• 1. Where to Stay
• 2. Where to Eat
• 3. What to Do
• 4. Insider’s Tip
• 5. An Oddball Day

Check out the scene on Muscle Beach from your private balcony at Hotel Erwin.   (Photo: Courtesy of Hotel Erwin Venice Beach)

Ogle Muscle Beach bodybuilders (and, on clear nights, the Hollywood sign) from the rooftop lounge at Hotel Erwin (from $169). All 119 rooms — renovated last October from a previous life as a Best Western — have private balconies.

Find entertainment nearby at the Ritz Carlton LA Live (from $369), opening across the street from a fourteen-screen movie theater, Lucky Strike bowling lanes, and a dozen bars and restaurants in early April. The glass tower’s rooms offer panoramic views of the city.

Climb the red-carpet-lined spiral staircase in the lobby of the new W Hollywood (from $219) — just completed in January 2010 — then go for a swim in the LEED-compliant building's heated rooftop pool.

Published on Mar 25, 2010 as a web exclusive.