Carlton Motor Lodge

Six decades on Ventura Boulevard, Carlton Motor Lodge keeps its original single-story motor-court layout in Studio City, parking spaces set directly outside each room door rather than in a shared garage. It suits drivers touring the San Fernando Valley or heading over Laurel Canyon into Hollywood without downtown traffic.

Rooms are simple and motel-scaled — no elevator, no lobby restaurant — but the CBS Studio Center lot sits under a mile east, and the Universal City Red Line stop is a ten-minute drive. Free surface parking sits steps from the door.