California Dreamin’ . . .

WWD shared the unconfirmed rumor that Louis Vuitton hopes to take over the defeated proposal for a 109-key Cheval Blanc hotel on the 50,000 sq foot property on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.

Louis Vuitton Chairman and CEO Pietro Beccari plans larger and grander retail attractions and fashion show events for Louis Vuitton locations around the world.

Consider the new Louis Vuitton hotel renovation on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris. An entire temporary artifice resembling a Louis Vuitton trunk has been built to minimize a construction blot on one of the world’s most beautiful boulevards — and especially during the summer Olympics in Paris where LVMH is a grand host for the event.

“Don’t think big — think huge,” he often tells his staff.

Cheval Blank No Vote: Why the Human Touch Matters

LVMH thought they had a deal going last spring for the Cheval Blanc in Beverly Hills. AOC knew LVMH had the wrong team negotiating on their behalf, long before we wrote the end of the very close vote story:

Labor was upset that there were no provisions included for affordable housing in a larger Los Angeles area that’s enduring an affordable housing crisis of epic proportions. Anti-development residents joined forces with Unite Here Local 11 hotel and culinary workers.
They launched a person-to-person campaign to gain 10% of registered Beverly Hill voters to request a special election that might override the Fall 2022 approval of the project by the Beverly Hills City Council.
They won.

Weekend Paris Protests at New Louis Vuitton Hotel Site

The circumstances of the 2023 Cheval Blanc Beverly Hills no-vote is even more relevant today, after protesters took over the Paris construction site of the new Louis Vuitton hotel and store in Paris this weekend.

And I thought it was so much better than the ugly scaffolding all over New York City.

On Saturday, Activist group Attac [IG] said a group of 50 militants [estimated at 100 by press] used the building’s scaffolding to reach the roof to unfurl the message and disperse flyers for its “Super-profit, ultra-riches, méga-injustice” campaign, with one side mimicking an 80 billion-euro bill in honor of LVMH.

In AOC’s opinion, Louis Vuitton must consider what can go wrong in Beverly Hills ahead of time. American protesters are not of the stature of French ones. But social activism is on the rise here, too, in a post George Floyd world.

Extinction Rebellion Activists Protest at Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris AOC Daily May 2023

French Protesters Storm LVMH Paris Offices, Opposing Macron's Pension Reform AOC Daily April 2023