Hotel Figueroa

Downtown LA history with a courtyard pool

★★★★★📍 South Park, Downtown Los Angeles$$$

The Figueroa opened in 1926 as a hotel for women, at a time when single women traveling alone were often unwelcome at hotels, and it became a landmark of the era. The modern restoration revived the Spanish Colonial details — the lobby's beams and tilework — and built an identity around supporting women artists, so the hotel feels like a small gallery. The YWCA financed and built it to give professional women traveling alone a safe place to stay, and its first manager, Maude N. Bouldin, is often described as the first woman to run an American hotel. A restoration of roughly $60 million reopened it in 2018, and it now belongs to Hyatt's Unbound Collection.

The stay craft: ask for a pool-facing room, book The Broad's free timed tickets and its Infinity Mirrored Room reservation in advance, then take a short ride up to Grand Avenue for the morning. Spend the afternoon at Exposition Park's science and natural history museums via the Metro, and come back for a swim and dinner in the courtyard. Check the arena calendar when booking to avoid big-event nights if you want quiet. Exposition Park has a new draw: the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, designed by MAD's Ma Yansong, opened there on September 22, 2026, with 35 galleries of illustration, comic art, murals and cinematic art. The Grammy Museum at LA Live is a couple of minutes' walk from the lobby.

Practicals: 939 South Figueroa Street, South Park, downtown Los Angeles, valet parking, about thirty to forty-five minutes from LAX depending on traffic. Fit: art lovers, couples and downtown museum weekends. Budget for a daily amenity fee on top of the room rate and valet-only parking; dogs up to 50 pounds are welcome for a per-stay fee.