Working with the Ace Hotel has always been a great experience for me, and that’s not just because this now-legendary hotel company began in Seattle, a sister city to my hometown of Portland. Created to provide an affordable and stylish option to the newly-emerging digital creative class in cities around the world back in 1999, over twenty years later they continue to prioritize the same social and political issues that impact and influence their patrons. A prime example of that is happening this month at the DTLA Ace Hotel, where a new addition to the cocktail menu for March is set to donate proceeds to the Downtown Women’s Center.
This March, Women’s History Month celebrates the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment, a law that granted white women the right to vote (please note Black women didn’t have their rights properly recognized until the Voting Rights Act in 1965, and still frequently deal with much different circumstances when it comes to casting a ballot at all). To honor this still significant milestone, the Ace has added a cocktail named after one of Hollywood’s early pioneers for women, Mary Pickford, who helped create the United Artists studio and is one of the thirty-six original members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Of course, the original building for United Artists is where the Theatre at the Ace Hotel in LA exists today, so the hotel’s own connection to her work is impossible to ignore. Observing her impact this year, the Ace is serving the Mary Pickford (Revisited) all month, a cocktail that’s not only inspired by her, but was originally created for the actress while she was visiting Cuba in the 1920s alongside Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks (as one does). Simple but classic, the drink blends rum, maraschino, pineapple, lime, & grenadine and comes garnished with either a brandied cherry or lime wheel for $15.
All throughout the month, $1 from each of these cocktails sold will go to the Downtown Women’s Center in Los Angeles. If you find yourself in the neighborhood throughout the rest of the month, stop by the Ace and show your appreciation for the hotel’s history and the other forces downtown working to help keep the most vulnerable populations of women safe by drinking for the cause. There are plenty of opportunities to get involved as a volunteer at the DWC as well, check those out here.
