Ace Hotel & Swim Club

Description:

• Palm Springs is supposed to be LA's cradle of relaxation and rejuvenation -- but how are you expected to chill when the Grim Reaper's icy hand is in evidence all around you? Relax even harder where your grandparents aren't, at Ace Hotel & Swim Club. Located just south of downtown PS and catering to a younger-than-average crowd, Ace delivers a retro-relaxo desert feel laced with modern convenience, created by slapping a full-bore facelift on a 60s-era Westward Ho Motel (a truer name for a no-tell motel has never existed). Rooms range from extremely affordable ($89) city-view king/double bed to fireplace patio'd mountain-view suites; all boast concrete or cork floors, flatscreen TVs, slatted walls to hang your own art (seriously, they think you'll do this), and most rock in-room turntables -- a harbinger of a terrifying future where everyone thinks they're a DJ. Booze-wise, there's the ranch-hand-ish Amigo Room bar or the alco-snowcone short bus near two hammock-ringed saltwater pools; meanwhile, your stomach gets pick-able orchards ringing the property, a roving tamale cart, and a cafe -- a one-time Denny's (whose orig. booths remain) that now "redefines roadside diner fare" thanks to organic/local ingredients, obviously picked from orchards ringing the property. Because they love you, Ace offers gratis bikes for guests, as well as an array of odd amenities including a dogpark and a stargazing platform, where you can still get your Palm Springs dose of impending nothingness.
• © Thrillist 2013

Awards: