The Westside’s New All-Outdoor Hotel Restaurant Comes from Veteran Steve Livigni

Summertime is here, even though it doesn’t look or feel much like the usual laid-back season around Los Angeles during the ongoing pandemic. Yet, despite it all, there’s still reason to believe that an outdoor hangout and complete with cocktails and uni tostadas makes sense for the city. Caravan Swim Club at Hotel June is one of the newest Westside openings from Steve Livigni (Scopa Italian Roots in Venice, Dama in the Fashion District Downtown) and the Proper Hotel team.

The new Hotel June, situated next to LAX in the Westchester/Playa Vista area, takes a more laid-back approach to casual travel, with rooms priced below Proper Hotel’s other properties, and light and airy rooms filled with cactus and desert tones. As for the restaurant, Caravan Swim Club is meant to be an homage to the greater Alta California coastline, from the northern reaches of Mexico through to the Santa Barbara shoreline.

“I’m not sure if there is a more interesting 400 miles in the States,” says Livigni by phone yesterday. “It just felt really cool to know this concept, because we’ve been living it since we were kids.” The “we” includes Proper Hotel group president and co-founder Brian De Lowe, who brought Livigni on to oversee food and drink for the hotel, which just opened this month. “We didn’t want it to feel like some of those corporate outlets that just get plugged in, no matter what city they’re in,” De Lowe says.

The menu should help in that regard. Expect California seafood instead of tamer continental fare, including ceviche, uni tostadas, oysters, and new takes on cauliflower nachos and a carne asada torta. Cocktails, long Livigni’s forte, run in the $14 range, and are available across the two-story dining space that partially wraps the pool. The opening menu is below.

There’s lots of open air at Caravan Swim Club, along with an extended light pink bar, palm trees and plenty of room to safely dine, should anyone choose to do so at a distance. The lobby-level restaurant, Scenic Route, should open next month and focuses on natural wine, craft beer, salads, burgers, tacos, and the like.

Dylan + Jeni

The Ingalls

The Ingalls

The Ingalls