Compartés Taps Kelly Wearstler for New Century City Outpost

Marilyn Monroe was a customer. Today, regular folk line up for the frozen hot chocolate at Compartés, a chocolatier that’s been handmaking its treats in Los Angeles since 1950. The company’s reach continues to expand, with current 32-year-old owner Jonathan Grahm calling on Kelly Wearstler for its latest outpost in Century City. (Wearstler, who worked on the project with Kurt Krueger Architects, is herself a Compartés aficionado, designing packaging for the confections, in such flavors as raspberry rose rapture, for years.)

The tidy 430-square-foot boutique is “inspired by the classic European chocolate shops of the early 20th century, with materials that are rooted in tradition,” she says of the space’s brass, patinaed copper, Venetian plaster, and Cipollino marble. “It’s like Emerald City meets California cool,” Grahm adds. Whatever it is, it’s working: Oprah’s a fan.