"Every hotel prizes its design, but Freehand's affordable hostel space in collaboration with Roman & Williams takes the category to a new level. Have a drink under soaring ceilings in the 1930s tiled bar as you sit in Craftsman-inspired furniture, or take dinner in the restaurant where mosaics of owls line the floor (the building used to house the Owl Drug Store). And of course, as at other Freehands, there's an outpost of the James Beard Award-nominated Broken Shaker bar. You won't really believe you're in a hostel until you see the bunk-bed rooms—which are better designed and more comfortable than a number of private suites we've stayed in. —Brooke Porter Katz"
Frank Lee/Courtesy Freehand Los Angeles