The Los Angeles Athletic Club’s Latest Swanky Renovations Unveiled
Author:Abigail Stone
Entering Downtown’s Los Angeles Athletic Club feels like stepping back to a much more glamorous time. Dark wood, saturated walls, crystal chandeliers and layered accessories, including antique furnishings and pieces from the club’s fine art collection, confer the patina of the building’s one hundred and thirty-eight year history over every space.
The Los Angeles Athletic Club was first private club — its membership culls names from both the silver movie legends and city luminaries alike Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin and Rudolph Valentino are some of its legendary members.
It’s renowned for boasting the first pool installed on an upper level. The 25-yard lap pool, kept at tightly controlled 82-83 degrees, is illuminated by a stunning skylight.
Alongside beautiful athletic facilities, a variety of restaurants and bars, it offers reciprocal membership with clubs around the world as well as cozy hotel rooms, with special rates for members and their guests.
Now, with phase two of its renovation, under the direction of Los Angeles-based SRK Architects, the club further merges its storied past to an exciting future. Focusing on the fourth, fifth and sixth floors of the 12-story building, which encompasses its athletic, social, and meeting spaces along with three floors of hotel rooms, it recently unveiled the women’s locker rooms, the surfer-inspired Kahuna Room (the name nods to member and surfing legend Duke Kahanamoku and will also be the setting for WAVE, a new club offering unique networking opportunities to new and existing female members ) and the debut of five new meeting rooms on the fourth floor. Designed by Tracy Beckmann, who has served as the lead designer at the LAAC for the past eight years, they seamlessly blend the modern amenities of an urban haven with the rich sophistication of the past.
Los Angeles Athletic Club, 431 W 7th St, Los Angeles, CA 90014, 213.486.3813 To learn about becoming a member, click here.
