The Pearl

It’s an apt name for a hotel like this. The Pearl, in contrast with the rather more ostentatious boutique hotels of San Diego’s Gaslamp district, stands on Rosecrans, on the other side of the airport — the better to avoid the stretch Escalades and valet stands, one supposes. But in these inauspicious surroundings (that’s the oyster part, if you don’t mind indulging the metaphor) is a pleasant surprise: a classic, terribly dated and kitschy mid-century motel, renovated and reimagined as a pocketbook-friendly boutique hotel, the sort of place that’s full of vibrant young people enjoying themselves in that glamorously unheeding way in which vibrant young people sometimes will.

The central point is that this is one those vibrant young people can actually afford to stay at. This is bargain real estate, and the hotel is designed to match: though the furnishings are sleek and modern, and the conveniences up-to-date, the rooms are smallish and far from indulgent. Nor are they terribly quiet; this is San Diego, not Geneva, and those vibrant young people aren't exactly known for their early bedtimes.

Bedrooms here aren’t meant to be homes away from home, but simply bedrooms — the action here happens in the restaurant, the lounge, the pool. There’s plenty of room in this world for the ultra-swanky lifestyle boutiques, but there’s a demand for reasonably priced, reasonably hip hotels as well. Here’s hoping more of America’s classic motels get the Pearl treatment in years to come.