The Georgian Hotel
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| (ca. 1940s)^^ – Painting showing the Georgian Hotel in Santa Monica by Todd Garner. |
Historical Notes Built in 1931, the Art Deco eight story Georgian Hotel was one of the first high rise hotels in Santa Monica. It sits on Ocean Avenue and looks out on the Pacific Ocean. The bar downstairs was frequented by Hollywood luminaries such as Clark Gable and Carole Lombard. The Georgian was also home base for the Kennedy clan with First Mother Rose Kennedy a fixture at the hotel while she entertained Hollywood royalty and journalists.^ |
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| (2001)* – View looking up at the front of the Georgian Hotel, 1415 Ocean Avenue, Santa Monica. |
Historical Notes The Georgian Hotel was established in 1931. Built during the peak of California's coastal expansion in the 1920s and 1930s, the historic hotel was the vision of Attorney and Judge, Harry J. Borde. Showcasing Romanesque Revival and Art Deco architecture, the hotel was among the first skyscrapers to call Ocean Avenue home.^ Locally prominent architect M. Eugene Durfee designed the building. Perhaps Durfee’s most visible work, aside from the Georgian, is the pared-down Art Deco Central Tower Building at 1424 Fourth Street, completed in 1929. |
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| (2001)* – Closer view of the Art Deco eight story apartment hotel designed by architect M. Eugene Durfee. |
Historical Notes As Hollywood's elite flocked to the beach to escape the valley heat, The Georgian's popularity grew. It was nicknamed "The Lady" in honor of Mr. Borde's mother, Rosamond Borde, who was a modern woman who had opened a hotel called The Windermere on the adjacent lot. |
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| (2001)* - The Georgian Hotel, 1415 Ocean Avenue, Santa Monica, Calif. |
Historical Notes As time passed, the basement restaurant of the Georgian Hotel earned a great deal of attention. One of the last strongholds of the Prohibition Era, it was considered a true Speakeasy, which hosted the likes of "Bugsy" Siegel, Clark Gable, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, Carole Lombard, and dozens of other film stars and industry moguls. |
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| (2018)^.^ – Front view of The Georgian Hotel and its outdoor Veranda Restaurant seating. |
Historical Notes In the 1940s and 1950s, Santa Monica was taken by a technological and industrial boom, led by the Donald Douglas Aircraft Factory. Guests of Douglas Aircraft's would call The Georgian their temporary home while in LA. Those taking up residence included aircraft designers, servicemen during WWII, and gamblers who would take a motorboat offshore to spend an evening aboard the casino barges anchored a few miles offshore in Santa Monica Bay. In the late 1960s, The Georgian reinvented itself as a modern upscale apartment residence, with unheard of amenities like a bathroom in every guest room. |
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| (2016)^.^ - Looking up at the beautiful Georgian Hotel, 1415 Ocean Avenue, Santa Monica. |
Historical Notes The Georgian Hotel was designated a Santa Monica historical landmark on February 22, 1995.* |
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