Los Angeles · Hotel shortlist
The best hotels near Cal State
Stefan Bauer The American west
These are my five favourites in Los Angeles, out of the 7 that qualified. I read what other travellers scored them before I picked, so the order follows the guests, 3.8 down to 3.6.
All five are within 3.0 km of Cal State.
Highest rated of the five
STARLIGHT INN
★★★★★3.8 from 506 reviews
STARLIGHT INN comes out on top of this list, and not narrowly: 3.8 from 506 guest reviews is a score that holds up at that volume, which is the whole test here. A perfect ten from nine people does not beat it.
It is a 2 star property, found under poi and around $82 a night on the dates we checked.
7 hotels in Los Angeles qualified for this list and five made it. Midwick Motel is the one I would book if the first is full.
Why it works for this trip
- Air conditioningthe one that decides a summer trip
- Parkinga real consideration if you are driving in
- Step free accesslevel entry and a lift
All five, ranked
-
STARLIGHT INN
★★★★★3.8 from 506 reviews
900 m from Cal State, about a 11 minute walk
- Parking
- Air conditioning
- Accessible
-
Midwick Motel
★★★★★3.6 from 78 reviews
1.3 km from Cal State, about a 16 minute walk
- Parking
-
ERTH INN by AGA - Monterey Park
★★★★★3.6 from 215 reviews
1.3 km from Cal State, about a 16 minute walk
- Spa
- Parking
- Air conditioning
- Accessible
-
Lincoln Park Motel
★★★★★3.7 from 468 reviews
3.0 km from Cal State
- Restaurant
- Parking
- Air conditioning
How this list was put together
7 Los Angeles hotels qualify for this list. We ranked them on guest rating first and on how close they are to Cal State second, then took the top five.
Two things decide these lists. The first is my own time in the city: every hotel on this page is one I have stayed in, walked into and looked at, or gone back to check. That is where the shortlist starts, and it is why some well reviewed places are not on it.
The second is the numbers, and those are what set the order. The rating and review count come from the big travel sites, pooled through Google, so a score here reflects Expedia, Booking, Hotels.com and the rest together rather than any one of them. I also read the review breakdown by topic, which is where the figures on service, breakfast and location come from. Hotels with fewer than forty reviews are left out altogether, because a rating that thin is not a rating. No more than two come from one neighbourhood.
What I do not do is move anyone up the order. The ranking is the guest score, highest first, and nobody pays to be on the list.
Distances are straight lines from published coordinates, so the real walk is a little longer. Amenities are as recorded by Google Hotels and can change without notice. Rates are an indicative nightly figure for a midweek autumn stay, not a quote. Check the booking page before you commit.
Stefan Bauer The American west
Chases total solar eclipses. Seven of them on four continents, from Wyoming to a fishing town in Chile. Banks days off through the on-call rota and books the trips years ahead, because eclipse dates do not move.
Trip Grapevine earns a commission on bookings made through the links on this page. It costs you nothing, and it does not change the order of the list, which is set by the measurements above.




