Good morning/afternoon. Here I am, busy as a bee, and still thinking about a tiny, miniature, itsy-bitsy moment that has stuck with me for weeks. I was sweetly invited to a cool girls dinner hosted by
of Long Weekend and friends at All Time in Los Feliz. Tracy is a recent NYC transplant who I was intro’d to by a hospitality friend. Long Weekends x Corner Booths…it seems that we’re on the same page. So, I’ve been to All Time many a time. The Good Ass Salad and Brown Butter Oatmeal Cookie are Los Angeles musts at this point. This time, we were seated at a round table for 6 in the front room.Half way through our meal, I glanced up and noticed that I was in the money-seat. A tiny triangular cut-out in the rooftop perfectly framed the glowing Griffith Observatory. I sort of squealed (I’m from LA but still get this rush when seeing the Hollywood sign and other iconic LA landmarks. Major magic and hope and heartbreak is just gleaming in these things. Where my David Lynchians at?) and shared with my table mates, who had to shimmy over and duck down to get the right angle to see what I saw. It was really only visible from my seat, at the perfect angle while at dining chair height. Stand up or lean over and you’d miss it entirely. It totally made me giddy : The All Time owners had to know - I’ll definitely ask next time I see them. They had to know, right? That they were making 1 person’s night. Just 1! But it was worth it to cut open the rooftop just a tiny bit in order to share some of that magic with the one lucky person in the it-seat.
I can’t stop thinking about this because it’s like hospitality done right in a nutshell. Making memories, effortlessly without too much gloss, even if it’s only for 1 person at a time and not on a grand scale. It’s so deeply personal. The best spaces are where you feel in on the secret, friends with the bartender, a regular. Where it’s your spot that you like letting lucky confidants in on. This Griffith Observatory peep-hole, man. I felt like I was being gifted a sip from the reserve bottle or upgraded to the presidential suite. Except it was 100% free and instead just very intimate. It made an imprint on me and created a memory.
Can you tell this little cut-out has been on my mind and I’m nearly in tears just writing about it? I may be an extra-emotive Cancer, but I think you’d feel the same way if you saw what I saw! Another place you can feel-similar-feels is sunset at The Copper Room at the Yucca Valley airport. You’ll know the money-seat when you see it - it’s a corner of the bar overlooking the tarmac where the window perfectly frames the horizon. If you’re willing to travel even farther for this ecstatic peep-hole experience, drop into Bar Rinto in Kyoto. A quiet basement cocktail bar in the Gion District that has a skinny little window that reveals the Kamogawa River like a photograph.
I could talk about this picture-frame situation for days (it seems…) but I have some other examples of these elevated guest experience freebies that I think are worth mentioning :
I’ve talked about Musso and Frank’s before, because it’s the gold standard of old-Hollywood hospitality in LA. Here, the waiters pull out your chair, wait for you to sit, and then tuck-you in snuggly to your table before handing you a menu. That scooch, similar to the peep-hole, is so simple (and 0 cost) and yet so effective. You’ve entered the place. You’re being taken care of. You’re here to relax and give into the luxury of dining-out. Another round of martinis, please.
At Juliet in Culver City, the moment they notice your bag on the floor, or taking up too much space on the banquet beside you, they swoop in with a stool - your bag’s very own seat. It’s very European and just so thoughtful. It costs nothing, and yet completely elevates the experience. You’re now not just at lunch, you’re at a fancy lunch.
I love fashion but I don’t shop too often. When I do, I tend to go for bigger, timeless items that I can dress up and down, wear forever and mix/match multiple times a week. I am a real sucker for Rachel Comey and usually try to swing through the store on Melrose whenever there’s a sale. Inevitably I end up shopping mostly non-sale items, and then spending way more than intended. But part of the reason for this is that their sales team is so so incredible. They are truly excellent at what they do and make the shopping experience so comfortable and fun. It’s not really about offering a glass of champagne or bottled water here. It’s more about forming personal relationships. They are really great at keeping client notes, following up, and remembering details. I don’t go in THAT often I promise, but still, when I do, it’s like they know me. I’m not spammed by them, but instead receive personalized emails, maybe twice a year from Gigi, their manager, asking how I am and if I’d like to check out this preview or that. She references things we discussed the last time and connects with me. It’s sales, but really done in a subtle way that I love and relate to. It’s so natural and makes me feel like they get me. It’s free - just relationship building - and has made me a very loyal customer. There’s another brand I’ve bought from once who constantly bot-text spam me. It’s so annoying and impersonal, they’ve probably lost me forever.
When I was last in Lisbon I stayed in the Suites at The Independente, an old residential building transformed into a boutique hotel and hostel. Though, they don’t formerly call themselves a hotel because there is no room service, working in-room phones, gym, spa etc. Instead, they have a great restaurant and bar where locals hang, and a really relatable Front Desk team, pointing you in the right direction. I’m someone who likes to settle into a new city and feel like it’s my home for even a few days. When I ask for a recommendation at the Front Desk, it’s because I want to feel like I’m going to the true local spots vs the highly rated Yelp destinations. The Front Desk agent at The Independente pointed us in the direction of a Piri Piri (extra delicious grilled chicken) spot that was so delicious I’ve never forgotten it and would totally seek out again. It wasn’t flashy in anyway - definitely not instagramable - but completely of the place and tasty af.
Obviously the art of concierge has been around forever, but it takes a true skill for a Front Desk agent to chat with you for just a moment (or look you up and down) and know if you’re a hole-in-the-wall Piri Piri person, or looking for a bottle service rooftop vibe. (Ask me about the time a hotel concierge in East Berlin sent me and a friend directly to a cos-play strip club for a casual happy hour drink upon arrival. Oops.) So here my point is that having a team member that can go off-book, while still staying on-brand is such an asset. I felt instantly connected to the hotel because she let me in on her little secret, and instantly connected to Lisbon, because I felt like I knew something those other basic-tourists didn’t.
I love all of these moments. I glaze over with too much reading material and so try to keep these memos brief. I hope you feel this type of spark of joy wherever you check-in or sip your matcha latte this week.