Embassy Hotel Apartments, Santa Monica, California
We spent a couple of nights at the Embassy Hotel Apartments in Santa Monica, California, on our last trip along the Pacific Coast Highway. Right away we loved the lush little garden you walk through, up to the entrance. There were ferns and high palm trees, colorful flowers, a fountain, and even a hummingbird that seemed to welcome us in.
A few of the photos Donna took at the Embassy Hotel Apartments in Santa Monica, California
From the outside the hotel (not to be confused with the Embassy Suites) looks like a beautiful, grand Mediterranean villa, with ornate windows and balconies. We felt like we were arriving at some historic Spanish mansion. Step inside and the feeling continues, as the reception desk is at the far end of a palatial room, with leather sofas, a big fireplace, coffee tables, wooden chests, and doors leading out to more gardens at the back of the building.
History of the Embassy Hotel Apartments The hotel was built in 1927, when the railway arrived in Santa Monica. The trains brought people from Pasadena coming both for vacations and longer stays, looking for cool Pacific Coast breezes in the summer heat. That's why the Embassy offered not just daily and weekly rates, but monthly vacation rates too. It still does, and the hotel has some long-term residents, but most visitors are like us, staying for a few days on the California coast.
Our Room at the Embassy Hotel Apartments Our room was old-fashioned in the nicest way, with wooden beams on the ceiling, a big brass bed, and a small stone balcony overlooking the front gardens and the palm trees guarding the gates. But it also had modern facilities like free wireless internet and a modern kitchen as big as our one at home in Arizona! We loved sitting at the table by the window enjoying our coffee and breakfast in the morning. You'll need to shop for some breakfast things as the rooms are self-catering, but there's plenty of shopping within a few blocks.
Parking at the Embassy Hotel Apartments As well as free wifi, free coffee and the daily maid service, there's also free street parking. The Embassy has no on-site car park, and this was the only slight down side to our stay here. There's a drop-off point right outside the front gate, and then you collect a free parking permit that allows you to park anywhere in the nearby streets. The city of Santa Monica has other ideas on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, though – the two days we happened to be there. They clean one side of the street each day, so you have to move your car for a few hours mid-day – not good if you want to leave it and walk around Santa Monica that day, as we did. We went back to move the car by noon but there were no free spaces within several blocks of the hotel, because everyone is moving their car. It's not the hotel's fault, and they did everything possible to help us, but next time we'll avoid Tuesdays and Wednesdays!
Our Verdict on the Embassy Hotel Apartments Despite the parking problem we loved this place. It has real charm and character, a sense of history, those fabulous gardens, and a good location not far from the Third Street Promenade, the beach and Santa Monica Pier. You really felt you were staying somewhere special every time you walked through the front door. We'd highly recommend it, Thursdays through Mondays!
To help you in choosing your Pacific Coast Highway hotel, guesthouse, inn, bed-and-breakfast, resort, motel or other accommodations, we've prepared our Pacific Coast Highway Hotels Guide ebook. In it we do mini-reviews of accommodations along the Highway, from Seattle to San Diego, through Washington, Oregon, and California.
For the 2011 edition we added new hotels, including a special 50-hotel section covering California’s wine country of Napa, Sonoma, and Paso Robles - by far the most popular diversion from the PCH drive. In all there are over 200 hotels listed, complete with 8 pages of color maps showing the towns where our recommended hotels can be found. There are both alphabetical and geographical indexes, helping you plan your journey.
KINDLE EDITION The Hotels Guide is also available but without the maps and color photos in the US Kindle Store for $4.99 and in the UK Kindle Store at a price based on the US price.
