Party like a rock star at the bar adjacent to the Sunset Strip's most notoriously debauched hotel -- a veritable castle-to-the-stars built in 1929. What happens at the Chateau tends to stay at the Chateau -- unless, of course, like Led Zeppelin, you drive your motorcycles through the hotel's gothic lobby. Even the hotel's most tragic incidents -- John Belushi overdosing in a garden bungalow, Helmut Newton's fatal car crash in the driveway -- somehow add to the mystique of the place. Recently the bar received a face-lift, but owner Andre Balazs strove to retain its shabby chic while updating its menu with gastro pub fare crafted by former Spotted Pig chef Carolynn Spence. Of course, you'll still spot the most stars (both earthly and celestial) in the hotel's utterly charming courtyard.

Casablanca collides with ancient Arabia at this lush watering hole in a ravishing garden setting overrun with bougainvillea, spiny cactus and succulents. Just a basketball's throw from Staples Center, the Figueroa opened in 1925 as a YWCA and turned into a hotel after the Depression. Oodles of celebrities frequent the place for pre- and post-concert parties, fashion shows and the like, but no one at the hotel crows about it, which is why the place has come to epitomize the ultimate in laid-back -- even self-effacing -- style. The ornately tiled bar with its flickering candles, well-worn wooden stools and tranquil blue pool are the perfect place to enjoy a mojito with fresh muddled lime.

Old Hollywood style and grace are trapped in amber at this most famous of hotel hangouts. Built in 1912, the "Pink Palace" quickly became the epicenter of Hollywood's burgeoning, and frequently decadent, social scene. In the '20s Charlie Chaplin, Rudolph Valentino and Gloria Swanson were regulars; in the '30s Clark Gable and Carole Lombard met secretly in the bungalows before Gable's divorce; the "No Slacks for Ladies" rule was relaxed thanks to pants-loving Marlene Dietrich. In the '40s the El Jardin Restaurant was renamed the Polo Lounge in honor of Spencer Tracy, Darryl Zanuck and Will Rogers (among others) who played polo in the nearby bean fields, then caroused at the hotel's restaurant. Today, meals and cocktails are served at cozy, semicircular green booths or outside on a charming tiered brick patio shaded by a twisted Brazilian peppercorn tree.

History refuses to give up on this timeless Pasadena landmark. Built in 1906 as the Hotel Wentworth, cursed with a rainy and disastrous first season, purchased in 1911 by Henry Huntington and renamed the Huntington, the treasured structure was declared unsafe in the event of an earthquake and closed in 1985. After a $100-million overhaul (which entailed demolishing most of the original), the hotel reopened in 1991 under the famed Ritz-Carlton moniker. During its tumultuous but always glamorous existence, the 383-room resort has played host to everyone from Teddy Roosevelt to Bing Crosby to Albert Einstein. Catering to a more dignified crowd than you'll generally find in Hollywood, the Bar blends warm wood furniture, equine artwork and classy cocktails for a comfortable (if somewhat patrician) night out.

Built in 1949 in sleek mid-century modern style and named the Beverly Carlton, the property was purchased by the Kor Hotel Group and opened as Avalon in 1999. Maison 140 designer Kelly Wearstler was brought in to make the aging three-story structure into a high-end resort worthy of a Beverly Hills ZIP Code while maintaining its winning 1950s charm. (If it was good enough for one-time resident Marilyn Monroe, it's good enough for you.) There are few places more relaxing to have a drink than at the hotel's bar, Blue on Blue, and particularly in one of the comfy cabanas around the glowing, hourglass-shaped pool.