Santa Monica Hotel Executives Took Similar Routes to Oceana

Mirror staff

   Seth Horowitz, the new General Manager of Hotel Oceana, Santa Monica, and Kevin Blackbeard, the hotel’s new director of sales, are both natives of Johannesburg, South Africa, both spent more than a decade with Westin Hotels and both came to the Oceana from Shutters on the Beach Hotel.
   Horowitz, 38, began his run with Westin at the Carlton Hotel in Johannesburg. Subsequently, he moved on to Copley Place in Boston and, from there, to the Westin Hotel in Vail, Colorado. He was then named manager of The Tower at the Century Plaza in Los Angeles.
   Three years ago, he went to work at Shutters. A resident of Los Angeles since 1988, he has lived in Santa Monica for three years.
   Blackbeard worked for four Westin hotels -- the Carlton in Johannesburg, the Benson in Portland, Tabor Center in Denver and the Century Plaza. He has also worked at the Sheraton Plaza La Reina, Los Angeles, the Four Seasons in Newport Beach, and the Waterfront Hilton Beach Resort, Huntington Beach. Director of Group Sales at Shutters for five years, he was named “Manager of the Year” in 1997. He lives in West Los Angeles.
   James Lippman, President of JRK Asset Management, which owns the Oceana, said, “We are delighted to have both Seth and Kevin as additions to our newly enhanced hotel. Their combined efforts in the hospitality industry will play a key role in making Hotel Oceana the premiere boutique destination in Los Angeles.”
   On Ocean Avenue, three and a half blocks north of Wilshire, overlooking Palisades Park and the ocean beyond, the Oceana is in an otherwise residential area.