While the Sunset Tower does boast a penthouse suite (you can take a peek at it here), it was not utilized on Lucifer. The penthouse was also covered over with a wide roofline and another floor and large spire were added to the top of the building.
As you can see in the establishing shot as compared to the aerial view below, a floor was added to structure just below the penthouse level. The exterior of the Sunset Tower was altered quite a bit with CGI for the show. Considering its striking architecture, it is no surprise that producers chose to feature it as the home of Hell’s most famous former denizen on the series. The 1931 lodging is one of the prettiest spots in all of Southern California. The Art Deco masterpiece even made My L.A. Bryant-designed Sunset Tower numerous times. From that point on, imagery of the Sunset Tower was intermingled with imagery of the El Capitan on the show, though the former was utilized far more often than the latter. Starting with the series’ third episode, titled “The Would-Be Prince of Darkness,” West Hollywood’s Sunset Tower Hotel was used in wide-angle establishing shots of both Lux and Lucifer’s penthouse. To help give the site a club-like appearance in establishing shots, signage reading “Lux,” a succession of velvet ropes, and a long line of patrons were positioned outside. (I did not get a great shot of that door while I was stalking the place, so please pardon the Street View image below.) Only a small portion of the building was ever shown on Lucifer, with a doorway situated down an adjacent alley on the eastern side of the property masking as Lux’s main entrance. The six-story Spanish Baroque-style structure was designed by the Morgan, Walls & Clements architecture firm in 1926 and in real life is comprised of the El Capitan Theatre and Disney Studio Store/Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop on the bottom floor and office space on the upper floors. In the inaugural episode, as well as several subsequent episodes, the El Capitan Theatre and Office Building in Hollywood masqueraded as the exterior of the opulent lounge. Lux first appeared in Lucifer’s pilot and went on to become the show’s most prominent locale. Through a random turn of events, he winds up joining the LAPD as a consultant and, using his unique gifts and otherworldly talents, helps detectives catch the city’s bad guys – all while running his successful night club, Lux, which he lives above in a decadent penthouse.
SPIRE NIGHTCLUB SERIES
The Fox series (or should I say “former Fox series”?) centers around Lucifer Morningstar (played to delightfully wicked perfection by Tom Ellis), aka the devil (yes, the actual devil) who has decided to leave Hell in order to lead a hedonistic existence in – where else? – Los Angeles. Though I gave a brief synopsis of Lucifer in my January post about the SmokeHouse restaurant, I figured it best to recap it once again here.
If not, the Grim Cheaper and I will have practically nothing to watch next season! Thank God Vanderpump Rules is still on the air, otherwise I’d be completely confounded! To cheer myself up, I recently did some stalking of the three spots that mask as Lux nightclub on Lucifer and, in the hopes of possibly persuading some of my readers to become viewers (hint, hint), thought it was the perfect time to blog about them. Though the latter was promptly rescued, I am still waiting for the #savescorpion, #savelucifer and #savetimeless cries to be heard. Four – yes, four – of my favorite shows – Lucifer, Scorpion, Timeless and Brooklyn Nine-Nine – were given the ax. The recent network television cancellations left me reeling.