Perched high on La Jolla’s coastal bluffs, La Valencia reigned as one of the chicest hotels in SoCal for much of its 88-year span. But time started to get the best of the property: Outdated carpeting plagued the once-hip rooms, and the lobby looked worn. Now, with a change in ownership and a $10 million renovation, La Valencia has traded its stuffy ways for the nonchalance of a Hollywood retreat, without a touch of pretension (you won’t find a single VIP cabana at its pool). Gone are the old wooden shutters and 8-foot-high hedges that kept the property feeling dark and unwelcoming. The exterior got a fresh coat of its signature (and still delightfully kitschy) cotton-candy pink paint, while all 112 rooms were modernized. The old Whaling Bar reopened as a French art deco–style bistro, called Café la Rue, which is decorated with vintage murals of France.
Perched high on La Jolla’s coastal bluffs, La Valencia reigned as one of the chicest hotels in SoCal for much of its 88-year span. But time started to get the best of the property: Outdated carpeting plagued the once-hip rooms, and the lobby looked worn. Now, with a change in ownership and a $10 million renovation, La Valencia has traded its stuffy ways for the nonchalance of a Hollywood retreat, without a touch of pretension (you won’t find a single VIP cabana at its pool). Gone are the old wooden shutters and 8-foot-high hedges that kept the property feeling dark and unwelcoming. The exterior got a fresh coat of its signature (and still delightfully kitschy) cotton-candy pink paint, while all 112 rooms were modernized. The old Whaling Bar reopened as a French art deco–style bistro, called Café la Rue, which is decorated with vintage murals of France.
