Right on the Hollywood strip, this 628-room tower connects visitors to all the necessary landmarks, while also offering a solid all-day restaurant and access to a giant shopping mall. The 5th-floor pool is one of the hotel’s main features, where guests can take a midday siesta while still being in earshot of all the action on the street below.
With a colossal, ancient Babylonian-inspired tower rising just over the edge of the 5th-floor pool (a replica of a movie set from 1916), this 20-story hotel adjacent to the Walk of Fame has a way of making the magic of Tinseltown come sharply alive. It’s convenient for all Hollywood-related pursuits, from spying the Hollywood Sign from your room to walking over to the studio where they tape Jimmy Kimmel Live! Since this is Loews, an old-guard hotel chain that knows how to efficiently turn over 600+ hotel rooms without much fuss, guests are never kept waiting long in the lobby. All-day dining is offered at the bright, sunny Preston’s restaurant, though breakfast is the big seller, with lemon-ricotta corn cakes and avocado-jack enchiladas. By way of the sprawling Hollywood & Highland shopping center, which is attached to the hotel, there are endless restaurants, shops, and other amusements. The tech-friendly rooms have a clean, inoffensive look, and sprawling views all the way to Downtown L.A. lend a neat, cosmopolitan flair. (If you want to see the Hollywood Sign, ask for an east-facing room.) A 24-hour gym sits adjacent to the pool, a popular landing spot for families, which make up a majority of the guests here. Speaking of families, certain recreational amenities—like a lending library of XBox 360, Nintendo Wii and DVD players—make this place a hit with the little ones.
Location: Set on Hollywood Boulevard, this hotel opens onto the Walk of Fame, and connects to the Hollywood/Highland metro station for easy access to other parts of Hollywood as well as Union Station. There are restaurants and shops galore along the strip, as well as inside the Hollywood & Highland shopping center, which is built around the hotel.
Nearby:
TCL Grauman’s Chinese Theater: No other Hollywood hotel can bring you this close to the famous movie theater, which reopened after extensive renovations in 2013, and offers one of the largest IMAX theaters in the world.
Hollywood Bowl: A 3-minute drive from the hotel, this 18,000-seat venue hosts concerts ranging from pop to rock to classical, and makes for some seriously impressive night views of the Hollywood-scape. Seeing a show here is one of the most magical things you can do in Hollywood, if not all of L.A.
Capitol Records Building: Just up the street from the hotel is this cylindrical tower, which has been an eccentric part of the Hollywood skyline since 1956.
No Vacancy: To really blend in with the ‘it’ crowd in Hollywood, you’ll want to make an appearance one evening at this playfully clandestine Prohibition-era bar. Enter through door number 1902 and pull up a seat alongside the fireplace for an expertly mixed cocktail.
Good for: First-timers to L.A. (whether it be families, couples, or those on an intrepid business outing) will get a kick out of the hotel’s proximity to central Hollywood, as well as the fact that you’ll have access to so much at your fingertips. Shopaholics who are eager to tackle the many outlets and shopping centers that line the Walk of Fame will like it here, too.
Amenities: pool, sauna, room service, free Wi-Fi, minibar, restaurant, bar, gym, business center, laundry service, concierge, pet-friendly
Time Out tip: If you’re seeking some spiritual grounding in the midst of this commercial playground, the hotel carves out time once a month to offer an exclusive yoga class on the rooftop helipad—needless to say, a sun-drenched workout while overlooking the Hollywood Sign ought to be a nice pick-me-up.