Fun with Friends in California

Beck's Motor Lodge

San Francisco, CA

A 1958 Googie design in its third generation of family ownership, with the central courtyard and free parking intact. The last surviving classic of its kind in San Francisco.

Fleur Noire Hotel

Palm Springs, CA

Every casita here is wrapped in a floor-to-ceiling floral mural, so choosing a room means choosing a painting to live inside for a few nights. A pink-doored champagne bar hides off the pool, and grown-up calm settles over the whole grown-up-only property.

Humphreys Half Moon Inn

San Diego, CA

The rooms wrap around koi ponds, waterfalls, and tropical gardens so lush that guests reach for Hawaii to describe a spot tucked inside a working San Diego marina. On the right summer night a touring legend is playing the concert stage out on the lawn, and you can hear it from a lounge chair at the pool bar.

Jacumba Hot Springs Hotel

Jacumba Hot Springs, CA

A Prohibition-era hot springs hotel restored in adobe and exposed vigas, whose three spring-fed mineral pools brought a bypassed border town back to life. Between the high-desert restaurant, the live music, and a painted vintage trailer at check-in, it feels less like a hotel than a place that was rediscovered.

Laguna Beach House

Laguna Beach, CA

California bohemia by the sea, where vintage pieces sourced around Laguna set the tone and a garden pool looks out toward the water. Evenings drift from wine by the fire pit to a walk down the hill to Main Beach, with cookies and milk waiting when you get back.

Sands Hotel and Spa

Indian Wells, CA

A 1950s Indian Wells motor lodge reborn as a Martyn Lawrence Bullard design fantasy, where every room carries its own color story of zebra stripes, Moroccan tile, and custom fountains. Days drift between the cabana pool and The Pink Cabana, and the whole place feels like a set you get to live in.

Skyview Los Alamos

Los Alamos, CA

A 1950s hilltop property with sweeping views of wine country, a working vineyard, and rooms around a central courtyard. Restored in 2016 with the original yellow MOTEL sign intact.

The Coachman Hotel

South Lake Tahoe, CA

Hand-crafted furniture, quality linens, and wet-area entryways designed for ski and hiking gear, with a heated pool and Coachman Cafe on site. Daily s'mores and bikes for when the road calls.

The Rambler Hotel

Chula Vista, CA

A bayside motor lodge reborn in full 1970s technicolor, where roller-rink graphics, a retro arcade, and a heated kidney-shaped pool turn an overnight into an actual outing. Borrow a bike for the bay trail, roast lobby s'mores at the fire pit, and start the morning with some of the best coffee any front desk has ever poured.

Trixie Motel

Palm Springs, CA

A proudly queer, everyone-welcome Palm Springs original from drag star Trixie Mattel. The former Coral Sands, reborn as an all-pink daydream: seven themed rooms around a courtyard pool, cocktails at the Barbara Bar, and record players instead of screens.

Holiday House Palm Springs

Palm Springs, CA

A 1951 Herbert Burns design reborn under decorator Mark Sikes, wrapped around a citrus-shaded pool courtyard with shuffleboard, misted loungers, and an afternoon ice cream cart. Downtown is a single block away, but the orange trees and mountain backdrop make leaving feel optional.

Hotel Ynez

Solvang, CA

Two private acres of oak-shaded gardens turn this Solvang stay into a secret garden, all fire pits, hammocks, bocce, and rooms tucked into the greenery. Bohemian-chic interiors and an adults-only pool make it the rare wine-country hideaway that gives you a reason to stay put rather than just pass through.

Safari Inn, a Coast Hotel

Burbank, CA

The 1955 neon sign out front is one of the last of its kind in Burbank, and after dark the pool glows beneath it like a scene from a movie, which it has been more than once. Inside, updated rooms and a jungle-themed lobby keep old Hollywood alive a mile from the studio gates.

Stardust Lodge

South Lake Tahoe, CA

The original technicolor neon sign still glows out front, but the rooms behind it are clean, cheerful, and better than the vintage exterior lets on. Two pools, daily activities, and a popcorn-stocked front desk give it a social, family-camp warmth right across from the gondola.

The Pearl Hotel

San Diego, CA

Saltwater pool and a poolside bar and kitchen that stays open late in a restored mid-century frame by the water. Beach cruiser bikes and hospitality that earns its way.