Dear Westin Bonaventure,
Where do I even begin? No, really, I have no clue where to start— each entrance into your city-block–size edifice resides on a different level. Disagreements over ingress aside, I admire your symmetrical appearance, though it can make you a hard one to read. Your featureless foundation and glassy cylindrical towers appear nearly identical from all angles, and I find myself getting lost in your labyrinth of lounges and elevator banks.
I’ll be honest: I didn’t think we were meant for each other at first. You didn’t really sweep me off my feet—that was just me clumsily shuffling up an escalator. You see, your 1970s postmodern aesthetic just wasn’t my taste (I was looking for something a bit more traditional in its approach to modernism).
Photograph: Michael Juliano
Photograph: Michael Juliano
When I really took a step back and looked at you, I was a little bit awestruck—after all, I’d seen you in True Lies and read about you in art-history essays. You stand out in a crowd of austere rectangles at least twice your height because you know how to rock your corporate futuristic look.
I feel as if I’m still learning something about you every day. A revolving top-floor restaurant? Rad. A brewery by the pool deck? Who knew? A semi-vacant shopping mall that seems to be frozen in time and space? I’m learning to love it. And just when I think I’ve memorized the contours of your futuristic skywalks, I get lost circling your spiral staircases in search of your five pedestrian overpasses. No, really, I don’t know how to get out. I keep walking around and around without a clear exit in sight. I think I’m stuck in some sort of M.C. Escher nightmare. Please send help.
Literally yours,
Michael Juliano
Photograph: Michael Juliano
Westin Bonaventure Hotel is located at 404 South Figueroa Street in Downtown Los Angeles.