A Coastal Retreat
A weekend in Laguna Beach encompasses visits to an eco-friendly hotel, a seal sanctuary and a restaurant swooningly close to the waves.
By Irene Lacher 02/01/2009
Days before I left town for a brief idyll at Seven4One in Laguna Beach, the sleek new boutique hotel emailed me a questionnaire, asking about the kinds of things that might come up on a first date: Did I like cool jazz? How did I take my coffee? What newspapers did I read? Then there were questions suitable for dates farther down the road: Down feather pillows or foam?
Seven4One (www.seven4one.com) prides itself on its ability to anticipate guests’ needs, and people who stay there aren’t the only beneficiaries of the hotel’s pampering — so is the planet, thanks to its commitment to environmental sustainability. Former banker and co-owner Daniel Sussman, who turned to a second career as a hotelier after the thrills of early retirement paled, says going green was a natural strategy for the hotel’s location. “Laguna Beach is a very earthy, environmentally conscious city,” he says. “We have the ocean, the Surfrider Foundation [which battles ocean pollution]. We’re in the heart of this art colony. We need to be green.”
To that end, Seven4One follows a stringent eco-friendly regimen that leaves a stamp on everything from its custom-made memory-foam mattresses and four-inch pillow toppers to low-flow, dual-flush toilets, carafes of ice water instead of bottles and refillable dispensers of Molton Brown bath treats.
Sussman and Brent Eneix, his partner in Seven4One’s parent company, the Brendan Group, bought the property in January. It used to be Eiler’s Inn, which had been shuttered after 60 years as a bed and breakfast (Eiler’s was named after a local guy with flowing white hair, who was legendary for standing on the side of the Pacific Coast Highway, greeting people whizzing by in their cars). Sussman and Eneix gave the place a complete overhaul, decorating it in minimal chic, using a palette of cool pale gray and white punctuated by splashes of color from work by local artists.
The place feels like a miniature version of the Mondrian Hotel in West Hollywood, without the noise and the attitude. The hotel’s 12 rooms are built around an outdoor courtyard designed for gatherings, with a cozy fireplace and lounge furniture. It was uninhabited during my midweek visit, so I couldn’t tell whether a lively party could pose a headache for guests, but hotel staff assured me that the surrounding rooms’ Milgard energy-efficient windows muffle sound.
My room, the Sky Suite, overlooks the back terrace, which offers a fine view of the ocean and setting sun. But since I arrived on a news-filled day, my companion and I only had eyes for the 42-inch flat-screen TV in the airy sitting room. As we flipped from CNN to MSNBC, hotel staff brought up a fine platter of cheese and sausages sourced locally by Chef de Cuisine Jessica Alexander, formerly a sous chef at the Montage Resort. (Seven4One doesn’t have a designated dining room, but Alexander’s small-plate menu is also served in the intimate lobby lounge.)
The next morning, we visited the nonprofit Pacific Marine Mammal Center, which rescues ailing seals and sea lions who have been nearly strangled by gill nets, maimed by sharks or stricken with illness or malnutrition. Outside the facility are several large pools, where a couple of elephant seals eyed us warily and half a dozen seals on the mend lay in the sun, piled on top of each other like a tangle of kittens.
We drove down Laguna Canyon Road to the Laguna Canyon Winery, which sources grapes from vineyards in California, Oregon and Washington. It’s owned by a couple of Canadian brothers, Marlowe and Darren Huber, who decided to locate their winery close to their end users of choice — fine wine enthusiasts with means. The Hubers have collaborated with local celebrity marine-life artist Wyland on a limited edition of wines — Wyland lends his name and designs the labels — to benefit ocean preservation. We were particularly impressed with the collection’s full-bodied 2004 “Oceano,” a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah with a nice balance between fruit and oak.
After all that effort tasting wines, clearly a massage was in order, so we headed to the Aquaterra Spa at the Surf & Sand Resort (www.surfandsandresort.com). The Surf & Sand is a longtime fixture of the Laguna Beach coastline, but it makes a point of surfing the wave of contemporary design and amenities. Indeed, my “hot shell massage” was a revelation and a welcome variation on the more common hot stone massages. I’ve found the latter to be warm and relaxing, but they tend to come up short when it comes to the therapist’s manual contact with muscle. This 75-minute massage — which used smooth shells heated with an insert of dried kelp and algae — was a liquefying blend of both, with the therapist warming the skin with a shell in one hand and then kneading it with the other.
So much leisure whetted our appetites, so we crossed the courtyard to the resort’s Splashes Restaurant, where Executive Chef Lewis Butler presides over a fusion-style menu described as American Coastal Cuisine. The venue alone is worth a visit. Its outdoor terrace is swooningly close to the waves, unlike many eateries set back from the Los Angeles coastline. We selected the tasting menu which, on our evening, consisted of richly flavorful dishes of parmesan-crusted salmon over lobster angel hair pasta, braised beef short rib with lump-crab gnocchi and scallops with a salt-cod croquette.
After such a satisfying meal, we yearned to be horizontal. So back we went to the Seven4One, where we fell into a sound sleep, knowing we’d done our part that day to protect the planet.
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