As much as I love the experience of luxurious, expensive hotels...I also dig funky, cool hotels. I appreciate them for what they are and Hotel California did not disappoint me. It was a gorgeous weather weekend in LA so even though we live here, we decided to enjoy Santa Monica like tourists and started looking around for hotels. This hotel has always intrigued my b/f so we took a leap of faith. Some of the reviewers didn't seem to appreciate the quaintness and quirkiness of a hotel such as Hotel CA. We thoroughly enjoyed it and will stay there again!

Here's the result:

Pros...

--One of THE most comfortable beds I've slept in!
--Nice and accommodating staff.
--Steps from the beach.
--Conveniently located.
--Great water pressure from the shower.
--Good on line price with AAA discount. Called and they could not match the price on their own website.
--Complimentary wi-fi.
--Small refrigerator along with a coffee pot in the room (I've stayed at lots of nice hotels that don't include those :/ )

Cons...

--No air conditioning and our room opened to the street so there was street noise. I'm normally a light sleeper but the bed was so comfy that it didn't bother me which is unusual. ---Even though my reservation was for a single queen room, we received a room with 2 queen beds which was kind of cramped.
--Our room only had a very small shower, no tub. Even though my b/f is 6'1", he found the fun instead of the negative about the small shower. As we were leaving, since the room next door was a single queen room and being cleaned, we got to peek in. It had a nice big chair, desk and tub/shower (I'm a bath kinda girl :).
--Parking is $25/night (pretty normal) and very limited.
--My reservation did not include tax so I was under the impression tax was included...when I checked out, I noticed tax and other fees were added.

Overall, I would definitely go back and make sure I get the single queen room and maybe even one on the opposite side of the hotel. Enjoy!!