Center Lake Hotel Los Angeles

By alantvuong on October 27, 2020

In March 2018, a friend and I went on a dream trip to South Africa to go on a safari with Access2 Safaris. We chose to have a stopover in Los Angeles so that our already long flight to Durban will have a short break. We wanted a hotel that was cheap since we only had 2 nights in Los Angeles. Of course, it had to be wheelchair accessible and with a decent location. After researching a bit, we decided on Center Lake Hotel.

The Hotel

Even though our flight landed about 9:30 PM Thursday night, we did not have to wait that long for a wheelchair accessible taxi at the airport. It was about a 30 minute drive to the hotel and the traffic was not too bad since it was late at night.

accessible taxi late at night from the airport to the hotel

Center Lake Hotel has 90 rooms and we didn’t have any issues checking in at the office and got our room keys. This 2 star hotel was really wheelchair accessible and it was easy to get from the office to our room. There is an elevator to this 2 level hotel and we used it and had to cross a big open section to get to our room.

front desk behind security shield

Room

yes there is an elevator to get to our room on the second floor

The room wasn’t too bad except they only gave us 1 Queen bed to share. Being it was so late at night and the fact that we only had to stay 2 nights, we did not bother complaining. The room size was adequate enough for us and for my wheelchair to get around and included the basic things like a TV and a dresser.

average size room

The bathroom was a great size and the toilet was at the perfect height for my commode to fit over. There was lots of room to maneuver around the bathroom and the roll in shower was easy to get into. There is no shower curtain and the shower head is hand held and removeable from the wall.

spacious bathroom with roll in shower

Amenities

There really isn’t any amenities at this budget hotel. There is the standard free wifi but no free breakfast, no fitness center or no pool. There is an airport shuttle for an extra fee and a covered parking lot for a cost too.

covered parking lot for an extra fee

Location

Center Lake Hotel is on 1906 West 3rd street and is right downtown LA. We had one full day on the Friday and decided we should visit the Hollywood district. It was about a 20 minute taxi ride and click here to read about our rainy day in Hollywood.

rainy day in Hollywood

Our flight to leave LA wasn’t until 6:30 PM on Saturday, so we did get to explore the surrounding area of the hotel for a bit. There were a bunch of fast food restaurants, Numero Uno Market, Selecto Plaza Mall, Food 4 Less and more within a couple blocks.

not too far from hotel

Center Lake Hotel was a great affordable choice for a hotel when visiting Los Angeles. It has great accessibility and a great location. Since Covid restrictions started, the hotel has since closed down. I am not sure if it will reopen or if another hotel chain will take over or not, but if I were to come back to the city, I would definitely look into staying at this hotel again.