We are staying (2 adults, a 4 year old and an 18 month old) at Hotel California this March for 5 days. We are staying in a standard room which is what they suggested (maybe no other available). Reservations persons did not have any suggestions to which would be the best rooms to stay in ocean side of city side (said he preferred city side, because it was a shorter walk from the car lot!). Said there are no views to speak of. Anyone suggest which are the quietest and nicest rooms for us. We like quiet and a view. Thanks.

Sally, has it occurred to you that you haven't yet told us what state or city this particular Hotel California is in? I would suspect that there are a lot of Hotel Californias. I know of a nice one in Paris, but alas it doesn't have any ocean side rooms.

Assuming you are staying at the Hotel California in Santa Monica - none of the rooms have a great view, but I preferred the ocean side to the city side. You have a partial view from the 2nd floor.

I would agree with the previous poster about being near the ocean side - and you also want to be on the second floor. We stayed on the first floor and felt like people were dancing on our heads. It sounds like you didn't have a very helpful desk person - I would call back and ask to speak to the manager. There are a couple of suites on the second floor that would offer you room to stretch as well as a view. Its a great location though for exploring Santa monica - don't miss the farmers market on weds.

Yes it is the HOtel California in Santa Monica. Thanks for the replies. Advice about the floorboards was good as the reservations guy had mentioned that the floorboards on the ocean side made a lot of noise.