Our fave band Echo and the Bunnymen played Nokia Center Los Angeles on 24 October, so we drove from San Diego and stayed at Hilton Checkers on frequent stayer points. As a San Diegan I'm programmed to diss LA, but it was a lot of fun to have a cool pad right downtown and not have to deal with driving to the venue and parking.
On the Hilton website the hotel was described as 'boutique' to warn that it's a small scale hotel, but it's still got 12 stories! It's in a building with a 1920's Art Deco facade, and they carry that theme throughout the small lobby, bar and *really tasty* restaurant. The decor throughout is clean and minimal. Our 7th floor room was very nice, mostly taken up by the big comfortable bed. There's an armoire and a good sized desk and flat screen TV on the minibar. The marble bathroom was big with tub and shower. Our room faced the library and not the street, we were glad for that. The service was outstanding; we were there 20 minutes after 3:00 checkin, and our very nice and professional desk clerk Ivania offered us a free drink in the bar to wait all of 10 minutes for our room to be ready. She took my credit card from our table at the bar and made restaurant reservations for us, and had our bags taken upstairs. We felt very posh! The restaurant was *really* good...and we like food and eat out quite a bit on our travels. The price...well I was on frequent stayer points, I think it's upwards of $225 but hey these days you could probably work a deal! The dinner was a splurge, but still "only" $130 with salads, dinner, dessert, coffee, bottle of wine... the cab to Nokia Center (near Staples where the Lakers play) was under $10/15 minutes and then next morning didn't have to check out until noon (after delicious huevos rancheros and chorizo breakfast). Another ouch was parking at the hotel...valet only and $38. All around, a fun treat of a getaway weekend. And The Bunnymen were great!!
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