The Ritz-Carlton, Los Angeles

The April 2010 opening of The Ritz-Carlton, Los Angeles signaled the completion of the L.A. Live sports, residential, and entertainment that began with the opening of the Staples Center in 1999. Along with the JW Marriott Hotel Los Angeles at L.A. Live, the sister hotels share the first skyscraper built downtown in 20 years, plus six bars and restaurants, a spa, and three floors of conference space billed as the most flexible meeting facilities in all of downtown Los Angeles.

Ritz-Carlton reimagined the brand's Old World style for twenty-first-century LA along the lines of Hollywood glamour, fashion, and jewels. The 123 guest rooms incorporate such innovations as swivel-top desks and TVs in the mirrors. Wolfgang Puck's twenty-fourth-floor restaurant, WP24, delivers Asian fare with floor-to-ceiling views of the city. Guests can soak up the sun around pools on the fourth and twenty-sixth floors and take in the stars at the Nokia Theatre, Staples Center, Grammy Museum, and L.A. Live's top-tier restaurants and nightspots—all just steps away.