Hotel at a Glance: The Charlie Hotel

Celebrities including Marilyn Monroe—and Charlie Chaplin, of course—are believed to have once called these 1920s Tudor-style cottages home. The Charlie Hotel’s guest rooms are now named for these stars, providing a posh home away from home for travelers. Each suite combines accents like french doors and built-in bookshelves with the convenience of full kitchens and laundry in 400–2,000 square feet.

• Included with this deal: a welcome mug with coffee, as well as daily parking
• Fresh air: Some suites have private patios.
• Press shout-out: LA Weekly calls the property a “flower-covered fairytale village.”
• What’s nearby: The hotel is within a few blocks of high-end restaurants and stores on Melrose Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard.

West Hollywood, Los Angeles: Famous Sunset Strip Venues and Hollywood Landmarks

West Hollywood’s Sunset Strip is only about a mile long, but its legacy runs deep—it’s been a hot spot for nighttime entertainment since the 1920s. In the early days, Judy Garland, Dean Martin, and Marilyn Monroe partied here. The Whisky a Go Go, The Roxy, and The Viper Room were stomping grounds for rock bands such as The Doors and Van Halen. Several chic hotels on the Strip are immortalized on the silver screen, including in Get Shorty, Almost Famous, and Doc Hollywood. The Sunset Strip and West Hollywood (or WeHo, to locals) cater to a diverse population and feature a number of LGBT-friendly bars and dance clubs.

Take a day trip to explore Hollywood, just 20 minutes north of WeHo. Family-friendly stops include Universal Studios Hollywood and the Griffith Observatory, which features a camera obscura, a star projector, and a Zeiss telescope that is nearly 80 years old. Outside, from the hilltop, you can see a huge swath of LA and the Hollywood sign. The Nethercutt Collection displays vintage automobiles, player pianos, and crank-operated music boxes.