Where Greta Garbo wanted to be alone
CONTINUING our series on the world’s hippest hotels and the celebrities who frequent them, SARAH TURNER checks out a Hollywood favourite…
HOTEL: Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows, Santa Monica.
STAR QUALITY: Greta Garbo, Marilyn Monroe, JFK, Bill Clinton, Jane Fonda.
VITAL STATISTICS: English-born John P. Jones, who earned a fortune from silver mining, arrived at the ranchland that was Santa Monica in 1874. By 1889, he’d built a seaside mansion while his wife created a large rose garden. After a stint as home to the Gillette family, in the 1920s the Miramar became a hotel.
Betty Grable was spotted singing in the hotel’s lounge while Jean Harlow dined there. A series of bungalows was built later – Greta Garbo checked into one and stayed for four years, while Marilyn Monroe was known to use one as a bolthole. In the 1980s, Jane Fonda filmed her fitness videos there.
Most of the 302 rooms are in a separate tower but all have a Californian midcentury vibe these days, complete with Eames chairs and geometric wallpaper. The pool hasn’t changed much since it was the backdrop for 1962’s A Touch Of Mink starring Doris Day and Cary Grant.
LOCATION: The LA beach suburb has all the strollability that the maini cityit llacksk – withith a blblendd off ocean, shops and a funfair on the pier. Santa Monica is still hugely popular with the Brit pack, as is the hotel – Helen Mirren and Hugh Laurie both know it well. The Fig restaurant sources ingredients from the local market and the hotel reserves a stretch of beach for guests.
KEY ATTRACTION: A bolthole for the more fun-loving US president – JFK and Bill Clinton have stayed – and the sort of celebrity who likes to stay off the radar. It’s a classic LA hotel but tucked away from the city’s madness.
IN THE NEWS: Even though they cost a fortune – and are nearly always booked out – everyone can get a taste of the cottages as one recently opened as the Bungalow Bar, a drinking den with ping-pong tables and games of Scrabble on Sunday.
GOOD ENOUGH FOR THE REST OF US? Rooms start at £327. Visit fairmont.com/santa-monica.
GETTING THERE: A five-night break with Virgin Holidays costs from £1,475pp, including flights and room-only accommodation (virginholidays.co.uk, 0344 557 4321).