Anything You Want: Alice Restaurant

Author:Abigail Stone

Alice, the morning til night restaurant at The 1 Hotel on Sunset Boulevard, is a welcome addition to The Strip, offering a plethora of spaces — a marketplace, cafe dining in a wild garden landscaped by Rios Clemente Hale Studios, and an elegant, yet comfortable interior designed by John M. Sofio of Built Inc. — to fit many moods.

“We started talking to Starwood Capital a few years ago about their potential new hotel in LA.,” says John Terzian of The h.wood Group. “I personally have had great respect for Starwood and have been following the 1 Hotel evolution and love what they stand for and how they have been developing. Since they were new to LA, it made sense to collaborate with us. We proposed a rooftop bar that would open first — that’s Harriets — followed by a great all-day-and-night restaurant that caters to both hotel guests and the locals alike. That’s Alice.” 

With its location at the hotel and on a busy corner of Sunset, the trick was balancing multiple programs — hotel guests in town for pleasure, business travelers and locals. It would need to be elegant yet casual, work as well for a business breakfast as for a family lunch with children, a upscale nighttime crowd or a romantic tete-a-tete. With Sofio’s expertise at the helm, the restaurant is surprisingly flexible, easily balancing intimate moments with boisterous options.

“Guests enter through the market area where a Calcutta black marble articulated bar-top is illuminated by classic crystal lighting,” says Sofio. Cold cases offer wine, snacks and sandwiches while an open kitchen, for coffee and made-to-order items, is paired with high top tables that invite lingering with a laptop. Once past the hostess section, the mood changes. “The cafe expands into a full-service dining restaurant with soft, elegant booths and warm white oak seating. Hues of pink and light blue are balanced to support both day and nighttime dining. Outside the atmosphere changes once again. With tables sheltered from the sun by umbrellas and long grasses that screen the space from the street, it’s a cool, quiet, private and shaded oasis.

“We took a fairly cold space with cement and hard edges and transformed it into a warm feeling place while maintaining the open and light aesthetic,” says Terzian, “People have been loving it and frequently commenting on how the space epitomizes the relaxed sophistication of LA.” 

Alice Restaurant, 8490 Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069, 310.424.1600