The team behind the popular Hotel Ziggy on Los Angeles’ Sunset Strip have spoken to NME about their mission to revive the counterculture of West Hollywood and “free the music”.
Last April, Hotel Ziggy opened on Los Angeles’ storied Sunset Strip, on the same 2-square-mile as legendary California venues like The Viper Rooms and Whiskey A Go Go.
The 108-room concept which takes its name from David Bowie and pays homage to West Hollywood’s eccentric musical history – with guest rooms, restaurants, and memorabilia that reflect the hotel’s catchphrase “free the music”.
The lobby walls are covered in vintage vinyl, gig flyers, record plaques and portraits of bands. But unlike many concept spaces that show highlights of music history through memorabilia, legal documents are also on display. It was an intentional choice from Chief Hotel Imagineer Jon Bortz in order to prompt guests to ask, “Who really owns the music?”
On one wall, there’s a printout outlining the lawsuit between Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams v. Marvin Gaye’s estate for their track ‘Blurred Lines’, not far from an ‘AM’ era black and white portrait of Arctic Monkeys. On another wall, there’s a small flyer promoting one of The Doors ‘70s gigs on the strip next to a copy of the John Fogerty v. Fantasy, Inc. case, where the Creedence Clearwater Revival singer sued the label for rights to his songs.
“We created Ziggy to provoke stimulating and meaningful conversations with the intent to spark curiosity and playfully challenge perspectives,” said Bortz. “We push boundaries with our hotels, and we certainly did that with Ziggy”.
The hotel’s Sunset Blvd. location was also an intentional choice. “What better location than the sunset strip to celebrate the rebellious spirit of norm-breaking musicians who have changed how we live?” Bortz added.
He continued: “Hotel Ziggy is located right down the street from the former sites of two world-famous music destinations, Tower Records and House of Blues. As these and other icons are now gone, a legacy here needs to be remembered.”
One of the ways that legacy is being remembered is at the hotel’s music venue and live music lounge, Backbeat. Located in the lobby, DJs and musicians perform there almost nightly unless they’re playing outside on the patio next to West Hollywood’s only saltwater pool.
According to the hotel’s design team Dawson Design Associates, every element of the space was built to “honour and support the rebellious and independent attitude of musicians’ fight to be heard”.
“It was vital that this hotel didn’t take itself too seriously,” said Andrea Sheehan, Founding Principle and Art Director at DDA. Many of the walls surrounding and inside the hotel that aren’t covered in music memorabilia are decorated with street graffiti. “We kept things simple so the art could speak for itself,” Sheehan said. “We stripped away all previous attempts to make this quirky building look modern. Instead, we exposed its blemishes and embraced the awkward structure for what it was – authentic, just like our guests and the musicians we are celebrating.”
The boutique hotel also gives guests an opportunity to get in on the music-making, offering access to “The Shred Shed” which comes equipped with electric and acoustic guitars, amps, record players, a curated vinyl collection, ring lighting for vlogging, ukuleles, and tambourines.
The Shred Shed also rents out headphones and Walkmans with cassette tapes so guests can take them out while sightseeing on the most iconic parts of the strip in order to “help Ziggy on its mission to free the music”. Even the hotel’s pizza restaurant, B-Side Pizza, reflects the city’s rich history and was inspired by LA’s first record store Licorice Pizza.
The lobby-located venue, Backbeat, is currently home to a live music showcase called We Found New Music (WFNM) which presents fresh talent two nights a week. Hosted by Grant Owens, the artists discovery series recently launched the downtown LA run of shows, but previously introduced new acts in the city through performances, interviews and radio shows since 2012, working with the likes of Sigrid, Bishop Briggs and more when they were first launching their careers.
“Undiscovered artists perform live, up-close, and at their most natural state, untouched by commercial publicity or elaborate stage productions, and backed by their own peers and music lovers,” Owens said of the showcase. “It isn’t so much the venues, but rather the platform that hand-picks and delivers the artists to those venues. WFNM, which is known for conducting Billie Eilish‘s first interview as well as presenting Kim Petras’ first show, has built a reputation in its 10 years of existence as a tastemaker.”
Last month, Austin, Texas indie duo Jane Ellen Bryant and Daniel Leopold of Jane Leo performed at the showcase, serenading the packed crowd of hotel guests with a medley of moody, retro guitar rock tracks all in hopes of reaching new fans. “New and previously unfound music always had a home in this particular hotbed of Los Angeles,” Leopold told NME when asked about the venue and the significance of its placement on the strip.
“The infamous street may be one of the last bastions where fame and reckless abandon still have a chance of mixing with the undefinable new.”
The performer also noted the “nostalgia seething from every corner of the Sunset Strip” and how the energy and “ghost” of artists like Frank Zappa and Jimi Hendrix, who played some of their first shows on the iconic Blvd. still linger in its venues. For Jane Leo, new music showcases in romos like Hotel Ziggy offer “artists a way to sharpen their teeth on the same concrete a million others have for eternity.”
“It’s in our curiosity and musical DNA to forever remain slouching along the Blvd.,” Leopold added.
Hotel Ziggy is set to continue its WFNM series weekly, as well as multiple live shows happening later this month. View a full list of upcoming events and details here.