ASClock The Blog About Everything!

Paul Levy writes:

Cheap Hotel Room

LOS ANGELES — What’s the one city where you can recline on a waterbed at a rooftop bar, spot a pair of Marilyn Monroe look-a-likes eating burritos and step into some tar at a beach?
The City of Angels is a town unlike any other, filled with the glitz and glamour (and the desperation) you’d expect from the town that houses Hollywood and Beverly Hills.

Cheap Hotels

Hollywood and Beverly Hills are different from the “As Seen On TV” version you’ve come to recognize. After a week exploring this one-of-a-kind city, it’s actually the city’s rejuvenated downtown that I admired most.

Cheap Hotel

There’s nowhere else to enjoy it better than atop The Standard Hotel’s Rooftop Bar (that “L.A. thing” I mentioned).
There’s the water beds, the sculptured topiary, the movie being projected on a building across the street, the quintessential pool. For good reason, too — the mojitos are killer and the carnitas — slow-roasted pork served with grilled corn salsa and fried plantains — simple but succulent.
Flowers, building entice
Downtown also is home to some of the most splendid buildings in the country, particularly the So-Cal inspired, modernistic Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels and architect Frank Gehry’s glimmering, gorgeous Walt Disney Concert Hall. These magnificent, modern structures blend beautifully with the equally stunning but older buildings, like the Millennium Biltmore Hotel, which still retains the same luxurious lobbies that greeted Hollywood’s greatest stars when the first Oscar ceremonies were hosted there.
Downtown also has two one-of-a-kind markets for flowers and jewelry. The flowers at the Flower District are plentiful, and plenty cheap; the bouquet I bought my fiancee, one of the finest I’ve ever purchased, set me back just $5.
– Beverly Hills actually has a cheap, good place to eat — Mediterranean-inspired Panini Cafe, where lunch will set you back less than $10. — Of course, you have to visit Hollywood and Highland, home to the Walk of Fame, Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, the Kodak Theatre, and one scary, winged, loin-cloth wearing street performer. But another must spot is Beard Papa’s, the Hollywood branch of the popular Japanese cream puff chain.
– Sunset Boulevard on Friday night is filled with very self-aware pretty people hitting the clubs. — Hollywood also is home to the hipper, cheaper Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, where no show will set you back more than $8, and many of the shows are free.