First, the advantages of this place. The location is great: it's in a really nice part of Santa Monica, and the neighborhood is super-charming. Not only that, but there's a Gelson's Market right around the corner. This is a fabulous, California-style grocery store, with amazing prepared food, and a Pie Hole shop, for delicious tiny pies, savory and sweet, as well as terrific coffee. The ocean is, as advertised, about 7 blocks away, but be forewarned--these are LOOONG blocks. (It's about a mile away--a nice downhill on the way there, and, obviously, uphill on the way back.) The unit is clean, and extremely dog-friendly, which made it ideal for us. There is no central heating, though, so it can get nippy, especially if you don't use the space heaters, which we didn't. The kitchen is adequate, though there is no microwave, for some reason, so you have to go old school to heat up coffee or leftovers. There is no dedicated parking, but there is almost always street parking available--just brush up on parallel parking on a steep hill!! Chris was very responsive, and eager to make our stay comfortable.
Now, for the downside. The last night we stayed there, a belligerent drunk grunted, sang, screamed and yelled right outside of our unit in the middle of the night. From 2 am to 3:00 am or 3:30 am, he sat on the front patio and drank beers, then crashed into the courtyard, where he seemed to be trying to break into our back patio, right into one of the bedrooms. It was fairly scary, and we lost a night of sleep. Chris assured us that this had never happened before, and I am sure that's true. It's just that it happened to happen when we were staying there, so that's kind of what mattered to us.