Check In To The Tallest Building West Of Chicago

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Check In To The Tallest Building West Of Chicago

Check In To The Tallest Building West Of Chicago

Check In To The Tallest Building West Of Chicago

Check In: Intercontinental DTLA

While refurbished Art Deco buildings and freshly minted cultural institutions are representative of downtown L.A.’s renaissance, so, too, is brand-new construction.

Nowhere is that more apparent than the city’s ever-changing skyline. Its latest addition, the 73-story Wilshire Grand Center–the tallest building west of Chicago if you count the spire rising from the roof–is home to the cloud-kissing Intercontinental Hotel, where it’s all about the jaw-dropping views.

Floor-to-ceiling windows frame sweeping vistas that stretch all the way to the Pacific Ocean. Designed by AC Martin, the aesthetic was inspired by architectural historian Reyner Banham’s book, Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies, which examines the identity of the city’s landscape. Above the reception desk in the lobby on the 70th floor, a stunning tangle of red, white and yellow lights form a chandelier (shown) that is meant to evoke a network of freeway interchanges–an artistic take on La-La Land’s notorious traffic, if ever there was one.

Floors 69 through 73 house the common areas, including restaurants Sora and Dekkadance, with their typically Californian mix of clean lines, warm woods and ceramic tile, and the French steakhouse La Boucherie, which boasts ultra-private velvet booths perched high above the city and a luxe ladies’ lounge with confection-hued decor inspired by Marie Antoinette.

“The design team approached this as not one project per se, but rather as a collection of venues that teeter between sophisticated, cheeky, literal and abstract,” says principal designer Christopher King. “Each space, while connected together in concept, exhibits its own unique meaning, aesthetic and relevance.”

PHOTO: ASHER HUNG