The Best Hotels in Los Angeles

Los Angeles has a hotel culture unlike any other American city; a collection of properties that have accumulated decades of mythology, scandal, and glamour in roughly equal measure. The Chateau Marmont has been the preferred address of the entertainment industry since the 1930s. The Beverly Hills Hotel has been photographed more than almost any building in California. The Sunset Tower has hosted everyone from Howard Hughes to Frank Sinatra. Staying in these hotels is not simply a matter of accommodation; it is a form of participation in the city's ongoing narrative. But the mythology can obscure the practical question of where to actually stay. Los Angeles is a city of neighborhoods, and the right hotel depends entirely on which version of the city you came for. The following properties represent the best options across the city's distinct geographies, from the Sunset Strip to Malibu, from Koreatown to the Arts District. The Chateau Marmont, perched above the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, is the most storied hotel in Los Angeles and possibly the most storied hotel in America. The Norman castle-style building, which opened as an apartment complex in 1929 and converted to a hotel in 1931, has been the preferred address of the entertainment industry for nearly a century. The bungalows and suites are the most sought-after accommodations, private, garden-surrounded, and carrying the weight of considerable history. The bar is one of the best in the city for people-watching. The hotel's policy of discretion is legendary and genuine. It is expensive, occasionally eccentric in its service, and entirely worth it for visitors who understand what they are paying for. The Beverly Hills Hotel (the Pink Palace) is the most iconic hotel address in California. The flamingo-pink facade on Sunset Boulevard has been a landmark since 1912, and the Polo Lounge has been the power breakfast destination of the entertainment industry for decades. The bungalows, scattered across the hotel's twelve acres of tropical gardens, are among the most private and luxurious accommodations in the city. The pool is the most photographed in Los Angeles. It is a hotel that delivers on its mythology in a way that few properties of comparable fame manage. The Sunset Tower Hotel occupies an Art Deco tower on the Sunset Strip that was built in 1929 and has housed, at various points, Howard Hughes, Marilyn Monroe, and John Wayne. The Tower Bar (the hotel's restaurant and bar) is one of the great rooms in Los Angeles: dark, intimate, and populated by a mix of industry veterans and visitors who know enough to seek it out. The hotel is smaller and more intimate than its neighbors on the Strip, which is precisely its appeal. The rooms are not the largest in the city, but the location and the atmosphere are unmatched. Hotel Bel-Air is the most secluded luxury hotel in Los Angeles; a collection of mission-style bungalows and suites set in eleven acres of gardens in the residential hills above Bel Air. The swan lake at the entrance, the bougainvillea-draped pathways, and the extraordinary quiet of the property create an atmosphere that is genuinely unlike anything else in the city. The Wolfgang Puck restaurant is one of the better hotel dining rooms in LA. The pool is the most peaceful in the city. It is the right choice for visitors who want luxury without the scene. The LINE LA in Koreatown is the best value luxury hotel in Los Angeles; a mid-century building on Wilshire Boulevard that was redesigned by Commune Design and opened in 2014. The rooftop pool has one of the best views of the city skyline. The restaurants, developed with Roy Choi, are among the better hotel food programs in the city. Koreatown itself (the most densely populated neighborhood in Los Angeles) is one of the great food destinations in America, and the LINE puts you at the center of it. Rates are significantly lower than comparable properties on the Westside. The Ace Hotel Downtown LA occupies the former United Artists Theatre building on Broadway, a 1927 Spanish Gothic landmark that was restored as part of the hotel's 2014 opening. The rooftop pool bar is one of the most reliably entertaining outdoor spaces in the city. The Arts District location puts you within walking distance of the best new restaurants in Downtown. The creative crowd that the Ace attracts makes it one of the more socially interesting hotels in the city. It is the right choice for visitors who came for the food and culture rather than the beach or the Strip. Malibu Beach Inn is the only hotel in Los Angeles with rooms directly on the sand; a small, intimate property on Carbon Beach, the stretch of Malibu coastline that has been nicknamed Billionaire's Beach for the density of extraordinary real estate that lines it. The hotel has twenty-seven rooms, all with ocean views, and a restaurant that serves the kind of California coastal food the setting demands. It is expensive (Carbon Beach is among the most expensive real estate in California) but for visitors who came to Los Angeles for the Pacific, there is no better address. Booking well in advance is essential; the hotel fills quickly. The practical question of where to stay comes down to geography and priorities. Sunset Strip hotels (the Chateau, the Sunset Tower, the London) put you at the center of West Hollywood's nightlife and within easy reach of Beverly Hills and the Westside. Beach hotels in Santa Monica and Malibu suit the outdoor, ocean-oriented version of the trip. Downtown and Arts District hotels are the right base for visitors focused on food, culture, and the city's more recent creative energy. Koreatown, anchored by the LINE, offers the best value and the most interesting immediate neighborhood of any hotel corridor in the city.