Georgian Hotel – Santa Monica, California - Atlas Obscura

Georgian Hotel

One of the first skyscrapers in Santa Monica, and a famous getaway for the Hollywood elite of then and now. 

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Rosamond Borde was a female pioneer in the sky rocketing, male-dominated field of hotel development in the 30s. Rosamond made her mark on the Santa Monica skyline with what was considered its first skyscraper, the Georgian Hotel.

Immediately attracting Hollywood royalty with its lavish mix of Art Deco and Romanesque Revival design, stunning coastal view and lackadaisical approach to prohibition laws, the Georgian is to this day a getaway for the famous and the Hollywood elite.

Called “The Lady” as an homage to its female creator, the Georgian Hotel opened in 1933, during the “Golden era” of filmmaking. While the likes of Fattie Arbuckle, Clark Gable, and Bugsy Segal enjoyed prohibited martinis, producers, politicians, and executives held business lunches on the oceanfront veranda. Considered quite modern at the time, the hotel managed to keep up with the expansion of Santa Monica from a tiny seaside resort to a bustling city, refurbishing every few decades to retain its foothold as a favorite Hollywood escape, and an impressive specimen of the Art Deco movement.

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