Comfortably Incognito at Cara Hotel

Hollywood – Cara Hotel was camouflaged behind a wall of towering shrubbery on a seedy corner at the edge of Los Feliz. Being a Los Angeles native, I am intimately familiar with this area. In high school, I was a daily customer of the adjacent strip mall. I frequented a major metro station across the street, the Hollywood stop on the Red line. I walked past the former establishment – a deteriorating motel called Coral Sands – hundreds of times and just barely noticed it. For our Valentine’s Day booking, we would have missed the discrete hotel, had it not been for valet on the street.

The Neighborhood Around Cara Hotel in Hollywood

Cara Hotel, which means “friend” in Gaelic (pronounced with a hard r, though no one does that), escorted us through an intimate, congenial experience. The doorman whisked us from the street, up the stairs, and though French iron-wrought doors. We found ourselves in a magnificent Venetian stucco foyer with vaulted ceilings and floral crown moulding, complete with a bountiful bouquet of fresh cut roses on a center table.

The Check-In at Cara Hotel

To check in, we were escorted into a room that felt more like a parlor than a traditional hotel concierge. I recognized the charming young woman to be a highschool classmate. Now a manager at the hotel, she sat elegantly behind a stately wooden desk beside an alcove adorned with ceramics by John Wilgmore. I couldn’t think of a more suitable representative for the hotel.

She showed us to a back corridor and we ascended a spiral staircase illuminated by candlelight. Then we ambled down al-fresco passageway, a renovation to the former motel. The original interior walkways were transformed into private balconies that overlook the courtyard.

The Rooms

Our room was small, elegant yet minimalist. Two cream-colored tufted chairs flanked the cozy queen-sized bed dressed in Frette linens. With the exception of a small flat screen television, the Old Hollywood ambiance was undisturbed by smart technology. Cityscapes by Los Angeles locals Natalie Obradovich and Isabelle Aubin were featured. The herringbone floors were clean and the small bathroom had excellent water pressure.

The private balcony was partitioned by long white linens that flowed gracefully in the breeze. From the open doors, hum and clicks of dinner conversation in the courtyard below filled our room with social energy. I used the touch-tone phone to call up Room Service, and a bellman appeared within a few minutes to personally handle our request for ice. We made our drinks (skipping the minibar stocked with LA local liquor brand Amass for cheap deals at the strip mall next door) and prepared for dinner reservations.

The Restaurant at Cara Hotel

The restaurant is located within the atrium of the property, in the style of an ancient Roman house or Moroccan riad. Chairs and tables are arranged among ancient olive trees and tall palms along a glistening shallow pool. As hotel guests, we were prominently seated at the front of the restaurant. The ambiance is among the most beautiful in Los Angeles. The food is sourced from a biodynamic farm in San Gabriel Valley and the menu changes weekly.

Yes, I can see how the Cara Hotel’s location is concerning for even the most seasoned Angelinos. Still, I’d encourage a habituated traveler to Los Angeles considering a brief stay to embrace this wedge between Los Feliz and Thai Town. Because, in Hollywood, glamour is surrounded by grime. A movie set is always in an unrefined part of the city. Even the prestigious Academy Awards takes place a mile east of the Cara Hotel, one of the weirdest intersections in California. So, I encourage you to embrace it – or at least visit for a meal.