We (2 adults and one child) stayed in apartment 306 for a few days while visiting LA. On the good side, the location was perfect. I lived in Santa Monica for 10 years (only moving a year ago) so am extremely familiar with the area- and honestly, you can't get a better address than this one. It is right in the thick of things: steps from the pier, 3rd Street, the beach, Main Street, you name it.

On the not so good side, Silvo was pretty bad at communications prior to arriving in LA. We had a red-eye into SM so I requested an early check-in. In a 2 word response (months prior to booking) he said it would be fine. I tried to contact him by email a few before arriving to confirm our reservation- I got no answer. When I finally called 2 days before we arrived, he quickly ushered me off the phone saying he would contact me when time got closer. He never did. I finally called him from the airport and he was very nice, but said the apartment would not be available for early check-in. We ended up having to pay $20 to keep our bags at the hotel around the corner. Not a huge deal, but I wished he had just told me that upfront. Once we were in LA though- his communication got much better and checkin/out was super easy and straightforward. We never did meet Silvo in person.

As far as the actual apartment went- unfortunately it was pretty disgusting. The carpet was so foul that I did not feel comfortable without shoes on (and I have a pretty high threshold for things like this), the bathroom was gross (not only with the tub falling apart, but there was also hair all over the place), the kitchenette was virtually unusable, the door to the apartment was carved up (literally, people just carved stuff into it), and the list goes on. The person across the hall from us had some pretty raging parties while we were there as well and the smell of marijuana was so overpowering that we had to have a conversation with our 12 year old to discuss drugs, parties, etc. We are not opposed to people having a good time- but it was too bad the smell and sound permeated our room every night. As others have complained, the noise from the street was loud but I don't see this as something Silvo can control- it is part of city living.

This apartment is hard to rate because honestly- the location and rental cost were amazing. However the downfalls were pretty drastic too. If you are just looking a bed to sleep on while you are visiting LA, I would recommend this place with the above factors considered. I would not however, recommend you bring your kids along.