The Garland Hotel from “Parks and Recreation”

The Garland Hotel 2-24

A couple of years ago, I drove by a hotel that looked like a little slice of retro heaven and became transfixed.  I made a mental note of its name and vowed to research it further.  As soon as I got home, though, I realized the name had escaped me and, because I have no sense of direction whatsoever (my mom says I couldn’t find my way out of a paper bag!), I did not even really remember where it was located.  Then this past November, fate stepped in.  While the Grim Cheaper and I were driving to the Valli Tropics apartments from Wicked City, we randomly passed by the hotel and I just about did a dance of joy!  This time I took note of its name, The Garland, and vowed to book a stay there in the near future.  In a synchronistic twist, fellow stalker Michael of The Golden Spoon Café and Downtown Christmas Shopping District from The Brady Bunch fame, happened to mention in an email just a few days later that he had stayed at the Garland on a recent trip to L.A. and loved it.  So when it came time to book a hotel for my and the GC’s Christmas shopping trip shortly thereafter, The Garland was the only hotel I looked into.  And it turned out to be even better than I had imagined!

[ad]

The Garland stands on a seven-acre parcel of land once owned by Gene Autry.  Fillmore Crank, the real estate developer husband of actress Beverly Garland, purchased the large, undeveloped lot in 1970 with thoughts of building an apartment complex there.  His good friend baseball player Casey Stengel convinced him to construct a hotel on the land instead.  So the couple partnered up with Las Vegas hotelier John Kell Houssels Jr., secured a 20-year deal with The Howard Johnson Company, and in 1972 the Beverly Garland Howard Johnson Motor Lodge opened to the public.

The Garland Hotel 2-16

The Garland Hotel 2-20

The 155-room hotel was not constructed in the typical Howard Johnson fashion with an angled red roof, but in the Mission style as a nod to its Southern California location.

The Garland Hotel 2-12

The Garland Hotel 2-1

When the contract with Howard Johnson ended, Beverly and Fillmore ran the hotel independently for a short while before eventually signing on with the Holiday Inn, at which time it was renamed the Beverly Garland Holiday Inn.  To locals and frequent guests, though, it was known as the “Beverly Garland” or “The Garland.”

The Garland Hotel 2-2

The Garland Hotel 3-21

In 2000, Beverly and Fillmore’s son, James Crank, took over management of the hotel, though Beverly could still often be seen flitting around the property, helping guests.  When the Holiday Inn contract expired in 2013, James decided to once again operate the site as an independent hotel that he redubbed “The Garland.”  He also began a $20-million renovation of the place at that time, the results of which are absolutely spectacular!

The Garland Hotel 2-8

From the Instagram-able lobby . . .

The Garland Hotel 2-29

The Garland Hotel 3-9

. . . to the unique retro touches at every turn . . .

The Garland Hotel 3-2

. . . to the lively décor . . .

The Garland Hotel 2-10

. . . The Garland is honestly like no other hotel I’ve ever seen.

The Garland Hotel 3-13

The Garland Hotel 3-8

The Christmas decorations were also majorly on point.

The Garland Hotel

The Garland Hotel 2-6

The Garland Hotel 2-9

Today, the 257-room hotel boasts a large outdoor pool (which sadly, due to the seriously frosty weather, we were unable to partake of) . . .

The Garland Hotel 3-16

The Garland Hotel 3-19

. . . countless outdoor spaces . . .

The Garland Hotel 3-37

. . .  a myriad of activities for families, children and couples, including a foosball table and board games set up in the courtyard. . .

The Garland Hotel 3-40

The Garland Hotel 3-41

. . . gorgeous vistas . . .

The Garland Hotel 3-29

. . . literally everywhere you look (yes, that’s a wall of flying butterflies!) . . .

The Garland Hotel 3-39

. . . whimsical design elements around seemingly every corner, which I had fun with . . .

The Garland Hotel 3-23

. . . and a massive outdoor garden event space designed by famed landscape architect Jonny Appleseed.

The Garland Hotel 3-31

The Garland Hotel 3-34

The Garland also offers free shuttle service to Universal Studios and Universal City Walk, complimentary Wi-Fi, a plethora of onsite classes including poolside macramé and garden tai chi yoga, a business center, a gym, a fabulous gift shop that carries all sorts of California- and L.A.-themed goodies, and over 16,000 square feet of meeting and event space.

The Garland Hotel 2-11

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention The Front Yard, the hotel’s onsite restaurant.

The Garland Hotel-5

The Garland Hotel-4

Upon checking in, we received a coupon for two complimentary cocktails at The Front Yard, so we decided to try the place out and wound up staying for dinner.  The GC and I both opted for the TFY Burger – a ground short rib burger with a potato bun, truffle dijonnaise, wild mushrooms, Point Reyes toma cheese, and red onion balsamic jam.  It was uh-ma-zing!  So good that the GC was literally craving it all day the next day and couldn’t wait for dinnertime so that we could rush back there.

 The Garland Hotel-6

The Garland Hotel-7

Oh, and our room wasn’t too shabby, either.  It was the perfect combination of retro and modern, with whimsical touches throughout.

The Garland Hotel-1

The Garland Hotel-2

All in all, The Garland is a fabulous hotel and I couldn’t more highly recommend a stay there.

The Garland Hotel 2-7

The Garland Hotel 3-7

To add to the allure, The Garland is also a popular filming venue!  The site has been a location scout favorite from the beginning, in fact.  Back in its early days, it appeared in everything from Quincy, M.E. to Falcon Crest to Switch.  In the book Beverly Garland: Her Life and Career, author Deborah Del Vecchio quotes Garland as saying, “They’ve also done a Six Million Dollar Man and Police Woman [at the hotel].  In fact, they’ve done just about all the big shows here.  They have filmed everywhere in the hotel – inside at the desk area, around in the back, jumping off of balconies – and the guests just love it.  Of course, it is a mess when they do film because they’ve got cables running everywhere.  They’ve done commercials around the pool and the tennis courts.  We always put a sign up saying, for instance, “Universal is filming Six Million Dollar Man here today” so that our guests will know that sometimes they would not be able to get to the front desk for a while or do certain things that they’d like to do.  And yet they get a kick out of that.  Most people enjoy the fact that they are in Hollywood and that the studios are filming here at the lodge.  And it’s good publicity for us and we like it!”  Couldn’t have said it better myself, Beverly!

The Garland Hotel 3-11

The Garland Hotel 3-12

The Garland appeared no less than five times on the popular television series Knight Rider.  One such instance was Season 1’s “Forget Me Not.”

Screenshot-000650

Screenshot-000651

The episode made use of the hotel lobby and really gives a feel for what The Garland looked like pre-remodel.

Screenshot-000652

Screenshot-000653

An actual room was also used in the filming.  It cracked me up to see how different the rooms were back in 1982 when the episode was shot.

Screenshot-000655

Screenshot-000656

In 2012, The Garland masked as Pawnee Supersuites in the Season 4 finale of Parks and Recreation titled “Win, Lose or Draw.”  It was in the hotel’s Garland Ballroom, renamed the Jermaine Jackson Ballroom for the episode (LOL!!!), where Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) and the rest of the Parks gang waited for the City Council election results.

Screenshot-000628

Screenshot-000629

Very little of the ballroom was actually visible in the episode, though, due to all of Leslie’s campaign decorations.

Screenshot-000645

The Garland Hotel 2-31

Nevertheless, it is still recognizable from its appearance.

Screenshot-000647

The Garland Hotel 2-37

Pre-remodel, the Garland Ballroom appeared in the Season 2 episode of Knight Rider titled “Speed Demons,” which aired in 1984.  The room looks so incredibly different now, it is hard to believe it is the same place where Michael Knight (David Hasselhoff) tried to help a down-on-his-luck dirt bike racer.

Screenshot-000659

Screenshot-000660

The “Win, Lose or Draw” episode of Parks and Recreation also made use of one of The Garland’s smaller ballrooms.

Screenshot-000636

Screenshot-000637

That ballroom is pictured below.

The Garland Hotel 4-1

The Garland Hotel 4-2

In the 2012 comedy The Guilt Trip, The Garland portrayed the Virginia Mountain Motor Inn.

Screenshot-000662

Screenshot-000663

One of the real life rooms was featured in the movie, as well.

Screenshot-000664

Screenshot-000665

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

The Garland Hotel 2-26

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: The Garland, from Parks and Recreation, is located at 4222 North Vineland Avenue in North Hollywood.  You can visit the hotel’s official website here.

6 Replies to “The Garland Hotel from “Parks and Recreation””

  1. I saw this hotel watching on old Adam-12 episode from 1973. I have stayed here many times from 1981 until my last visit to LA in 1990. Been there twice over Thanksgiving and once for 7 nights in 1985 I think. Great location and our rooms ceemed to always face Universal Studios. I remember watching the old Battlestar Galactica part of the tram tour with binoculars from my room. I probably shouldnt say this, but I still have an old original elevator operating permit from the hotel!. Very close to the freeway and Ventura Blvd. Thank you for the memories!

  2. Wow… what a difference! We stayed there many years ago to attend a wedding when it was called the Beverly Garland. Back then, the hotel was nothing special. One of my very first stalks was during that trip which was the Brady Bunch house just a short 10 minute walk away from the Garland.

  3. How nice!! I stayed there in 2013 before the renovation of the lobby happened because it looks unrecognisable to me!! Nice to see it back!!

  4. Not only do I want to stay there but I also want to redo my couch to look as theirs does! I LOVE the mix of colors per section!!

Leave a Reply