The Cranley, London, United Kingdom: Olympics Edition

For me there have been two clear highlights of the 2012 Summer Olympics thus far. (Not a huge shocker, neither are to do with athletics.) The first was watching the beautifully weirdo opening ceremonies directed by Danny Boyle, my very favorite movie director of all time. The second has been those short NBC clips of London From Above, shown each time they return from a commercial break. How spectacular are those shots? To fill the desire for more of both highlights, I keep watching the cheeky London montage from Trainspotting over and over again.

All of it has got me pining for a London vacation. One that feels like a caricature of a London vacation. I would go for high tea and fish & chips, and to the British Museum and the theater every night. And I would stay here. Because The Cranley, right in the heart of Kensington and Chelsea, gives me what I want: location fantasy fulfillment.
         

I stole all these photos from the awesome blog Honestly...WTF and Kayak.

Honor and Folly, Detroit, Michigan

One of my very favorite hotel/travel blogs is Designtripper.  If you haven't spent hours poring over all of her featured dreamy hotels and guest houses, then this is your lucky day.  Blogger Meghan McEwen looks for the qualities in a hotel experience that I value most - a sense of place and a sense of community - and I think it's what loads of people are looking for more and more. To quote her from her Welcome Beyond interview, "The places I’m most attracted to when I travel are the places that tell a story about their location — places that make you feel like you could really live there. I think the way people travel is changing. People want an intimate, authentic experience — something that feels special and personal, instead of a hotel room that could be anywhere in the  world and doesn't really have a direct relationship to its surroundings."

She officially became my hero when she went from blogger to innkeeper and opened Honor and Folly, a two-bedroom B&B in the oldest neighborhood in Detroit.  It's essentially a converted two-bedroom apartment and you can rent out one room or both.  There's a coffee shop downstairs so you can hang out with lots of locals.  They also have cooking classes and events in the space and seem to be doing a great job blending the too often separate universes of locals and tourists. Something desperately needed here in Los Angeles!

Photos taken from Welcome Beyond.

 

Hotel Verneuil, Paris, France

In the last 24 hours, Paris has really punched me in the face.  I fell asleep reading the English translated French novel Enough About Love, I woke up to read the New York Times review of Adam Gopnik's new book on French cuisine, and then sat down to my computer to watch the trailer for Martin Scorsese's new Paris-based film Hugo.  (Super excited about this movie, btw!)  Needless to say, I took this as a sign and went hunting for a Paris hotel that plays into all the fantasy we Americans often feel about that city.

Meet the Hotel Verneuil on The Left Bank.  This is a converted 17th century townhouse with 26 little rooms and with its bold wallpaper, stone vault restaurant and cozy little study, it seems just perfect.  Also, it's affordable, so perhaps my Paris fantasy could someday become a reality.  

Photos from i-escape.

Camp Wildwood, Topanga Canyon, Los Angeles

Dear Universe,

Please send me a check for $8,000,000 so I can buy this newly listed real estate property and turn it into the most incredible Los Angeles resort ever.

It's 13 acres of dreamy California coastal mountain summer camp built in 1923 with an Olympic size pool and cute little bungalows. And listen to this, Universe. It's already zoned for resort usage so there really shouldn't be anything stopping you.

Thanks!
Rachel

Gild Hall Hotel

It's much harder for a city hotel to win over my affections than the yurts, tree houses and island huts that fill this blog. I tend to find both sleek modernism and ornate posturing decidedly uninviting.

But then comes along the Gild Hall Hotel in the financial district of New York City. On paper, I should hate this place. It's got more than 100 rooms (127 to be exact) and it's owned by a major hotel chain (Thompson). But just look at it. It's like someone entered my 17-year-old mind and created a hotel out of my New York City fantasy. Growing up in Laguna Beach, the East Coast represented everything that my life was not. It was a place where people listened to jazz, sat around on brown leather chesterfields drinking whiskey cocktails, and debated Nietzsche in French while it snowed outside.

Despite having lived enough now to realize what I was yearning for was mostly pretentious wannabe intellectualism, this hotel still makes me feel all cozy inside.  I would love to stay here on a winter visit to NYC or even just settle in for a hard drink with the Wall Street Journal. 

All photos from Tablet.

Mr. C Beverly Hills

I'm not ashamed to admit it. I love Beverly Hills.

Perhaps it was those regular childhood brunches with my grandparents at Nate & Al's that carved out a soft spot in my heart for the neighborhood. Or maybe it's just that BH's 'Golden Triangle' is undeniably beautiful.

When I used to work in Beverly Hills, I'd occasionally have a pre-work dental appointment a few blocks away and would take an early weekday stroll through the neighborhood. Before all the Russian tourists, SUVs, and weird botox ladies show up, I'd get a clear glimpse of why Beverly Hills is famous around the world. At 7:30am the valets are reporting to work in perfectly ironed uniforms, crisp white table clothes are being placed on sidewalk tables, and old men in linen suits are sipping espresso. It's not famous just because it's fancy. It's famous because it's legitimately glamorous in a one-of-a-kind California way. (And there are diagonal crosswalks, so how can you hate on that?)

This is why I'm really excited about the recently opened Mr. C Beverly Hills. The design is exactly what a Beverly Hills hotel should be. Crisp, clean, and sophisticated with shout-outs to old Hollywood glamor that seem more like a nod to tradition than kitsch. Never mind that it's not technically in 'The Golden Triangle.' The hotel is owned and run by the Cipriani family, made famous by the iconic Harry's Bar on Piazza San Marco in Venice. That means lots of delicious pasta and Italian cocktails to boot.

Who's in for a bellini at the pool right now?

Pop-Up Hotels

LLOVE Pop-Up Hotel Tokyo

These pop-up hotels featured today on Apartment Therapy may be less relevant for the kind of hotel I'd love to own, considering L.A. is worth visiting all year round, but still, very cool concept. This one was an art exhibit in Tokyo that you could check into for a night. Neat!

Silver Lake Home for Vacation Rental

I just found this sweet vacation home rental in the hills of Silver Lake on the airbnb.com site. It feels weird that I want to rent out a house that's .3 miles from my own.

I can't get the photos on my own page but, seriously, go look at it. It's so stylish and Silver Lake-y!

Ocho Bar

Remember when I spent 150 hours sifting through a big fat list of best new hotels and whittled it down to 3 awesome winners?

Well one of 3, the Havana Hotel in San Antonio, (arguably the most controversial of my selections), was featured today on Apartment Therapy. I chose this place without even knowing about this bar. Yes, I am a psychic.