Maison 140 Beverly Hills Rating: 3.5 Pearls

Beverly Hills/Bel Air, Los Angeles, California

The French-meets-Mandarin lobby of Maison 140

Housed in the home of the glamorous former silent film star, Lillian Gish, this intimate, 43-room boutique hotel off a quiet street in Beverly Hills does the stylish spirit of its previous inhabitant proud. Reworked as a French-meets-Mandarin boutique, Maison 140 is a little like a 1920s Parisian inn mated with a lush Shanghai opium den -- and they had one brazen L.A. baby. Black hallways offset a lipstick-red elevator, French antique dressers with feet hold up lamp bases shaped like Chinese women in traditional dress, and pagoda-print and bamboo wallpaper climb from walls to ceilings. You'll never get bored, visually. (Gwen Stefani must've agreed -- she's having the Maison's designer do the interiors of her Mulholland Drive mansion.)

The management charmingly plays up the hotel's theme -- serving daily absinthe happy hours and French press coffee at the lobby lounge, Bar Noir, and issuing heavy antique-looking copper room keys on red silk string instead of the usual plastic key card. It would have been nice to see what they'd do with a French- or Asian-inspired spa, but unfortunately there's no room for one -- or for a full business center, pool, or on-site restaurant. (Ending at 10 p.m., room service food is actually bussed in from the kitchen at Mosaic, just around the block.)

Maison 140 lacks the amenities and services of other Beverly Hills boutique properties like the pricier Mosaic with its pool, on-site restaurant, and free shuttle service, or even the similarly priced Luxe Rodeo Drive with its separate restaurant, free in-room Wi-Fi, and nightly turndowns. Loyal guests of Maison 140 forgo these features because they love the affordable room rates (well, for Beverly Hills, at least) and the hotel's inimitable style, starting with the stark black-and-white lobby. You'll never see a hotel that looks quite like this one -- especially in Beverly Hills, where demure decors of beige and cream dominate.

This tiny 43-room hotel runs on a minimal staff. There are just one or two front desk employees to check guests in and occasionally assist with bags, as well as daily housekeeping and room service that ends at 10 p.m. (which comes from the nearby Mosaic hotel, as there's no on-site restaurant).

• Free glass of wine upon check-in
• No separate concierge
• No porters or doormen
• Room service from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
• No valet parking (just $24 a day self-serve -- actually on the cheap side for this area)

View on a Larger Map

The Maison 140 is located in a quiet, residential side street just off Wilshire Boulevard, in the sedate, wealthy environs of Beverly Hills, an enclave of wealthy living and luxury shopping in the middle of L.A.'s west side. The hotel is not in the midst of a happening nightlife scene or particularly cheap dining. But if luxury shopping is your want, you couldn't be better situated for the designer boutiques of Rodeo Drive or the indoor shopping mall of the Beverly Center. Meanwhile, college parents will enjoy Maison 140's proximity to UCLA.

• Around the corner from the old I.M. Pei-designed Creative Artists Agency building on Wilshire Boulevard
• Luxury designer boutiques of Rodeo Drive, eight blocks away
• UCLA and the surrounding college-focused Westwood Village of shops, restaurants, and movie theaters, about a 10-minute drive
• The Getty (free, gigantic art museum with lovely outdoor gardens) is a 15-minute drive.
• Santa Monica Beach is a 20- to 30-minute drive.
• Grauman's Chinese Theatre and Hollywood Boulevard are a 15- to 20-minute drive.
• Universal Studios, a movie-themed amusement park, is a 20- to 30-minute drive.
• LAX airport is about a 40-minute drive.

The popular Mandarin Room #201

No room looks like the next at Maison 140, although they all stick to a strict color scheme of red, black, and white, and occasionally yellow and green. Red pagoda-print wallpaper can line not only the wall but climb up the ceilings; plush yellow upholstered headboards can meet lime-green, pineapple-shaped lamps. The similar size rooms at Luxe Rodeo Drive and the Crescent might be cheaper, but for those who want some visual stimulation with their luxurious bed linens and robes, look no further.

• Parisian Rooms (210 square feet) come with one king or two queen beds and sleep up to three; pricier, slightly more ornate, Mandarin rooms (300 square feet) have just a king bed and sleep two.
• Though the rooms vary, there's no bad one here -- all are beautifully decorated and well-maintained. Popular, more boldly decorated rooms include Mandarin Room #214 and Mandarin Room #201.
• Supersoft beds with Fili D'oro Egyptian cotton linens wrapped around a featherbed and Serta mattress, with a feather duvet.
• Mascioni robes are supposed to come in all the rooms, but mine only came with one -- the other was a cheaper Four Star by Soble Westex; towels are thick and fluffy, but not a luxury brand.
• Most bathrooms are small, and like the rooms, they all look different: Some have bright red or orange tiled bathtub walls, some just showers.
• No rainfall showerheads or particularly luxurious amenities beyond big bottles of Neil George toiletries (but some guests pay to bring these home, at a pricey $65 a bottle).
• At 20 inches, the flat-screen TV is a little on the small side; an impressive number of cable channels (96), but no free movie stations or pay-per-view; for $8, guests get a selection from the hotel's library of 50 DVDs delivered to their room along with popcorn.

Stylish Bar Noir serves morning breakfast

Expect next to no features at this tiny 43-room boutique. Offerings pale in comparison to the (admittedly pricier) Mosaic just around the corner with its pool, fitness center, and free car service -- or even the similarly priced Luxe Rodeo Drive and Crescent, which at least have their own restaurants and offer free Wi-Fi (Maison 140 charges $10.95 a day).

• The free 24-hour fitness center, a converted guest room, is fairly small -- little more than a single treadmill, a single StarTrac stairstepper, a weight bench with free weights, a tube TV, and hand towels.
• In lieu of a full business center, there's just one laptop computer sitting on a coffee table in the lobby (the printer is tucked behind the lobby sofa); usage is free, at least.
• Guests get free access to the pool at sister property Avalon, but it's a mile away; there's free parking for Maison 140 guests.
• Daily continental breakfast ($14 a person) served at stylish Bar Noir

Dogs under 50 pounds are welcome at Maison 140, but there's a $100-a-stay fee and the hotel offers no pet amenities beyond the free use of food bowls. Those with bigger dogs or other types of pets would be better served at Hotel Palomar in nearby Westwood, which charges no fee and accepts pets of any size or type.

Although Maison 140 does offer free cribs, the hotel's small rooms, cramped bathrooms, and lack of an on-site pool do not a family hotel make. There are no rollaways or connecting rooms. Truck the kids on over to the Magic Castle in Hollywood, instead.

The $5 daily absinthe happy hour at Bar Noir

Room service and a morning continental breakfast in the lobby bar try to make up for the lack of an on-site restaurant here, but you'll probably end up driving to nearby restaurants for most of your meals.

• Room service, from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m, features a small selection of continental American cuisine (they outsource the food preparation to Mosaic's kitchen, around the corner); prices are comparable to other hotels: sandwiches, salads run $11 to $18, entrees, $28 to $34.
• Contrary to what the hotel website says, there is no free evening wine reception -- it's been replaced by "L'Heure Verte," a $5 absinthe happy hour, and a not-so-cheap wine-and-cheese tasting every Wednesday ($35 per person).
• The daily $14 continental breakfast served at Bar Noir (or in-room at guest's request) is worth it for quality pastries from a local bakery and chunky La Brea granola, Spega Italian yogurt, and fresh fruit.

Well-cared-for lobby and rooms; there was no dust on any countertops, no stains, no shower mildew.