los angeles Travel Guide
Los Angeles Hotels / Budget Hotels / Boutique Hotels / → All Tags
What is the L.A. Sky Boutique Hotel?
We were stalking hotel booking sites yesterday, trying to find you some good hotel deals, when we stumbled upon this Expedia listing for a hotel in Los Angeles called, LA Sky Boutique Hotel. Whatever could this be?
As it turns out, it's the same Sky Hotel that we wrote about back in 2007. (Yup, we've been doing this job too long.) As it turns out the hotel is in the process of changing its name from Sky Hotel to LA Sky Boutique Hotel.
Located in the heart of West Los Angeles on Westwood Boulevard near Pico, close to UCLA, the freeway and the Westside Pavilion mall, the hotel has just 28 rooms, done up in a stylish furniture with sky-inspired colors (lots of blues and light colors). We found rates for this weekend, Memorial Day Weekend, for just $149 for a queen bed guestroom. King beds are just $159. Those rates include breakfast and free WiFi.
Hotel Hype / Downtown Los Angeles Hotels / Korean Air / Hotel News / → All Tags
Korean Air is Not Playing Around When It Comes to Their New Downtown LA Hotel
It won't open until sometime in 2017 but when it does, the billion-dollar luxury hotel from Korean Air will include a sky lobby at the top of the building on the 70th floor.
The hotel, which will be constructed in downtown LA at Wilshire Boulevard and Figueroa Street on the site of the old Wilshire Grand Hotel, is hoping to be the second-tallest building in Southern California, just shorter than the US Bank Tower. And these days, where there's a tall-ass building there's also plans for a restaurant, bar and death-defying infinity swimming pool, according to the LA Times. (Shops, more restaurants, retail and office space will take up the lowers floors of the hotel.)
W Hotels / Hotel Packages / Hotel Sunglasses / Mosely Tribes / Hotel Swag / Hotel Fashion / → All Tags
Guests at W Hotels In LA Will Rock Mosley Tribes Shades This Summer
Despite the rain that's been hitting the East Coast, summer fun days are almost here and even in Los Angeles where the sun shines nearly year round, a couple of hotels have found another excuse to celebrate the upcoming season.
The W Los Angeles--Westwood and the W Hollywood Hotel are offering guests a free pair of signature Mosley Tribe sunglasses (male or female styles available) when they book the hotels' Shades of Summer package.
Hotel Openings / Hotel Construction / Los Angeles Hotels / Ace Hotels / Hotel News / → All Tags
LA's Proposed Streetcar Route Proves, Yet Again, Ace Hotels Really Know How To Pick A Location
The Seattle Times is reporting today on a project that plans to re-instate LA's historic streetcar line. And one of the places it mentions that will be along the proposed route? Why, the new Ace Hotel going up on Broadway and Olympic Boulevard! Obviously, the guys at Ace really did their research on this one.
Similar to most of the other Ace Hotels, (Ace New York was the former Breslin Hotel built in 1904, and Ace Portland was the former Clyde Hotel built in 1912), the future Ace Los Angeles hotel will hark back to old-skool LA with its refurbished 2,214-seat United Artists theater from 1927. So how fitting that it should find itself along the Broadway stretch of a streetcar route that plans to restore what was "once the busiest and brightest street in the center of [LA]."
Hotel Woes / Hotel News / Hotel Photo Shoots / Fashion Hotels / Hotel Rooftops / Transgender Hotels / Los Angeles Hotels / → All Tags
Would This Beauty Pageant Contestant Put You Off Your Lunch At The Hotel Wilshire?
Jenna Talackova certainly has a strong effect on people when she goes gallivanting around in a bikini. Recently, she showed up at the Hotel Wilshire with an entire crew to stage a photo shoot by the pool, and caused quite the scene. TMZ reports the restaurant staff made such a stink, Talackova and her crew were forced back downstairs to finish the shoot in the privacy of one of the rooms.
The irony here, of course, is that Talackova endured another, more public rejection recently—namely, being booted from the Miss Universe competition, by owner Donald Trump, for being transgender (though he's since reversed his decision).
All in all, though, we think she's got good taste in hotels, and clearly wasn't put off by having to re-locate the photo shoot. And whether she ended up posing in a bikini on the rooftop, or inside one of the rooms, we're now more than a little curious to see how the pictures come out in the end.
Snapshot / Ritz-Carlton Hotels / Hotel Water / Hotel Amenities / → All Tags
Have You Drank The Water at Ritz-Carlton Lately?
If you're feeling a little dehydrated and there's a Ritz-Carlton nearby, you might want to pop in for a quick refreshment.
We spied Ritz-Carlton water coolers at both the Ritz-Carlton Marina del Rey and the Ritz-Carlton at LA Live in the past few weeks. But of course, this is the Ritz and regular water won't do.
No, no, no. Instead we have infusion water typically with a fruit of some sort. At the downtown Ritz, we found "white peaches" while over at the Marina it was an orange pomegranate sort of blend. Yummy.
We've just begun taking note of the "specialty" Ritz water being offered in their hotels so we only have these two properties to list but we did see a Yelper liking the strawberry melon water at the Ritz-Carlton Philadelphia and we found another mention of the fruit-infused water at Ritz-Carlton South Beach.
Is fruit water the new wheatgrass? Possibly!
If you're a hotel nerd like us, drop in your favorite (or worst) Ritz-Carlton water tastings in comments below!
Celebrity Scoop / Larry Flynt / Hotel Restaurants / Four Seasons Hotels / Los Angeles Hotels / → All Tags
This is What Larry Flynt Eats at Culina at the Four Seasons Los Angeles
Hustler publisher Larry Flynt is still a man about town, the town of Beverly Hills that is, and it's not uncommon to see him in the city's finest establishments here and there.
But the other day we experienced something quite unusual at Culina at the Four Seasons Los Angeles. When we walked in we noticed Mr. Flynt at a large table in the center of the room and thought, "Cool. Celeb sighting." But when we sat down and looked at the menu, we saw another surprise on the menu: Larry Flynt's Salad.
Apparently, Flynt dines at Culina so often they named a salad after him. It includes: dungeness crab, shrimp, diced cucumber, tomato, carrots, asparagus, red pepper, garbanzo beans, watercress, sieved hard boiled egg and topped with chianti vinaigrette.
Interestly, it's only the second most expensive salad on the menu at $27. The Insalata RC (named after the hotel's owner, Robert Cohen) is the most expensive at $29 and which includes prawns and Maine lobster.
Sigh...one day we'll have a hotel salad named after us too. One day....
Hotel Hype / Marriott Hotels / Downtown Los Angeles Hotels / Hotel News / → All Tags
Marriott is Bringing Yet Two More Hotels to LA Live
Perhaps downtown Los Angeles' LA Live complex should change its name to Marriott Live. That's because come summer of 2014, there will not only be a Ritz-Carlton and a JW Marriott across from the Staples Center, the Nokia Theater and the Grammy Musuem but a Residence Inn and a Courtyard By Marriott as well.
The groundbreaking on the project at Olympic and Francisco Street, right across from the other two Marriott hotels, will happen today. When it's all finished, both the 174-room Courtyard hotel and the 218-room Residence Inn will be under the same roof.
The hotel hybrid will also have meeting rooms, a restaurant and to fit in with the neighborhood, a 3,000-square-foot electronic sign on the exterior.
Of course, we'd never knock newer nicer places to stay in downtown but hello, Starwood? Hyatt? Hilton? Anyone else interested in opening here? Just wonderin'....
[Rendering via LA Times]
Hollywood Hotels / Hotel Rebrandings / Hilton Garden Inns / Hotels Near the Hollywood Bowl / → All Tags
The Hollywood Heights Hotel is Now a Hilton Garden Inn
After undergoing a modernizing makeover a few years ago, the former Holiday Inn just steps away from the Hollywood Bowl, reinvented itself as the hip new Hollywood Heights Hotel.
Aside from good-looking rooms at decent prices, the hotel also hosted quite a few post-show themed bashes depending on whoever was playing that night at the Bowl. But will all that change now that the hotel is turning into a Hilton Garden Inn?
The changeover officially happened on March 6 and there have been quite a few changes made. For starters, the Hideout restaurant has been replaced with the Great American Grill which is serving cook-to-order breakfast and dinner as well as evening room service.
Dog-Friendly Hotels / W Hotels / Hotel Restaurants / Los Angeles Hotels / → All Tags
Pups Now Have Their Own Menu at W Los Angeles-Westwood's Backyard
Let's face it, dining al fresco is one of L.A.'s collective pastimes. Lots of restaurants even let you bring your Beverly Hills chihuahua with you. But the W Hotel Los Angeles Westwood is going one step further and now has a pet-friendly 'Fido's Kitchen' menu at The Backyard Restaurant.
Available exclusively at the restaurant, the food is suitably L.A. fresh and healthy, too. If you saw 'Organic Chicken, Free Range Eggs and Brown Rice' on a menu, you might order it for yourself, no? Well, here the dish is called Stella's Mutt"za" Balls and we're assuming it's priced a little lower than the human meals (or at least, we hope).
Other menu highlights include Milo's Chopped Veggie & Chicken Salad and the Knuckle's Frozen "POP!"--organic yogurt, mashed banana and peanut butter.
Cute Hotel Doggies / Dog-Friendly Hotels / Kimpton Hotels / Los Angeles Hotels / Hotel Dogs / → All Tags
Luna is The Star of L.A.'s Hotel Palomar
The Oscars have come and gone but celebrities are still skulking around Los Angeles Hotels.
Over at the Hotel Palomar Los Angeles Westwood you're bound to see a gorgeous young starlet who hangs out there. A girl with long glossy waves, big brown eyes, and major acting chops--that is, if by acting you mean rolling over or playing dead.
Yes, we're talking about a dog--Luna, the Cocker Spaniel in residence at Hotel Palomar, and one of Kimpton's Directors of Pet Relations.
We haven't had the chance to meet Luna yet, but L.A. pet photographer Grace Chon dropped by the hotel to take these shots of Miss Luna and tells us that she is as sweet as pie--such a rarity in Hollywood.
Misleading Hotel Deals / Living Social / Los Angels Hotels / → All Tags
LivingSocial Might Need to Look at a Map of Los Angeles Again
[UPDATE, 2.24.12, 4:55pm EST: A LivingSocial rep just emailed us to say the following: "Thanks so much for bringing that to light! Wanted to let you know that we're working right now to change out the photos!"]
We're big fans of scoring steep hotel discounts on group buying sites like LivingSocial but we have to draw the line when the site entirely misrepresents a hotel's location.
This is the email that we got from LivingSocial Escapes yesterday that promises an overnight stay for two in Los Angeles for $99. When we opened the email we were greeted with a picturesque scene of an ocean pier. "Ooo!" we thought, "What Santa Monica beach hotel is offering up such a good rate?" But then we read this line below the picture: Star Struck in Studio City.
For those of you not familiar with Studio City, that's in the San Fernando Valley. Pretty far from the beach. (At least a half-hour with some mild traffic.) Also the hotel that's on offer, The Sportsmen's Lodge is right on busy Ventura Boulevard with nary a dune in sight.
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