Designed to suggest an ocean liner on land, The Eden’s flowing Streamline Moderne architecture gives this Santa Monica bluff-top hotel its defining character. The former Hotel Shangri-La reopened as The Eden in June 2025, preserving a landmark setting above the Pacific on Ocean Avenue. Accommodations range from compact city-facing rooms to ocean-view suites with separate living areas and full kitchens, making the building as suited to settling in as to a short coastal visit. Marble bathrooms and jetted soaking tubs feature in many room categories. Beyond the rooms, a heated saltwater pool and hot tub offer a reason to linger, while the beach and Santa Monica Pier are close by.
See more about The Eden HotelHotel Shangri-La (Santa Monica) One of the early jewels of the Santa Monica waterfront, the Hotel Shangri-La is celebrating its 80th anniversary in 2019 and just underwent an extensive $30 million update that pays homage to the hotel’s Art Deco heritage. Most recently, the hotel served as one of the main TV filming locations of “ The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, ” and, according to the hotel’s CEO and creative director, Tamie Adaya, Versace himself was known to frequent the hotel during the 1980s, along with his good friend Madonna, and her then-partner, Sean Penn. Adaya says Versace favored the penthouse suite, with wrap-around terrace views of the Pacific.