Downtown Long Beach Hotel Accolades
Sample Long Beach's eclectic neighborhoods
The Desert Sun
June 18, 2009
Dining, staying
The city's vision of maintaining the old while bringing
on the new is most apparent in downtown's happening
Pine Street. A little quieter during the day, the Art
Deco area reverberates at night with hot dining spots
and entertainment.
Another example of an excellent merging of the old
and new comes in the form of Long Beach's first boutique
hotel. Within an easy stroll of Pine Street and Rainbow
Harbor, The Varden has been lovingly restored by owner
Larry Black who broke the bank to keep the 80-year-old
hotel as historically intact as practical, while adding
luxury touches.
The original hotel sign greets you with “a bath
in every room” and the surrounding area might
at first say “boarding house,” but the interior
reveals a painstaking restoration with a contemporary
punch.
Guests enjoy an evening wine and cheese tasting, a
morning continental breakfast and high-speed Internet.
ARTS, FEATURES
BEST OF: ARTS & ARCHITECTURE
The District Weekly
Wed. October 15
BEST STEP FORWARD:
THE VARDEN A little over a year and a half ago,
you could have driven past the Dolly Varden Hotel without
ever noticing the 80-year-old building or its city landmark
signage with the words “A Bath in Every Room.”
Today, thanks to a complete overhaul of the property
by Laguna Beach’s Urban Hotel Group, you’ll
want to stay the night here—even if your apartment
is only two miles down Third Street. Owner Larry Black
painstakingly deliberated over small details—the
shower curtain rods were cause for consideration—and
the result is a quaint boutique hotel (Long Beach’s
first) that is as cute as it is refreshing. Finally,
someone got things right down here: Take an old building
and make it new with care and consideration (see the
squeaky staircase, preserved during the remodel). Visitors
enjoy complimentary wine and cheese at night, and continental
breakfast in the morning, plus, Black says, a bed that’s
five grades better than the Westin’s Heavenly
Bed. Send visiting friends and relatives here, or take
a night off and come see for yourself. Downtown has
never—ever—felt so right. 335 Pacific Ave.,
Long Beach 90802. 562.432.8950. thevardenhotel.com
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