California Hotels Archives | Brad A. Johnson

Headfirst into the Dawn, Los Angeles to San Francisco on $700 a Day (a Memoir)

It's been 25 years since my first visit to California. This is the story of that incredible trip in 1995 when my editor sent me to Los Angeles and San Francisco to see what was happening in the restaurants there. It was the height of media extravagance, and a food revolution was underway...

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Hotel Review: Cara, Los Angeles

The investor/developer who owns Laurel Hardware, a super-sexy indoor/outdoor restaurant and bar in West Hollywood, has launched the first of what’s expected to be a string of mid-luxury boutique hotels focused on Southern California. For the brand's debut, they purchased the tawdry old Coral Sands Motel on Western Avenue and flipped it — rather beautifully — into the Cara Hotel Los Feliz...

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Quick Look: La Peer Hotel, West Hollywood

Here’s a really quick look at the Kimpton La Peer Hotel in West Hollywood, which opened a couple years ago. From what I’ve heard, this place is normally quite the scene. But not on this visit. I checked in for a quick overnight stay in the middle of the pandemic when no one else was traveling and most hotels in LA were still fully closed...

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Devastating Losses at Calistoga Ranch and Meadowood

There’s no official word yet from Calistoga Ranch or Meadowood as to the full scope of devastation wrought by the Glass Fire that rampaged through Calistoga and St. Helena in September and October. Parts of the area are still smoldering and are thus still under evacuation orders...

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Motel Review: Stables Inn, Paso Robles

The team behind Hotel Cheval in the heart of Paso Robles have opened a much more casual offshoot, the Stables Inn, a vintage 18-room roadside motel just a few blocks from the heart of downtown.

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Motel Review: Skyview Los Alamos

Skyview Los Alamos, a vintage roadside motel on California's Highway 101 outside the tiny town of Los Alamos, has finally become the beacon for weary travelers it was always meant to be.

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