DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — New York Times writer Janelle Brown today has a piece on 36 hours in downtown LA (found via LA Observed). The choices are good... I don't really understand why the NYT has thrown so much love to the Golden Gopher, but whatever, it's a trendy choice. I absolutely concur with the recommendation of Conservancy walking tours. That's something I need to take more advantage of myself.

At the very end of the piece, though, she gives a recommendation to the Hotel Fig.

The Figueroa Hotel (939 South Figueroa Street, 213-627-8971) opened in 1925 and is still a destination downtown. Its eclectic Moroccan-themed spaces are filled with ottomans, pink bougainvillea and Moroccan tile. Its 285 rooms are $98 to $225.

Now I have to admit that it's been four years since I was last there, but here's the impression I got back then: the lobby and bar are nice, but the hotel itself is just not. During the summer of 2000 I spent a week there while working a conference at the convention center. I shared a room that was tiny: two single beds, a crappy old tv, a chair, and a bathroom. We called it Camp Figgy. If they've remodelled in the last couple years I'd like to hear it, but if people are paying $100 for the kind of room I got that's just ridiculous.