Downtown Los Angeles Proper Hotel, a Member of Design Hotels

A Renaissance Revival Landmark, Reimagined by Kelly Wearstler

On the Broadway Corridor in Historic Downtown LA, the Proper occupies a Renaissance Revival building turned into a 147-room hotel by designer Kelly Wearstler, who built the interiors around "city lights and vintage brick as a backdrop." The result reads as a conversation between eras rather than a renovation that erased one for the other: period details, local art and pattern-heavy rooms sit inside a facade that has watched over Broadway for a century, in a district once known as the theatre and jewelry heart of the city. It is downtown LA's clearest argument that a landmark building can be lived in, not just photographed from the sidewalk.

Why It Works

We picked the Proper for the density of experience packed into one address: a rooftop pool deck with a full skyline view, three distinct restaurants and bars, and two suites built from the building's former basketball court and indoor pool that exist nowhere else. A 2026 Michelin Key recognises what the design already signals, and the hotel charges no resort fee, a small but real point in its favour against the rest of the neighbourhood's luxury field, where add-on charges are the norm rather than the exception.

Why This Location

South Broadway puts the hotel inside Downtown LA's historic theatre and jewelry districts, walking distance from Crypto.com Arena, LA Live and the Los Angeles Convention Center, and a short rideshare from the Arts District and Little Tokyo. It is a base built for a city trip that mixes architecture, nightlife and a Lakers or Clippers game, without needing a car to link them, and close enough to the Metro's Broadway stops to skip parking altogether on a museum day.

Fast Facts

• Price: Luxury

• Vibe: Landmark grandeur, Wearstler pattern and texture

• Rooms: 147 rooms and suites, each subtly different in pattern and color

• Best For: Design-minded travellers, couples, event and arena weekends

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: The two suites carved from the building's former basketball court and indoor pool

• Dining: Cabrillo and Cara Cara restaurants, Dahlia cocktail lounge

• Amenities: Rooftop pool with skyline views, fitness centre, valet parking, Aesop bathroom amenities

• Attractions: Crypto.com Arena, LA Live, Los Angeles Convention Center, Arts District

Three Restaurants and a Rooftop Built for the Skyline

Cabrillo and Cara Cara split the hotel's daytime and dinner service, while Dahlia works as the late-night cocktail room for guests who want to stay in the building rather than head out. Above it all, the rooftop pool deck turns the Downtown LA skyline into the main amenity, busy at golden hour and quiet enough for laps before the city wakes up. It is the kind of rooftop that non-guests try to talk their way into, and one more reason the hotel rarely feels like it needs to try.

The Suites Carved From a Basketball Court

The building's past life left two spaces no other Downtown LA hotel can offer: a suite built inside the former basketball court and another inside the old indoor pool, both kept oversized and unusual rather than subdivided into standard floor plans. Elsewhere, the 147 rooms lean on Moroccan-inspired bathrooms, Aesop amenities and imported linens, the kind of detail that rewards a guest who looks closely rather than one moving straight through to the rooftop.

Before You Book

Check-in is at 3 p.m. and check-out at noon; pets are welcome, though the hotel does not list step-free accessibility, so guests with that need should confirm ahead. There is no resort fee, unusual for a property at this level, and valet parking is the simplest way in given the density of downtown traffic around event nights at the nearby arena and convention center.