Star In Your Own Movie At The Los Angeles Westin Bonaventure

Review of The Westin Bonaventure Hotel and Suites, Los Angeles | 404 S Figueroa St
The Westin Bonaventure Hotel and Suites, Los Angeles
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Emily
Emily 
Updated
| 3 min read

As Los Angeles is the town of cinema, it seems fitting for the city’s hotels to have a cinematic quality themselves. Sci-fi geeks looking for a Logan’s Run style adventure in a futuristic world circa the imagination of the 1970s should stay at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites, a maze of circular towers featured in movies like True Lies, In the Line of Fire and This is Spinal Tap. While the comfort and quality of the upscale Westin chain pervade, it’s the 35-story glass elevators, revolving skydeck and cavernous concrete pathways that will capture your imagination and pull you into your own earth-saving story of space invaders and flying saucers.

View to a kill

star in your own movie at the los angeles westin bonaventure | view to a kill

When you enter the Bonaventure, make a bee-line for the elevators and press the button to the top floor. The glass elevators emerge into open sky at the sixth floor and the Downtown skyline spreads out in front of you for the rest of the ride up.

Cruise above the salon and spa, whizz past the third floor running track and admire the fourth floor pool deck from above as the elevators open out onto views of the downtown skyline, Dodger Stadium and the mess of Los Angeles freeways. Try each tower for a different perspective and to get your directional bearings for your return to earth.

Stop in at the BonaVista Lounge on the 34th floor before going down. The circular restaurant revolves slowly around, giving diners a 360-degree view every hour while getting toasty on martinis. And yes, the views will help your orientation, but the revolutions may be simultaneously disorienting. So don’t count on your newfound sense of direction too much!

Into the void

star in your own movie at the los angeles westin bonaventure | into the void

Emerging into the accommodation towers, the lightness of the exposed elevators disappears. The towers themselves are windowless, circular hallways that create a good deal of confusion, but with one bright spot: all of the light is reserved for the guest rooms.

Most rooms have the floor-to-ceiling windows that you can see from the outside of the glass tower. These make the light rooms bright and airy, even though the smallest guest rooms, starting at 175 USD per night, are quite small. The decor is a bit dated but well in line with the 1970s-future-world of the entire hotel.

Inside the rooms, guests can stay connected with Wi-Fi and wired internet (it’s free if you join Starwood Preferred Guests club), coffee and tea maker, a mini-fridge and a free copy of USA Today every morning. Showers have great pressure and the bath towels are fluffier than a bunny.

Maze runner

star in your own movie at the los angeles westin bonaventure | maze runner

The first six interior floors are dizzying in their odd balconies, spiral staircases and Blade Runner-esque disorientation. There’s some shopping to be done, but it’s the dining options that make the Bonaventure stand out.

Casual pho, Korean barbeque, and healthy sandwiches are easy to come by as you climb the many layers of spiral staircases. If you prefer sitting outside, the fourth floor opens onto a roof deck where the bar and microbrew pub Bonaventure Brewing shares patio space with Mediterranean joint Olive Branch and Italian cafe The Gourmet Pizzeria. The deck also includes a generous sun deck and pool.

The Westin itself has several house restaurants, too. The Lobby Court and Lake View Bistro on the ground floor provide casual, daytime options. Hotel guests will find pay-as-you-go breakfast options at the Bistro. By night, drinkers will enjoy the easy lobby bar Suede, or, on the 35th-floor, LA Prime Steakhouse is an upscale dinner choice if you prefer to avoid the revolutions of the BonaVista and still have a view.

The living daylights

star in your own movie at the los angeles westin bonaventure | the living daylights

Step outside the Bonaventure and you’re at the edge of a downtown adventure. The architecturally significant Central Library and California Plaza are only steps away, as well as modern art museums MOCA and The Broad, as well as the Walt Disney Concert Hall, home to the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

For transportation, catch the Metro Red Line at Pershing Square or 7th and Figueroa, which are both a few blocks away. Parking at the hotel incurs a surcharge.

Edge of tomorrow

Ready to see the future? Stay at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites and visit downtown Los Angeles’ tomorrowland, a city-within-a-city where you can mix cinematic fantasy with big-city reality, all while getting a great night’s sleep on a fluffy mattress with a city view.

Disclosure: Trip101 selects the listings in our articles independently. Some of the listings in this article contain affiliate links.

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The Westin Bonaventure Hotel and Suites, Los Angeles
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