Venice Beach isn’t just geographically on the fringes of the city of Los Angeles, it’s a stylistic outlier as well, known for its bohemian, creative edge and its intensely independent atmosphere. The century-old Waldorf Building is steeped in SoCal history; former residents include Charlie Chaplin and the legendary Z-Boys skateboard team (not at the same time). Today it’s been put to new use as Venice V Hotel, a modern boutique-style property that opens directly onto the famous boardwalk. It’s a member of the Proper Hotels family, a group with some expertise in tailoring a boutique-hotel vision to its specific setting. Rooms are decorated in a number of distinct, creative styles, and every square inch of the place is a tribute to Venice’s artistic heritage, its surf and skate tradition, or both — the lobby is dominated by a mural depicting Venice’s founder, Abbott Kinney, made from some 4,000 skateboard wheels. The beach and boardwalk are right outside, as are any number of excellent shops, cafés, and restaurants. Venice packs a lot of creativity into a relatively compact area, and the V may come as close as any local hotel to capturing what it is that makes this corner of Los Angeles so unique.