Santa Monica’s Historic Fairmont Miramar Hotel

A Celebrity Hideaway

By Valerie Summers

My mother has always insisted that a change is better than a rest. With this in mind, I booked a weekend stay at one of Santa Monica’s landmark hotels, the Fairmont Miramar, situated on the bluffs overlooking the blue Pacific Ocean. I eagerly anticipated my stay as I made my way up the long driveway to the lobby passing under the Miramar Family Moreton Bay Fig Tree. The enormous century old tree stands more than 80 feet high with a very impressive 120 foot network of branches.

The now posh hotel began as a residence for John P. Jones, a former senator from Nevada who made his fortune mining silver back in the late 1800’s. He arrived in Southern California with plans to build a railroad and harbor to transport his silver bouillon to the U.S. Mint in San Francisco. Together with his business partner, Colonel Robert Baker, he created the town of Santa Monica and decided on the perfect location to build his family mansion at what is now the corner of Wilshire and Ocean Park. He fell in love with the beautiful vista and so did I.

During the time Jones and his family called the Miramar their home, many of the nation’s leading artists and public figures vacationed there. Guests enjoyed the lush sub-tropical gardens containing rare, exotic plants brought to California from every part of the world and today’s guests continue to appreciate the hotel’s verdant landscape and pool area.

Jones named his residence Miramar, Spanish for “view of the sea.” Eventually he donated some of the city’s finest property on the bluff just across the street from what is now the Fairmont Miramar which walkers, runners, sunbathers and sightseers continue to enjoy. The family sold their home shortly before the Senator died in 1912 to King C. Gillette, the inventor of the safety razor. He rarely visited the area and in 1921 the estate was sold to hotelier Gilbert Stevenson. One of the new owner’s earliest and most popular changes was to convert the Senator’s elegant and well-stocked library to a bar. The prosperity of the Roaring Twenties turned Santa Monica into a popular seaside resort with the Miramar as the city’s leading hotel.

In 1924, a brick building was constructed to provide apartments for guests who planned lengthy stays at the beach. One of the first to move in was a very young unknown actress named Greta Garbo. She became the first of many celebrities who favored the Miramar as their getaway including Senator and Mrs. John F. Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe, Cary Grant, Doris Day, Louis Jordon and Susan Hayward, Eleanor Roosevelt, Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren and aviator Charles Lindbergh who all enjoyed the privacy of the garden bungalows. During the 1990’s, to name a few, the hotel welcomed Steven Spielberg, Barbra Streisand, Rosa Parks, Denzel Washington and Quincy Jones. More recently President Bill Clinton, Hugh Hefner, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren, Paul Newman, Shaquille O’Neal, Gyyneth Paltrow, Sean Penn, Hilary Swank and our own governator Arnold Schwarznegger have been counted among the guests. The hotel continues as the site of numerous entertainment industry meetings and gatherings and has been featured in a plethora of popular TV shows and movies.

A variety of other owners of the hotel came and went and in 1999, Maritz, Wolffe & Co., a private investment fund that owns several of the world’s finest hotels and resorts became the new owners. They brought the Fairmont Hotels and Resorts on board to manage the property at which time a 16 million dollar renovation was undertaken.

Entering the luxuriously modern lobby with gleaming marble floors, elegant seating arrangements and glorious floral displays, the hotel’s history drifted from my mind as I was swept up into all the conveniences of the 21st century. Before proceeding to my guest room on the 8th floor, I headed toward The Grille, an indoor-outdoor casually elegant dining area, its walls filled with photographs of Hollywood celebrities of today and yesteryear. Making my way out onto the patio, I stopped to admire the huge and beautiful koi and playful turtles in the rock pond and made a mental note to return at cocktail hour.

As a woman who often travels alone, I was pleased to discover the hotel’s “Single & The City” room package which includes a deluxe room, continental breakfast and amenity kit with information and maps of interesting things to do while visiting Santa Monica. GM Paul Ohm pointed out that “Santa Monica is not only a safe city for the male or female traveler, but because it is a popular beach city destination, the list of things to do is quite extensive and includes historic walking tours, working out at the 4th Street Stairs, catching the latest improve comedy show or checking out the shops and restaurants along the Third Street Promenade.” A spa element is also available for this package as an add-on option by Exhale Mind Body Spa.

When I finally arrived at my well appointed, tranquil guest room I was delighted to find a terrace which overlooked the gardens and pool to the east and Palisades Park and Pacific to the west. There was no question that this is where I would enjoy breakfast the next morning. As planned, I later stopped at the Koi Pond for a cocktail that evening before strolling one block over to catch the night life at the always lively Third Street Promenade.

Mother was partially right. The change was wonderful but so was the rest at the historic Fairmont Miramar Hotel.

For information:

The Fairmont Miramar Hotel
101 Wilshire Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90401
310/576-7777
www.fairmont.com

Images: Valerie Summers