Tony tourists choose this chic corner hotel, a modern colonial masterpiece by Kor Hotel Group designer Kelly Wearstler, because it's just across from the Civic Center, one block from the beach and famed Santa Monica Pier, and 11 miles from the airport. But the restaurant and bar draw their own glam crowd.

The indoor-outdoor Whist restaurant is part formal dining room, part poolside paradise; the boldly designed Cameo Bar similarly drifts from lobby adjacence to patio decadence. Visitors to both can reserve cabanas to be utilized for A) ogling of the pretty people, B) a special tasting dinner by chef Warren Schwartz, C) a biz meeting for creative power execs or D) all of the above. The hotel houses 162 rooms with high-speed Internet access, flat-screen TVs, DVD players and now PlayStation Portables. Beds have Italian designer linens and down comforters; marble baths are also a highlight. And here's something you don't find at every hotel: artists with the Celestine Agency (who often work with celebs) will come over for haircuts, stylings, makeovers, mani/pedis and a makeup job appropriate for the altar—or the red carpet. —Lonny Pugh