It is Guess the Hotel revealed! We might have selected plenty the rest of LA for our West Coast jaunt this weekend: Downtown LA, West Hollywood, Studio City, or perhaps, when we were feeling reaallly good with ourselves, Beverly Hills. But no, we had to be stubborn about this and pursue beachy, warm Santa Monica. The sun, the sand, the waves, we wanted it all. The only problem was, luck was not on our side, and the climate all weekend remained dark and in the 60s. Harrumph. This gave us a good chance to acquaint ourselves with our room, a huge Ocean View Suite at the Oceana Santa Monica (sea views are typically a thing, but this time it only reminded us exactly how we were passing up on quality sprawled-out-on-the-beach tanning time). In the room, we trapped on work, saw Gladiator on TNT, and actually played a few models of checkers with your friend. (Yup, that's right! The secret flip-top checkers board desk we showed you yesterday is definitely available at the Oceana Santa Monica.) Then, in the same way we were getting ready to check out, we found shadows start to become defined on our wall, and realizedigasp!ithe sunshine was finally coming out! And justiin the nick of time. So we did what any hotel geek would do and scoured the property to simply take photographs of the hotel just how it is supposed to be seen. Click through for our picture gallery of the sun-drenched lobby and swimming courtyard! Although we were completely pleased with our selection, it's as they were the target of a major reconstruction that just finished up many weeks before, the lobby, restaurant, and courtyard that had our real attention. The outcome are impressiveiclassy, beachy, and literally bursting with greenery. In reality, we kept feeling like we had wandered in to a secret garden that just happened to have established itself around a hotel. But hi, that is California for you. The Lobby: Topped off with a sharp glass roof, the lobby is just a simple, relatively small room with a couple of high-backed blue armchairs in one place, and the check-in desk in the other. Like a beautiful beachfront house (that will be what this hotel mainly feels like), the lobby doesn't feel like a lobby, but just a nice, sun-filled room you move across on your way to your room. Our second-floor room, as seen from outside the hotel! Structure 8: Element of the hotel's new version is Tower 8 restaurant, which will be found next to the courtyard (and also includes a few tables set up outside, should you feel like food next to the pool). The inside is blue-and-white inspired, with an outstanding wooden table at one end where breakfast is served each day. A white brick fireplace gives a homey appeal to the whole place. Meanwhile, the menu (we tested a melt-in-your-mouth Hair Straightening Iron meal with caramelized shallots, smoked tomato butter and Yukon Gold potato wedges, $26) is full of local, seasonal fare, and that's all as a result of the newest chef, Josiah Citrin, who's got two Michelin stars under his belt. Citrin gets a lot of his elements immediately at the Santa Monica farmers marketiand, believe us, you can taste it. The swimming and courtyard: Eventually, we were just a little unfortunate that the bulk of our stay didn't permit pool-lounging in sunlight. Regardless, we still liked what we saw: all of the rooms look down upon the cute internal deck, which can be covered with deck chairs, and there's even a small tree growing in one place. When the sun did come out, we found a few kids splashing around in the pool making use of their parents, and everybody just sitting out comforting in the peaceful, peaceful haven. The pool it self is small, however again, this isn't Vegas or anything. Sometimes personal is way better. We paid a press charge of $150/night during our stay at the Oceana Santa Monica, but all views expressed are our personal. [Photos: HotelChatter]
No comments:
Post a Comment