By DAVID EISEN |
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The hit HBO series “ Entourage ” had a successful run and for a considerable amount of time captured the zeitgeist of the aughts , with its mixture of Los Angeles hedonism and youngish angst . It became Sunday night appointment TV for those looking to live vicariously through the four Queens-bred buddies . Of course , the City of Angels took centerstage — a host of landmarks ( known and obscure ) playing relevant roles . And what is more relevant to the hip LA scene than a rooftop pool ? In one episode , in season four , Vince and Eric ( but everyone calls him E ) are seen at one of these pools , amid a packed
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crowd of young , vivacious men and women , soaking up the sun , flipping through the pages of Vogue and chatting up the opposite sex — all on a weekday .
The prurient pool top prompts the priggish E to ask Vince : “ Who hits on girls on weekdays ?” To which Vince responds : “ It ’ s LA — every day is a weekend .” Perfect .
Oh , that rooftop pool they were atop ? It just so happened to be the Mondrian , which in a city filled with spiffy hotels remains a locus of energy , more than 35 years after it first opened .
COOLING OUT The Mondrian brand has always been synonymous with a certain coolness and vibe that doesn ’ t necessarily smack you
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in the face but eases you in , ensconcing you . That feel — developed through design , service and the intangibles — was not created overnight , but guided by the steady and virtuosic hand of Ian Schrager , the nightclub and hotel impresario , and his Morgans Hotel Group , a dominant player in the boutique and lifestyle space before those terms even existed .
Like many brands do , particularly the ones that excel , they , like real estate , sell . In its original iteration , the Mondrian
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opened as Le Mondrian in 1985 , under the L ’ Ermitage Hotel Group , which sold it , in 1996 , to Morgans Hotel Group , which already had hotels in New York , under such brands as Morgans and Royalton .
Morgans Hotel Group ended up selling the hotel in 2011 to Pebblebrook Hotel Trust but remained the manager . Five years later , Morgans Hotel Group was acquired by SBE Entertainment Group , which , in 2020 , was bought outright by Accor .
Since then , the Mondrian
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