Where to Stay in Los Angeles,

Thursday, May 7, 2009

There are those who hole up at the Chateau Marmont looking for Lindsay Lohan, or check in at the ever elegant Shutters Hotel on the Beach and call it a day. Both are quintessentially Los Angeles, but there are many other options for being central — as central as one gets here — and well served by the plethora of less-expensive options.

One of those, the Avalon, gets into that midcentury groove, both in its architecture and room design, so pleasantly pervasive in Los Angeles décor. The hourglass pool is a hoot, and attracts a hopping night scene.

If you insist on staying close to Hollywood but do not crave the seedy experience that can entail, there is the Villa Delle Stelle, a historic Hollywood mansion owned by a former wife of the actor Dudley Moore. One of the four suites holds memorabilia from his childhood.

Across from the Farmers Market and CBS is the Farmer's Daughter — where the advantages include a decent restaurant that is open early, walking distance to some of the hottest restaurants on nearby Third Street and whimsical, rooms.

For a different twist on beach living, there is a new spot in Manhattan Beach, Shade, the first hipster hotel to enter this quiet beachfront area. By day, you are just feet from a more gentle beach scene than that of Santa Monica, but at night, check out the hip bar, the Zinc lounge, with the dreaded (by the standards of longtime Manhattan Beach residents) L.A. West Siders crowding in.