PRICE:
Frommer's Very Highly Recommended

After finally completing a $30-million renovation (which took, like, for-EV-er), this venerable 12-story landmark is now the place to stay in Hollywood. It's got everything you'd want in a Hollywood Boulevard hotel: history, style, exclusivity, a steakhouse, models-slash-actresses serving cocktails at the poolside bar, a raucous nightlife scene, and just the right amount of L.A. attitude from the staff. Host to the first Academy Awards in 1929 -- not to mention a few famous-name ghosts -- this national landmark is Hollywood's only historic hotel still in operation today. The renovation has harmoniously melded the Roosevelt's historical highlights with modern hotel luxuries. For example, much of the 1927 Spanish-influenced sunken lobby remains the same -- the handcrafted columns and dramatic arches are magnificent -- but the guest rooms have been completely (and tastefully) renovated with extra-large bathrooms, dark-wood platform beds with luxurious Frette linens, and all the latest high-tech accessories. Rooms on the upper floors have skyline views, while the individually decorated cabana rooms have a balcony or terrace overlooking the Olympic-size pool (whose mural, by the way, was originally painted by David Hockney). The hotel's main restaurant is an über-hip steakhouse called Dakota (the porterhouse is superb), and there's also a popular late-night 1950s-style burger bar called 25 Degrees. You'll like the location as well: smack-dab in the touristy section of Hollywood Boulevard, across from Grauman's Chinese Theatre and along the Walk of Fame. Long story short, the Roosevelt Hotel has once again become the playground for the young, hot Hollywood set, with antics from the poolside Tropicana bar and exclusive Teddy's lounge getting as much press as Lindsay Lohan on a bender.

Copyright: Excerpted from Frommer's Los Angeles 2009, (c) 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

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