Hotels

There’s no one location in Los Angeles that captures the appeal of the whole city, but the Sunset Strip comes close — Hollywood glamour, rock-and-roll decadence, spectacularly set against the backdrop of the hills. The Pendry West Hollywood takes up a whole block along Sunset, and it needs every square foot; the Pendry contains not just 149 rooms and suites, but a spa, a pair of Wolfgang Puck restaurants, a members’ club, a 100-seat music venue, and even a bowling alley.

The design, by Martin Brudnizki, is influenced by the Art Deco interiors that are synonymous with Hollywood’s Golden Age, but the Pendry is no retro experience — instead it’s a fantasy version of contemporary L.A., full of dazzling colors and textures, beginning with Anthony James’s mind-bending Icosahedron, a fractal-like sculpture in the lobby which draws the viewer’s eye into a seemingly limitless interior world.

Rooms and suites carry on in a similarly fantastic vein, if not quite such a psychedelic one; the views of the city skyline and the Hollywood Hills feel infinite in the other direction. The comforts are luxe but not over-opulent, and the interiors are stylish but more welcoming than intimidating. The same goes for the public spaces, from Ospero, the ground-floor neighborhood eatery to Merois, the rooftop fine-dining venue. Bar Pendry is pure Hollywood glamour in Art Deco blue and gold, while the rooftop pool enjoys some of the finest views in town.