Great spot for a family trip. Brought my wife and two college-aged kids to LA to celebrate my mother-in-law’s 80th birthday. This house was perfect for that purpose. The backyard was a nice spot at night as the marine layer comes in from the ocean and brings that natural air conditioning that LA is known for. The pool temperature was a perfect 80 degrees. The backyard also has a nice grapefruit tree that was fully ripe and yielding amazing organic grapefruit. The various sitting areas in the house gave us enough space without feeling stuffy.
The location is perfect. It is situated right above Hollywood Blvd between Fairfax and La Brea. This gave us easy access to other parts of LA, while at the same time giving us some separation from the traffic and noise of the city. A 10 minute walk down to Fairfax and Sunset gets you to Bristol Farms for gourmet groceries and Sam’s Bagels, the best fresh bagels in LA.
The absolutely best aspect of this house for me was being close to Runyon Canyon. A 10 minute walk up the hill gets you access to Runyon Canyon for some intense uphill cardio and some of the best views of LA from its hilltops surrounded by scores of happy dogs and people. My daughter and I took full advantage of those hills each morning and got some great memories and photos as a result.
Finally I have to say something about our host, Hal. A lifelong Angeleno, Hal warmly welcomed us in person, which is not common. Most hosts will do that handover either in some automated fashion or through a proxy. This in-person white glove service was something I had not experienced on AirBnB before. He showed us his house and brought an amazing chocolate passion fruit cheesecake as a welcome gift. When we had questions, Hal responded within the hour and was always helpful. The support of your host matters in your overall experience and Hal was one of best hosts I have interacted with.