Ian Schrager’s New L.A. Hotel Turns Every Bedroom Into a Private Cinema

 Ian Schrager has never been particularly interested in behaving himself. The man who gave the world Studio 54 and helped turn the boutique hotel into a cultural obsession is bringing PUBLIC to West Hollywood, with a rooftop park, guestrooms that double as private cinemas, and a nightclub that suggests his appetite for a very good party remains firmly intact.

His latest project takes aim at the familiar trappings of luxury hospitality, asking a fairly reasonable question: how much of it do we actually want? The elaborate check-in ritual, for instance. Lovely champagne, certainly, but sometimes you would just like your room key.

Photo Credit: Ian Schrager Company

At PUBLIC West Hollywood, that thinking informs everything from the absence of a traditional front desk to the decision to replace the bulky bedroom television with a cinematic projection system. Schrager’s premise is that luxury should make your life feel better. The rest is up for editing.

“I’ve always sought to go where no one else has gone,” he says. “To stand alone. To always be subversive to the status quo.”

For someone whose career has spanned nearly five decades of hotels, restaurants, nightlife, and cultural moments, he still seems to enjoy giving the industry something to argue about.

Photo Credit: Ian Schrager Company

Photo Credit: Ian Schrager Company

California, With The Roof Off

Los Angeles gives Schrager plenty to work with: glamour and informality, city energy and canyon quiet, the possibility of a business meeting turning into an afternoon by the pool. PUBLIC West Hollywood channels that fluidity into a hotel where 75 percent of the public space is outdoors.

That means dining under the sky, working in the open air, lounging in the sunshine, and staying out well after it has disappeared. Health, wellness, and sport are part of the mix, but so is the possibility of making a night of it. This is still an Ian Schrager hotel.

The centerpiece is The Roof, a three-quarter-acre private rooftop park with 360-degree views stretching across the Hollywood Hills, Downtown Los Angeles, and the LA Basin. Its inspiration draws from Central Park, the Tuileries, Hyde Park, and Griffith Park, translated into a distinctly more intimate setting above the city.

Expect rolling terrain, picnic tables, art installations, campfires, daily wellness classes, and a 30-foot outdoor movie screen. The ambition is to create somewhere you can spend an entire afternoon and find yourself still there after dark.

In a city where outdoor space is practically a personality trait, giving guests a park of their own feels like a particularly persuasive amenity.

Photo Credit: Ian Schrager Company

Your Room Comes With A Screening

Hollywood references can get painfully predictable in a Los Angeles hotel. PUBLIC’s take is considerably more useful: every guestroom functions as a private screening room.

An 11-foot-wide, floor-to-ceiling projection surface pairs with a specially designed short-throw laser projector, delivering 5,000 lumens and 4K enhancement. Acoustics and image clarity are part of the design, bringing the movie-theater experience into the privacy of the bedroom.

Finally, a compelling reason to stay in when Los Angeles is trying very hard to get you out.

Beyond the screen, the rooms are conceived around comfort, intimacy, and ease, with space to sleep, work, relax, or entertain. Schrager describes the approach as “anti-design,” an interesting declaration from someone whose hotels have helped shape so much of what the industry now considers desirable.

The idea is that you should feel the thought that went into the room without having to admire every individual decision. A guestroom still has to be somewhere you actually want to spend time.

Photo Credit: Ian Schrager Company

Studio 54’s Instincts, A New Address

Of course, spending the entire visit in bed would mean missing the nightlife.

PUBLIC West Hollywood’s club is conceived as an immersive environment where sound does much of the seducing. Schrager describes the experience as “tantamount to dancing in a sealed-off immersive sound stage,” with music you can physically feel.

Black finishes and materials establish the mood, while the absence of blinking lights keeps the emphasis on the room’s energy. The speakeasy-style concept makes space for intimate conversation alongside the kind of dancing that tends to derail tomorrow morning’s wellness plans.

Schrager frames it as an evolution of Studio 54. That is quite a reference to invoke, even when you are the person entitled to invoke it. But the instinct is familiar: put people together in a room, give them the right atmosphere, and leave a little room for the unexpected.

Photo Credit: Ian Schrager Company

A Different Kind Of Luxury

Food and drink follow a similarly direct philosophy. The hotel is foregoing a celebrity chef in favor of casual, approachable dining built around freshness, quality, flavor, and what the brand describes as reasonable pricing. Specific menus and venues have yet to be detailed in the announcement, but the intention is clear: make eating well feel easy.

It all comes back to PUBLIC’s guiding idea of “luxury for all,” with value, personal service, and freedom of choice central to the experience.

Room rates and an opening date were not included in the announcement, so the practical details of that promise are still to come. The proposition, however, has plenty of appeal: a hotel that gives you sunshine, a private cinema, somewhere worth having dinner, and a party worth getting dressed for.

Schrager has always understood that the most memorable part of a hotel is often what happens after you arrive. In West Hollywood, he is giving guests plenty of opportunities to find out.

Photo Credit: Ian Schrager Company

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Planning an L.A. stay? See Haute Living’s guide to the best luxury hotels in Los Angeles and our definitive guide to luxury in L.A.. Heading east instead? Here are the best luxury hotels in New York for 2026.