Avalon Hotel

Our bedroom, with a super comfy bed and trees lining the window, fooling you into thinking you’re not smack in the middle of the city.

The interior of the restaurant is a crazy jumble of patterns and styles — plaid meets mid-century wood meets luxe marble paneling. Yet somehow it works.

On the other side of the pool lies the hotel restaurant, Viviane, whose food is really excellent. And the cocktails, by star mixologist Ryan Wainwright, are too.

Colored murals line each of the pool cabanas, some of which are more like little living rooms. We could imagine spending the day writing a screenplay in one of these.

Another view of the pool sitch.

The hotel rooms all look out onto a central courtyard with a kidney-shaped pool and a series of cozy shaded cabanas, which was empty during our visit thanks to the unseasonably cold and rainy L.A. winter.

Also in the lobby — a cluster of surreal totems and an Archizoom sofa that felt almost TOO fancy for the Avalon’s essentially motel-like setup. Almost.

The Kelly Wearstler–designed lobby is straight out of Palm Springs (where the Avalon’s sister hotel resides).

It also had a marble-topped dining table where we ordered room service twice just to eat the hotel’s inexplicably delicious hummus.

The living room of our little suite had a super chill vibe and a 50s-meets-70s décor. That white leather chair!

A sitting area near the elevators whose weird, tooth-like side chair reminded us daily that we weren’t staying at a soul-less chain hotel.