From Sunset the building reads as stone and trees, and the trees were the hardest part to get right. Every olive on the terraces arrived as a grown tree, between twenty and forty years old, from growers north of the city, and went up by crane over four weekends before we opened.
Why olives
They suit this hillside. Olives take the dry summers and the Santa Ana winds without complaint, they keep their leaves all year, and their grey-green sits well against honed sandstone. Underneath them we planted rosemary, lavender and low grasses that need little water once they are settled.
Each planter is deeper than it looks, with its own drainage and a drip line on a timer, so a guest on the terrace never sees a hose or a sprinkler. The irrigation is run from one room on the second floor and checked every morning.
The terraces are meant to look as if nobody tends them, which takes a great deal of tending.
Tuesdays
Two gardeners come every Tuesday and work down the building from the ninth floor. They prune by hand, a little at a time, to keep the trees open so light reaches the rooms behind them. In late autumn they net a few trees and the Garden Room cures the olives for the bar.
If you are staying on a Tuesday and would rather not have company on your terrace, tell the front desk and they will start on your floor while you are at breakfast.
