associate and I were most impressed by the prime rib, carved in front of us. I passed on all the sauces and instead made sandwiches out of them from the Yorkshire pudding. This bread was light and airy while the prime rib added the necessary bulk to it. This was soooo delicious that I went back three times.
There was even an appearance by one of the hotel’s mascots, an English bulldog, tho I’m not sure if it was Winston or Churchill. Whichever one it was, he sure was a chick magnet.
Oh, and there’s a rooftop bar with a pool, too, which was not open on this night.
All around us was a loose, fun party atmosphere. We had expected this to be like most press events for bars or restaurants, a fairly quiet affair with a dozen or so bloggers given tastes of food and drinks to sample for a review. But this was like being out in a great bar on one of its best nights.
If this event – which involved PR people, special guests, a few of us bloggers and I’m not sure whom else and while I did not spot any celebrities I’ve been told Gwen Stafani, Rob Lowe, Hugh Grant and several others have been spotted here on occasion – is any indication of what this bar and restaurant is like on a regular night, then I can’t recommend enough to get there to experience it.
The London West Hollywood Address: 1020 N. San Vicente Blvd.,West Hollywood, CA
Website: http://www.thelondonwesthollywood.com
Social: @thelondonweho
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