I think I am well and favorably known at the Ambassador East, but this need not apply when I arrive in wrinkled hunting clothes, unshaven and lightly crusted with the dirt of travel and bleary-eyed from driving most of the night.

– Travels with Charley, John Steinbeck

The Ambassador East was sold in 2010, renovated and reopened as the Public Chicago Hotel.

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We met in a parking lot
I was buying coffee and cigarettes
– I Went to the Store One Day

Josh Tillman aka Father John Misty met his future wife Emma here at the Laurel Canyon Country Store shortly after he quit the Fleet Foxes and moved to Los Angeles. The store has a rich history as a gathering spot for those in the L.A. music scene, most notably Jim Morrison and other musicians in the 1960s.

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Dessa, 1/7th of the Minneapolis hip hop collective Doomtree, filmed her video for "Sound the Bells," off her solo album Parts of Speech, underwater off the coast of Isla Mujeres. This "Island of Women" is located across the Bahia de Mujeres (Bay of Women) from Cancun.

Watch the video for "Sound the Bells"

The permanent, life-sized sculptures by Jason deCaires Taylor are designed to promote coral life. You can read more about the underwater art museum here.

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The lobby of the Lido Hotel was the stand-in for the interior of The Eagles' fictional hotel in the Hotel California album's inside cover. According to a persistent myth, Anton LaVey is keeping watch over the gathering from the upstairs window... if you squint you might be able to make him out.

The building, which dates back to the 1920s, has been renovated and converted to apartments. The hotel in the photo on the album cover is the Beverly Hills Hotel.

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I won't attempt to unpack the meaning of The Eagles' Hotel California, but I will point out that the hotel on the album cover is the Beverly Hills Hotel on Sunset Boulevard.

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