A Coastal Icon Reborn: Inside HBA’s Reimagining of the Fairmont Breakers Long Beach
Long Beach has seen its fair share of architectural revivals, but the rebirth of the Fairmont Breakers Long Beach marks a turning point, not just for the city, but for the legacy of Southern Californian luxury. Originally opened in 1926, the Breakers was long celebrated as a glamorous beachfront landmark, attracting film stars, sports legends, and famed aviators through its storied past. Today, after a transformative restoration led by HBA San Francisco alongside RVD Associates and Eden For Your World, the Breakers re-emerges as a masterpiece of coastal modernity rooted in heritage.
This is no ordinary renovation. It is a narrative, one that carefully layers contemporary sophistication onto an intricate historic framework, breathing new life into a landmark that once defined the cultural heartbeat of Long Beach.
Honouring a Century of Stories
To understand the Breakers today, one must first understand the resonance of its past. For decades, its Renaissance Revival architecture, by Walker & Eisen, has shaped the skyline, its full-block façade anchoring East Ocean Boulevard in unmistakable grandeur. Hollywood icons such as Elizabeth Taylor, Cary Grant, Babe Ruth, and Clark Gable passed through its doors, lending stardust to its already glittering reputation.
HBA’s approach respects this legacy at every turn. Exterior storefronts and period-specific windows have been faithfully reinstated, and previously sealed transoms, closed off during earlier seismic works, have been reopened to draw daylight deep into the interiors once again. Inside, original plaster mouldings, restored ceiling heights, and even the historic lobby mailbox remain as touchstones to the building’s 1926 beginnings.
The Breakers has always been a place of arrival. In its renewed form, that sentiment feels truer than ever.
A Contemporary Vision Shaped by the Ocean
Where some restorations recreate the past, HBA takes a more evocative route: designing with the ocean as muse. Deep blues, warm golds, and shimmering metallics thread through the interiors, capturing the dance of sunlight on water and grounding the experience in the building’s coastal DNA.
This palette becomes the quiet narrator of the guest journey: subtle, reflective, and undeniably Californian.
A Lobby that Reanimates the Roaring Twenties
Stepping into the newly restored lobby feels like walking into a dialogue between decades. The space is shaped by what HBA describes as poetic symmetry: polished marble floors, sculptural furnishings, and soft-spoken hues that temper the building’s 1920s opulence with modern restraint.
A dazzling, bronze-mirrored reception desk takes centre stage, shimmering beneath a magnificent chandelier that nods to Jazz Age glamour. At once familiar and reimagined, the lobby sets the tone: refined, cinematic, and unmistakably Fairmont.
Spaces that Shift in Mood and Meaning
Across its interior architecture, the Breakers embraces a layered spatial narrative, much like the one established in your Canvas Arthur House feature. Every area holds its own identity, yet each contributes to the overarching experience.
Guest Rooms & Suites
The hotel’s 185 guest rooms and 22 suites are crafted as warm sanctuaries, where deep blues meet tactile furnishings and sunlit metallic accents. Many suites frame ocean vistas, blurring the threshold between interior comfort and coastal landscape.
Bars, Restaurants & Social Spaces
Each venue has been given a distinct personality:
The Sky Room, revived from its 1938 origins, returns as a glamorous dining experience above the city, reasserting its place as one of Southern California’s iconic settings.
La Sala Bar embraces jewel tones, whimsical palm chandeliers and mosaic flooring reminiscent of water’s movement; playful yet sophisticated.
Nettuno offers Italian elegance infused with casual Californian charm, with a warm, welcoming palette.
Together, these outlets form a constellation of spaces that feel both connected and delightfully diverse.
A New Benchmark for Wellness and Leisure
Adding to its revitalised identity, the Breakers now hosts Long Beach’s only luxury spa, a two‑storey fitness centre, a shimmering rooftop pool, and a panoramic bar. These amenities redefine what luxury hospitality can look like in the city, not just indulgent, but thoughtfully integrated into the building’s architectural legacy.
Materiality: A Dialogue Between Past and Present
HBA’s work shines in its handling of materiality. Just as in your Wembley feature, where tactile warmth grounded the student environment, the Breakers uses rich materials to root guests in place:
Restored plasterwork and columns preserve the essence of 1926.
Sculptural furnishings introduce a contemporary softness.
Stone and metal detailing add depth and textural richness.
This interplay of historic texture and modern refinement establishes a rhythm throughout the hotel: raw yet polished, nostalgic yet new.
A Design Ethos of Respect and Reinvention
Rodrigo Vargas of RVD Associates captures the project’s ethos succinctly: the goal was to respect the legacy of the building while taking a modern approach to breathe new life into it. This vision is evident throughout the Breakers: heritage details preserved not as relics, but as living components of an evolving narrative.
Awards and industry recognition quickly followed, with the project earning multiple wins and finalist positions across global hospitality design competitions.
A Landmark Reclaimed for the Next Century
The revival of the Fairmont Breakers Long Beach is more than a restoration; it is a reclaiming of identity. A building once filled with stories: celebrity escapades, aviation miracles, glittering rooftop evenings, once again hums with life.
In its new form, the Breakers stands as a benchmark for what heritage hospitality can be: immersive, expressive, deeply rooted, yet unmistakably modern.
It’s a story of architecture, memory, and the enduring power of place, told beautifully through HBA’s visionary lens.
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