After Two Dark Years, a Fresh New French Restaurant Opens at Historic Culver Hotel

Downtown Culver City is almost unrecognizable from even half a decade ago, as big new developments, a swath of new transit initiatives, and a ton of restaurants have combined to make the area feel dramatically different than in years past. One stalwart of the skyline, though, has always been the historic and ever-steady Culver Hotel, built in 1924. Now even that is changing, with new management quietly taking over this summer and new plans in place for a return to fine on-site dining, live music, and more.

The 46-room Beaux-Arts Culver Hotel has been in use for nearly a century as a home for local studio talent, out-of-towners, and as a stop-off for locals to grab a drink and a bite, and has since 2007 been owned by hotelier Maya Mallick. Now the property has been brought into the operational fold of LA-based Proper Hospitality (from the Proper Hotel team) as part of the group’s new initiative known simply as the Collective, a cluster of boutique hotels operating pseudo-independently under the overall Proper banner; Mallick remains as owner in partnership with the Proper’s management team. So what exactly does that mean for the food and drink on-site?

For starters, Proper Hospitality now oversees all of the hotel’s restaurant programming, led by group culinary director Ned Elliott. The hotel’s primary dining area will reopen on Wednesday, August 17 under a new name, Lillie’s (named for city founder Harry Culver’s wife), and with an entirely new menu. The focus will be on fine-casual French and California fare, weaving between raw bar starters and staples like French onion soup to steak frites, salads, roast chicken, chilled Maine lobster, and more. There will be lots of natural wine on offer alongside a full bar as well; the opening menu is below.

What’s more, the opening of Lillie’s means a return to intimate cafe-style live music nights at the hotel. The Proper Hospitality group will also work to reopen the hotel’s long-running speakeasy bar later this fall, though a date for that has not yet been announced. For now, find Lillie’s inside the Culver Hotel every Wednesday to Sunday, from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.