Feminism, art and luxury merge at Hotel Figueroa in Los Angeles

Tucked into bustling Downtown Los Angeles, the historic Hotel Figueroa offers an urban oasis primed for art lovers. New for summer of 2023 is the property’s latest specialty accommodation, a salon-style Featured Artist Suite.

Adorned with feminist art and co-designed by the property’s 2023 Featured Artist, Erica Everage and her interior designer parents, Krista & John of Everage Design Inc., the room is decorated with Everage’s own paintings, drawings, cyanotypes, and sculptures. It serves as an extension of the hotel’s annual Featured Artist Series Exhibit, a program showcasing the work of L.A.’s most compelling female artists and culture-makers.

Paying homage to the property’s history as a meeting place for forward-thinking women since its inception in 1926, and more broadly, to the historical tradition of “the salon” as a feminist haven where women could come together to explore their creative ideas, the new bohemian art salon suite draws inspiration from the iconic avant-garde salons hosted by Gertrude Stein at her 1920’s Parisian home, almost as if taking cue from Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris. Consider it hotel escapism at its finest. 

Evoking a vibrant and eclectic feel, the Everage family sought to derive archetypes of the feminine, amplified with a warm-hued textile scheme based on the color palette of Erica’s paintings, a curated a selection of vintage light fixtures and antique furnishings, original Art Deco rug pieces from the 1920’s and more to capture a vintage feel that complements Hotel Figueroa’s stunning design. 

Since opening 97 years ago, Hotel Figueroa has wholly dedicated itself to becoming a creative space designed by women, for women.  Women-made art is integrated across all spaces at the hotel—from the walkable Featured Artist Series Exhibit located off of the hotel’s main lobby in the ‘Artist Alley’, currently displaying 23 works of Everage’s original art, all available for purchase, to the guest rooms and meticulously hand-painted elevator banks by local women artists such as Gabby B-Vasquez. Most captivating is the striking building exterior featuring a 14-story high custom Fig motif designed by U.K.-based muralist, Bella Gomez. 

2023 Featured Artist Series: In Her Image

Experience museum-quality art during the hotel’s 2023 Featured Artist showcase. With pieces available for the purchase (leave your hotel as an art collector!), hotels can hidden museums in plain sight today. With a proud history of showcasing the works of local independent female creators, the Hotel Figueroa recently welcomed Los Angeles-based artist Erica Everage as the hotel’s 2023 Featured Artist.

During her year-long residency, Everage’s exhibition, In Her Image— launched on March 6, 2023 (and running through March 2024)—is an expression of primal feminine creative energy. Taking inspiration from the discourse of archaeomythology, many of the paintings in the exhibition are interpretations of little-known goddesses and symbols of feminine power, while others are entirely imagined icons. The series imagines these bold figures as taliswomen, totems of unabashed feminine energy, presiding over a realm of existence that champions feminine embodiment, creativity, and empowerment.

The hotel’s history as a safe haven for women is the basis for the theme, as the goddesses that adorn the walls of the Artists’ Alley represent guardians of the feminine and female self-determination.