Hotel Figueroa

Hotel Figueroa opened on 14 August 1926 as a YWCA hotel for women travelling alone, at a time when a woman checking in on her own was often met with suspicion. It opened floors to men in 1928 and to everyone in 1930, operated largely as a residential hotel from 1959, and in 1976 was recast as a Moroccan retreat. New owners bought it in 2014, restored it to its Spanish Colonial Revival style and reopened it in February 2018. It turned 100 in August, still on South Figueroa Street, a short walk from Crypto.com Arena.

There are 268 rooms and suites, in a Spanish contemporary style, with feather-top mattresses and curated local art. They are not large. The 1 Queen Bed room is about 187 sq ft (17 m²), the 1 King Bed about 270 sq ft (25 m²) and the 2 Queen Beds about 316 sq ft (29 m²). The suites start with the Junior Suite at about 353 sq ft (33 m²), and the 1 Bedroom Suite with 1 King Bed reaches about 443 sq ft (41 m²). The Figueroa Suite, about 519 sq ft (48 m²), adds a large balcony over Figueroa Street.

What it is chosen for is the money. On a December Tuesday the entry room starts at about $260 before tax, and the 1 Bedroom Suite, with a living room, is $360. For that you get a restored Spanish Colonial building, a lobby bar with a curved counter and a coffin-shaped pool at ground level, 4 to 8 feet deep, heated to 82°F (28°C) and set among tall candelabra euphorbias, with downtown towers rising beyond the hedges. The pool is open from 7am to 7pm, and its use is covered by the nightly fee. The location does the rest: the Grammy Museum at L.A. Live is two minutes' walk, the arena five, and Pico station, on the A and E Lines, nine.

The trade is the small entry rooms, a $35 nightly amenity fee plus tax, overnight parking by valet and a check-in age of 21. Santa Monica Pier is 21 minutes away by car and Hollywood 15, both with the roads clear, so this is a downtown base rather than a seaside one, and there is a 24-hour gym but no spa. Book it for a concert at Crypto.com Arena, a Convention Center week or a first Los Angeles stay on Metro, and take the 1 Bedroom Suite for the space. If you want the sea within reach, or a pool shallow enough for young children, choose elsewhere.