The Legendary Casa del Mar Reopens After a 50-year Absence

By Jorge Casuso

Nearly half a century after fading as a storied club and hotel for the elite, Casa del Mar reopened its doors last week in a bid to regain its place as the "Grand Dame" of Santa Monica hotels.

Restored to the elegance of its legendary past, the 1926 brick structure - which most recently served as the Pritikin Longevity Center -- was once again bustling with the city's movers and shakers, who attended a special luncheon and tour Friday afternoon.

The guests dined to the strains of a grand piano in a glass-encased room with stunning ocean views and lounged on velvet sofas in the opulent lobby decorated with hand-made rugs and potted palms. They also toured the luxurious quarters, which run from $335 for a room without an ocean view to $3,500 for the presidential suite.

"We had great ideas and dreams," said Tim Dubois, president of The Edward Thomas Hospitality Corp., which developed the 129-room hotel and owns the adjacent Shutters on the Beach. "We wanted it to be true to its history. We wanted a casual feel in a grand setting."

"It has the same kind of ambience it once had," said Louise Gabriel, president of the Santa Monica Historical Society. "It's another treasure of Santa Monica. It was long overdue."

The brick structure at the end of Pico Blvd. has headquartered several centers since the old hotel was converted into a military hotel during World War II. They included the infamous Synanon drug therapy program, and, for the past 20 years, the Pritikin Longevity Center.

The process to return the structure to its old glory days took two years and included a heated debate at the City Council, where the new owners, as well as city staff, made the case that the Pritikin fell under the category of a hotel.

Opponents, who feared the rebirth of Casa del Mar would bring more traffic to the already congested beachfront, argued that the Pritikin did not rent rooms to the general public and, as a result, was not a hotel. A 1990 voter approved initiative banned all new hotels from Santa Monica's oceanfront.

The New Marigot, which was approved in the late 1980s and is slated to open later this month, and Casa del Mar will be the last hotels allowed under the voter approved law. Santa Monica now boasts five luxury beach hotels, including the Loews Santa Monica Beach and the Miramar, which recently changed hands.

"In the 1950s and 1960s tourists wouldn't stop here because they felt we didn't have the luxury type hotels," recalled former City Councilman Bob Gabriel. "Now we have a group of hotels we can be proud of."