Reiko's bungalow is a delightful oasis. She has thought of everything. Seriously. There's even a screen that can be lowered to separate the bed from the rest of the living area. How random, yet how cool!
The location is great, easily accessible to many spots and sights. The bungalow is adorable. Stylish. Chic. Very Instagramable. The hot tub was delightful.
Reiko was always super quick in response to any issue we may have had.
Would I stay there again next time I'm in LA? Most definitely.
A few things though to be aware of.
1. Street parking. Yes, there is ample street parking on her block, but it is 2 hour parking between 8am and 6pm every day of the week. To that end, if you're chilling in the unit for an afternoon, you either have to move the car every two hours, or hope that no one's checking every two hours and you're fine where you are. Most likely the latter is true. But do you want to risk it? We actually drove to brunch on Sunday in Weho, and when we got back to the bungalow there was no parking. Sunday on Melrose is busy and we ended up 3 blocks from the unit. We assumed, without looking at the signs, that the parking rules were the same as it was the same street, just 2 blocks further south. Nope. We were wrong. No parking overnight on that block unless you have a permit. And yep, we got a $68 parking ticket. So street parking SUCKS.
2. And I preface this by saying that we never actually asked Reiko about it, and maybe she had a solution. We never were able to get the pool heated. We got the hot tub hot in the 45 minutes she says to allow for the heat to kick in, but the pool never got warm. We ended up using it as a cold dip during hot tub time. I suspect that in January, 45 minutes is not enough time to heat the entire pool, especially considering that it gets the barest sliver of direct sun for about three hours between 11 and 2. We decided we didn't care enough to investigate. But if that's why you're renting this bungalow, you may want to check with Reiko.
Regardless of the few quips above, it's a great space, great location, and a great host!