The New York Times
February 9, 1995, C1.
Deadhead Design
By David Margolick
Los Angeles. As the first person ever to sleep in the new
Jerry Garcia Suite at the Beverly Prescott Hotel, I feel
compelled to clear up a few common misconceptions about it
immediately.
Though the bedspreads and shower curtains feature Mr.
Garcia's designs, they are not tie-dyed. The artwork on the
walls doesn't include psychedelic Grateful Dead posters.
The courtesy sweet near the bed is genuine milk chocolate,
not an Alice B. Toklas brownie. There is no Cherry Garcia
ice cream in the minibar (though Ben & Jerry's has offered
some), and there aren't any joints amid the munchies. In
fact, the suite is actually on a no-smoking floor.
Of course, it is Mr. Garcia's music -- the funky,
high-energy, drug-related sound of San Francisco in the
1960's -- that the 52-year-old lead guitarist of the
Grateful Dead and several other bands will always be known
for. But he studied art in the early 1960's and returned to
it while recovering from a diabetic coma in 1986. Four
years ago, his designs began appearing on what became a
highly successful line of neckties. Someone later suggested
a larger canvas: hotel interiors, with furnishings that
could be covered with the same silk used to make the
neckties and walls with his paintings.
Thus was born the Jerry Garcia Suites. The first opened
last September at the Triton Hotel in San Francisco. And
now, six flights higher and several hundred miles to the
south, another has opened in the Beverly Prescott, an
otherwise ordinary-looking hotel that has a mailing address
in Beverly Hills but is actually in Los Angeles.
February 9, 1995, C1.
Deadhead Design
By David Margolick
Los Angeles. As the first person ever to sleep in the new
Jerry Garcia Suite at the Beverly Prescott Hotel, I feel
compelled to clear up a few common misconceptions about it
immediately.
Though the bedspreads and shower curtains feature Mr.
Garcia's designs, they are not tie-dyed. The artwork on the
walls doesn't include psychedelic Grateful Dead posters.
The courtesy sweet near the bed is genuine milk chocolate,
not an Alice B. Toklas brownie. There is no Cherry Garcia
ice cream in the minibar (though Ben & Jerry's has offered
some), and there aren't any joints amid the munchies. In
fact, the suite is actually on a no-smoking floor.
Of course, it is Mr. Garcia's music -- the funky,
high-energy, drug-related sound of San Francisco in the
1960's -- that the 52-year-old lead guitarist of the
Grateful Dead and several other bands will always be known
for. But he studied art in the early 1960's and returned to
it while recovering from a diabetic coma in 1986. Four
years ago, his designs began appearing on what became a
highly successful line of neckties. Someone later suggested
a larger canvas: hotel interiors, with furnishings that
could be covered with the same silk used to make the
neckties and walls with his paintings.
Thus was born the Jerry Garcia Suites. The first opened
last September at the Triton Hotel in San Francisco. And
now, six flights higher and several hundred miles to the
south, another has opened in the Beverly Prescott, an
otherwise ordinary-looking hotel that has a mailing address
in Beverly Hills but is actually in Los Angeles.