We've curated a selection of extraordinary boutique hotels in Downtown Los Angeles — chosen by our experts and rated by our guests after verified stays — and included the latest MICHELIN Guide rated restaurants nearby. Tablet Hotels is your source for discovering the world's most interesting boutique hotels (we've been doing this for 20 years and now we're part of the Michelin family) — places where you'll find a memorable experience, not just a room for the night. Here's our top 5 Downtown Los Angeles boutique hotels:
It wasn't so many years ago that downtown Los Angeles after six P.M. was a ghost town. This is the case no longer, and it's thanks in no small part to the Downtown Standard — in particular, the rooftop bar, with its astroturf, topiary gardens and waterbed loungers, a fixture on the downtown nightlife scene, and a place so exclusive that guests are issued bracelets to guarantee entry.
The former headquarters of the Superior Oil company; the interiors today are bright and funky, and the clientele tends to the youthful and eclectic end of the spectrum. Guest rooms include everything a business traveler could want, including sprawling work desks, T1 lines and cordless phones, but the environment is decidedly slanted toward leisure and entertaining; stereo systems and DVD players are standard, and the minibar contains not just snacks and drinks but also such goodies as disposable cameras and Mr. Bubble for the oversized tubs.
Downtown Los Angeles is, slowly but surely, reclaiming its status as the center of this expansive city. Its location, significantly to the east of Hollywood, places the Hotel Figueroa practically a world away from the beaches of Santa Monica and the west side. Downtown is all about city culture — this is a walkable world, close to The Broad, MOCA, Hauser & Wirth, and many independent art galleries, as well as Staples Center, Microsoft Theater, L.A. Live and the Convention Center.
The hotel originally opened in 1926 as the first hotel funded and founded by women, and was later in life a Moroccan-themed events space. After a massive renovation, it's back to its original Twenties Spanish Colonial glory. The rooms are equal parts Twenties throwback and contemporary luxury boutique style, all of them decorated with original works by local artists, most of them women, in keeping with the hotel's female-dominated art collection, which includes a mural by Bella Gomez.
The original NoMad in New York made much of the faded prewar glamour of its Broadway setting, bringing it to life with some inspired design by the always romantic Jacques Garcia as well as the major culinary attraction of Daniel Humm and Will Guidara. And if you doubt that this recipe can feel every bit as relevant in Downtown L.A. as it does in Manhattan, then the NoMad Los Angeles is bound to come as something of a surprise.
If anything, it's even more grand and even more opulent than its East Coast cousin. The Giannini Building is a neoclassical landmark that once contained the Bank of Italy, and the Art Deco lobby is unapologetically grand, a soaring two-story space under an ornate gold-and-blue ceiling. It's a continuation of the NoMad's "food everywhere" philosophy — the restaurant and bar span the ground floor while the mezzanine level doubles as a formal dining room. Meanwhile the rooftop features a café, a cocktail bar, and a pool deck, all with views of the Downtown skyline.
Think of big-time luxury these days and you'll probably find you're thinking of New York and London — so it's only fitting that some of the best of what Los Angeles has to offer has roots in both. The London West Hollywood at Beverly Hills is the successor to the London NYC, bringing its trademark grown-up luxury to the Sunset Strip, courtesy of David Collins.
The London isn't small, and neither are its 226 suites. Balconies and terraces are universal, and between the retro-influenced Collins-designed décor and the oversized spa-like bathrooms, they're more like pleasure palaces than hotel rooms — as decadent as the West Coast ought to be, and a fitting look for a hotel that's just a mile from Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive.
From the outside it's a slightly boxy building, a repurposed Seventies condo complex — but it's what's inside the Viceroy L'Ermitage Beverly Hills that matters. This is the quintessential Hollywood insider's hotel, after all, and it's designed to be at its best when you're inside looking out. This means discretion, this means privacy, and above all, this means the intimate scale of a boutique hotel; with a little over a hundred suites, it's not the sort of place where you'll feel overlooked — don't be surprised if the staff knows your name and your preferences, down to the smallest detail.
And those interiors! Viceroy specializes in a sort of idealized mid-century glamour, and here their style is perfectly tailored to Beverly Hills, with Venetian cut-glass mirrors and hues of champagne and metal. The Studio suites spare nothing in their pursuit of comfort, and each of the four Residential suites feels like it could be a Hollywood mogul's private home.
More boutique hotel lists in the Los Angeles Area:
5 Best Los Angeles Boutique Hotels
Luxury Hotels in Los Angeles
Hollywood Boutique Hotels
West Hollywood Boutique Hotels
Santa Monica Boutique Hotels
Beverly Hills Boutique Hotels
West LA Boutique Hotels
Palm Springs Boutique Hotels
View our entire selection of Boutique Hotels in Los Angeles
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