BY ERIC ROSEN >LA.COM

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While most airport hotels are part of a large chain and offer standardized (read: bland) rooms in non-descript blocks, Custom Hotel is a refreshing alternative with a distinctly LA flavor.

On an unlikely stretch of Lincoln Boulevard in Westchester, in sight of the LAX control tower, sits the vaguely sinister black monolith of this new Avi Brosh property (I’m told you can even see it from your plane as it lands at the airport!). But pull into the driveway and you realize there is nothing sinister about it.

Custom is an oasis of chic amidst the strip malls lining that stretch of pavement, and the rooms are a retreat from the hectic fly-by-night frenzy of modern travel. Laid out with feng shui aplomb, each room offers a big fluffy bed (or two), bright windows, great views over Marina Del Rey, the airport, or the Highway 10 corridor, and all for affordable prices.

Like many other boutique (and chain-sponsored boutique) hotels, Custom startles the senses with strong color schemes, austere fixtures and concept-driven design. But unlike other hotels, Custom has a sense of humor about it—vis a vis the stuffed sheep milling around the lobby enticing guests to a good night’s rest; or the tongue-in-cheek “Bazaar” room with its myriad vending machines selling everything from Japanese snack drinks to novelty wigs (in case you are invited to a last-minute costume party, of course).

Bistrotek, the hotel restaurant, offers comfort food with a sophisticated flourish to give you a nostalgic taste of home while you are “in transit.” Add to all this a super-cool pool area complete with happening cocktail bar and weekly “Sundaze” DJ parties which are open to the public, and you have a cool new place to hang out on the Westside.

--Eric Rosen

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RELATED LINKS:

Life is a Bistro: Dining review of Bistrotek