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This 137-room hip boutique offers stylish lodgings and a prime Sunset Strip location for lower rates than the Mondrian (but with less luxurious rooms). Scuffed-up hallways and elevators, but you won't get this much (cool pool, cheap 24-hour restaurant, great nightlife) for this little elsewhere on the Strip.
Reporter: Corina Z.
Updated: November 18, 2009
Affordable, stylish rooms, a prime Sunset Strip location, a 24-hour restaurant, and a lively pool: This original Standard is still a great deal.
When hotelier Andre Balazs opened this first Standard back in 1999, he tried to do for boutique hotels what Ikea did for furniture: offer style on a budget. Targeted at the fashion-conscious but cash-strapped, this hotel proved that even without $300 bucks to drop on a hotel room, this underserved market could get it all: a hiply designed lobby and rooms that cheekily mix vintage décor from the '50s, '60s, and '70s; an affordable restaurant that stays open 24 hours for 2 a.m. post-clubbing meals; a convenient location (the nightlife-centric Sunset Strip); and DJs spinning in the lobby and at the hotel's Purple Lounge.
Ten years later, the Standard Hollywood still holds up -- for the most part. The rooms with their silver beanbag chairs, Warhol flower-print curtains, and orange showers and sinks look fairly fresh. The concierge/front desk receptionist can suggest French music festivals and hip hop nights in the same sentence, and any toiletries you're missing can be delivered up to your room, free of charge. While better maintained than the downtown Standard, this Hollywood branch has started to show its age in a few spots -- the paddles for the pingpong table have seen better days, the elevator doors are chipped, and some of the hallway carpets are stained. In the glass box behind the front desk, the mysterious, silver-painted woman is long gone, dispatched for what looks like a bored college coed in her shorts surfing Facebook.
Still, it’s hard to lodge at a stylish place on the Strip that offers this much (a pool, nightlife, cheap and good 24-hour dining) for this low a price -- and affordable style remains the Standard’s primary sell. While the nearby Mondrian and London West Hollywood (with equally choice Strip or just-off-the-Strip locations) have more richly furnished rooms and on-site fitness centers, they usually go for a bit more. If affordable, hip, and on the Strip are your key wishes, welcome to the Standard Hollywood.
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Casual, with a few services (poolside food and drink, valet parking), but no separate concierge
Expect service at the Standard to be casual and usually helpful -- but it stops short of the attentive formality at the Sunset Towers next door (turndown service, addressing guests by name) or the no-request-is-too-big concierge at the London. The front desk receptionists, doubling as concierges, are particularly knowledgeable when it comes to nightlife and restaurant ideas in the area, suggesting just-this-weekend French music festivals and hip hop nights in the same sentence.
On the Sunset Strip, home to some of L.A.'s most famous music venues
Located at Sunset and Sweetzer Avenue, the Standard sits on the famous Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, the edgier section of tourist friendly Hollywood. The Sunset Strip, which has long been known for clubs like the House of Blues, the Roxy, Viper Room, and Whisky a Go-Go, has gotten significantly more upscale than its strip-club-and-head-shop days in the '70s and '80s. While its days of infamy are long gone, it's still home to some fun bars and restaurants, most with outdoor seating.
In the eastern part of Sunset Strip, the Standard is just a few-block walk from the House of Blues and the Saddle Ranch restaurant (famous for its mechanical bull), as well as the Mondrian and the Sunset Towers hotels (nearest full-service spa). The Whiskey, Roxy, and Viper Room are a little farther west -- walkable, but you still might want to drive the two minutes to avoid the Sunset traffic whizzing by.
Fun and mod, but Strip-facing rooms can be noisy
The bright blue rooms with contrasting orange-tiled bathrooms are furnished in a '50s-meets-'60s style, with silver Austin Powers-like beanbag chairs and Warhol flower-print curtains. Cute, fun, but not as big or richly decorated as the rooms with looking-glass/flat-screen TVs at the Mondrian or the standard suites at the London, which have marble desks and a Waterworks bath with two showerheads and a soaking tub.
A cheap hair salon/gift shop, a pricey business center, and no exercise facility
The Standard lacks a fitness center, giving the Mondrian and London West Hollywood one distinct advantage over this hotel. But the Standard also has Rudy's, the lobby hair salon where locals go for supercheap hipster cuts.
A pool with a fun Astroturf deck, and poolside service until midnight
The hotel's outdoor pool with its hard-to-miss, bright blue Astroturf deck remains a huge draw for both guests and private events. It helps that the poolside wait service runs until midnight, turning the deck into a popular evening as well as daytime hangout.
Small dogs only
Dogs weighing less than 25 pounds are welcome. The hotel charges a nonrefundable fee of $100 a stay -- but doesn't provide any dog bowls, food, or other pet amenities.
More party spot than family hotel
Although occasionally you will find hip moms playing with their kids on the Astroturf pool deck, the Standard Hollywood feels more like a party hotel than a pit stop on the family vacation. Still, if families don't mind the noise of the Strip or DJs spinning music in the lobby at night, they should enjoy the hotel's cheap kid-friendly food, pool with a pingpong table, and affordable rooms spacious enough to fit cribs and cots with ease. For a considerably more family-friendly atmosphere, try the Magic Castle in Hollywood or the Loews downtown.
Affordable and always on call
At the Standard Hollywood, guests eat for cheap with entrees that cost just $12 to $15 and cheap snacks like macaroni and cheese, guacamole, and fries for $3 to $5. (Compare that to the Mondrian's pricey Asia de Cuba or the London's Gordon Ramsey restaurant.) It may not be fine dining, but the casual American-style fare is available round the clock at the Standard's 24-hour, diner-style restaurant or through room service. Even poolside food service runs until midnight.
Although older, the Standard Hollywood's rooms seem to be in better shape (or better maintained, at least) than those of its downtown sister property. No dust in the bedroom and little wear in the bathroom, other than a corroded metal soap dish. The chipped paint on the elevator door and stained carpets in the hallways reveal the hotel's age, though -- as do the extremely worn pingpong paddles.
This 137-room hip boutique offers stylish lodgings and a prime Sunset Strip location for lower rates than the Mondrian (but with less luxurious rooms). Scuffed-up hallways and elevators, but you won't get this much (cool pool, cheap 24-hour restaurant, great nightlife) for this little elsewhere on the Strip.
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| Number of Rooms: | 137 |
| Pool: | Yes |
| Fitness Center: | No |
| Spa: | No |
| Internet Access: | Yes |
| Pets Allowed: | Yes |
| Cribs: | Yes |
| Kids Club: | No |
| Jacuzzi (in room): | No |
| Casino: | No |
| Location: | Hollywood/West Hollywood, Los Angeles |
| Phone: | (323) 650-9090 |
| Website: | Official Site |
| Address: | 8300 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood, CA, 90069, US (See Map) |
We've visited hundreds of hotels. We slept in the beds and swam in the pools, and when we got home, we debated the pros and cons of every hotel and picked our favorites in a number of categories. Here's how this one stands out:
Have you been to the The Standard Hollywood? Did you agree with Oyster's review? Did we miss something?
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