July 08, 2017
With retractable pool and Tao restaurant, flashy Dream Hotel anchors new Hollywood revival
From top to bottom, the futuristic-looking Dream Hotel tries hard to live up to its name.
The centerpiece of a $110-million hospitality complex, it features a front lobby and bar that will open entirely onto the street — providing a new way to enjoy an indoor-outdoor experience in Southern California.
On the rooftop, it has a pool for daytime lounging that in the evening can be converted into a dance floor at the flick of a switch.
“It’s an integrated urban resort,” said Dream developer Richard Heyman, who helped build the House of Blues nightclub that invigorated the Sunset Strip in the 1990s.
And there are four restaurants where patrons can choose to dine, including the first West Coast outpost of Asian-themed Tao, one of highest-grossing restaurant groups in the country.
Now, after a decade-long odyssey to market, the slim nine-story tower is expected to open next week.
But it’s hoped that the boutique lodging with 178 rooms will be more than just the latest entrant in a hot Hollywood market, where two other high-end hotels are expected to open this year.
The idea is that it will be a cornerstone of a new zone of hotels, restaurants, bars and shops similar to Manhattan’s trendy Meatpacking District, where an old urban industrial district has become an upscale neighborhood flush with restaurants, shops and hotels.
Already, the once-neglected neighborhood southwest of the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street has seen stylish boutiques and gluten-free restaurants edge out tattoo parlors and dive bars in recent years.
Now, with billions of dollars’ worth of new development complete or underway on nearby Vine, the blocks around the Dream Hotel at Cahuenga Boulevard and Selma Avenue are seeing a wave of investment targeting locals out for good time and out-of-towners trying to avoid Hollywood’s most touristy haunts.