An Evening at the Westwood Marquis Can Feel Like Autumn in New York : Lounge features mixture of jazz, cabaret and show tunes

The management at the Westwood Marquis Hotel and Gardens has gone to great pains to create an elegant ambience in its lounge, filling the room with comfy chairs and large couches and subdued lighting. Of late, there has been musical entertainment to match.

Every Tuesday through Saturday evening, the lounge hosts piano-singers of the ilk that perform at New York City hotels such as the Carlisle or Algonquin. As such, the Westwood Lounge has become “one of Los Angeles’ most civilized listening spaces,” according to Times critic Don Heckman.

Jazz, cabaret and Broadway tunes are the usual fare in the lounge. Ronny Whyte is appearing through Saturday, performing songs such as “Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans” and a jazzy version of “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore.”

“I work usually in New York, but you can’t work there all the time,” Whyte said. “There aren’t many rooms around the country for music like this. I’m grateful for this one.”

The lounge has been a room “like this” for only a year or so. The Westwood Marquis had been looking to upgrade its cocktail bar and was tinkering with different kinds of acts. Enter Alan Eichler, a publicist who champions cabaret-style singers of the past and has booked names such as Yma Sumac, Anita O’Day and Hadda Brooks into the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel’s Cinegrill.

In late 1988, Eichler and the Westwood Marquis management began developing a room that would appeal to “a professional, higher-demographic audience with eclectic taste,” hotel representative Janna Roth said.

In fact, the lounge represents a casual version of showrooms such as the Cinegrill or Vine St. Bar & Grill. Performers, many of whom have recorded albums and played worldwide, are often accompanied by bass players and are booked for runs as long as 10 weeks. There is no cover charge for the 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. shows.

“The Westwood Marquis is trying to establish itself as a drop-in kind of place,” Eichler said. “It’s like the chic bars in New York that always have top-class musicians. You can go at any time and not be concerned about who is there because you know they are going to be good.” Several of the acts that have appeared in the lounge during the last year have been well-reviewed. Last month, Heckman called Joyce Collins a “first-rate modern-jazz instrumentalist.” In February, 1989, Times critic Leonard Feather noted that Corky Hale exhibited “flawless technique” and “exquisite harmonic sense.”

About 50 to 100 people come to the lounge on most nights, Roth said. On a recent Friday night, customers drifted in and out, with 30 or so people being in the room at any one time. Roth said the clientele is a mixture of hotel guests and local residents.

Eichler, for his part, would like to see more hotels open New York-style rooms.

“For hotels like the Four Seasons or Ma Maison, the upscale places, it’s something they should be doing,” he said. “Rather than just having some nondescript person playing piano, it’s nice to bring in someone who has a reputation, who is special.”

The Westwood Lounge also offers afternoon tea and an early evening harpist. Not to mention the comfy chairs.

“It’s like sitting in your living room,” one patron said.

Westwood Marquis Hotel and Gardens

930 Hilgard Ave. in Westwood. (213) 208-8765.