The Freehand is a unique hotel. It’s located in a marginal area, so plan to valet the car, and choose a different hotel if you prefer to walk to dinner and shopping. The hotel is a historic office building built in the 1920s and has been remodeled to retain its original layout and appearance (e.g. my room, one of the -00 units by the elevators, had a steel-framed glass door with large, plate glass sidelights, frosted over for privacy, and clearly was once a large office). This setup will appeal to history buffs but lacks the bright, fresh-and-clean feel we’re accustomed to in modern hotels: the rooms and hallways are dark, there are a lot of stale, musty, or “earthy” smells, and the elevators groan and rattle. This was most apparent in the bathroom, which had a wall-mounted sink and zero counter space. The windows also are poorly sealed and have no insulation, so you hear everything from the street below as though the windows were wide open. The lobby has a nice breakfast setup where you can order coffee, egg sandwiches, etc., which were quite good. All my interactions with the front desk and valet staff were pleasant. In sum, the Freehand is not “premium” in a modern sense, and feels more like an experience purposely designed to feel vintage (like an escape-the-room game). I would only stay for an overnight, to have that experience, but the hotel may appeal to others for longer stays if they know what they’re in for.

Stayed in their hostel-style room. Comfy wooden bed, clean room and bathroom, and overall nice hotel. The room was stuffy at night, even with the windows open, but fortunately i brought a tiny USB fan, which i recommend for hostels. And bring earplugs, since the street is noisy at night, even from the 12th floor. Would be nice if the bed's curtain extended completely around the bed for privacy, like some other hostels. Note that you'll pay a "facility fee" of $8.13 per night on check in.

The hotel was offering a special prepaid rate for their standard king rooms and after a week of traveling with our teens 14 & 16 (which in part was spent sharing accommodations) we knew we would want to give them their space and have ours - so we booked two rooms. The public spaces are very artsy/trendy/boutique hotel inspired - with its many seating areas and sofas, cool looking bar - dim lighting, wifi included etc - it definitely got teenage approval. There is a nice little coffee shop window - which used when we missed breakfast for coffee to go - and a store and restaurant (besides the lobby) and The Broken Shaker bar (on the roof beside the pool) that we did not go to because we ran out of time. The lobby reflects the mix of clientele - and as a family, despite some of the comments I read on Tripadvisor prior to booking - we certainly did not feel out of place- although the minority, there were other families there with much younger kids than ours, even babies, there were also young professionals working on laptops, couples, international guests, a few older couples etc. It's a good, broad, mix which I'm sure at times can be a lot for the hotel to manage (the expectations of) - but we had no issue with internal noise or rowdy guests, and we never felt unsafe in the hotel - our teens while on the same floor were down the hall etc.

Our room was as expected for a city hotel (smallish) but fine for two people - same with the bathroom nowhere to put cosmetics (the shower had great water pressure though) - was also nicely designed and clean. We spent most of our days out - I say this because the location is definitely not one where I would walk around any distance (beyond our block - there is a shake shack at the corner) at night or in the day really, there isn't much there. We did walk one day to Grand Central Market - an incredible food hall - which is definitely worth visiting - it's about 15 minutes away - but we passed at least a handful of homeless people along the way - which in itself doesn't make me feel threatened - but some were screaming, some were peeing, some were smoking up - very sad to see for sure but not intimidating - in the day. The kids felt a little uncomfortable plus it was hot so we got a friend to drop us back in their car.

My main complaint, however, would be that the noise from the street is very loud. I am not sure if it was from the cars of people coming/leaving the hotel bar (there is a valet downstairs) and/or the bar across the street, or just traffic moving around at that particular time, but there was everything from sirens, motorbikes revving, loud mufflers, music, and singing/street chatter/shouting happening - particularly on Friday and Saturday night. I get that that's city sounds at night - but even on the 5th floor it was loud, like waking up from a deep sleep loud - and I think it warrants the management considering double glazing the windows. We slept okayish but if you are a light sleeper it'll be a problem.

There is also a $50 + valet charge (which we knew and deliberated) to keep your car overnight as a guest - again mixed feelings about this - yes it is expensive but the city is huge, Uber in LA is also expensive/adds up, and we were coming from a road trip so we had it already - I saw some comments again on Tripadvisor about finding (self) parking in the area for cheaper but I don't know how safe that would be for the car or the people leaving it there and personally I wouldn't have taken that chance.

All in all the hotel worked for our short four-night stay with its clean rooms and convenience to where we wanted to go in the city (this is key in booking your accommodation in LA because traffic can be dread), plus the teens were impressed as it's certainly more appealing looking than your average chain hotel, but would I go back or recommend it? Am not sure .. it would depend on the person, their reason for travel, and if they double-glaze (at a min) the windows.