The Garland

Actress Beverly Garland — not quite as celebrated as Judy, but notable for her good taste, as we’ll see — snapped up this plum little seven-acre property, tucked into the North Hollywood hills, in 1970, pinpointing it as the perfect place to build a Spanish colonial-style hideaway for family and friends. Years later, her son took over, turning his parents’ hotel into a stylish and family-friendly resort. Those aren’t two adjectives that typically go together. But at the Garland, they do.

This is that rare Los Angeles hotel that’s cool and practical — it’s close to the Hollywood Bowl, and Universal Studios — with a generous dose of retro glamour. It’s not just that the guest rooms evoke the vintage charm of the classic roadside motel, though they do, with lively patterned wallpaper, mod desk chairs, and a generous use of the color orange. All rooms come with private balconies and flat-screen TVs; some also have dining nooks and bunk beds for kids.

It’s also that the Garland, in the old-school tradition, offers an array of family activities and public spaces for socializing. The Front Yard does casual breakfasts and lunches under the trees, with an adjacent bar specializing in craft cocktails, all made with local and seasonal ingredients, of course. There’s a hosted happy hour (and a handy late-night “reverse happy hour” by the outdoor fireplace), guided walks around the neighborhood that take you past the Brady Bunch house, wine tastings, board games, yoga classes, and poolside film screenings, to name a few highlights on the weekly calendar.

As if there weren’t enough in the immediate vicinity of Studio City to keep you busy. Then again, the place was intended to host the owner’s personal guests. Play the part, and enjoy the free shuttle to Universal Studios and the metro station, in case you’d rather not deal with the headache of navigating L.A. traffic on your own.