While the original Standard Hotel on the Sunset Strip boasts a serene, ground-level pool, the swimming facility atop its sister hotel, the Standard Downtown L.A. — a 1950s-era high-rise listed on the National Register of Historic Places — is reserved for serious partiers only. And by reserved, we mean you often have to RSVP in advance, wait in long lines and cough up $10 or $20 to gain admission to electronic dance music–soundtracked soirees with short, suggestive names like “Bask,” “Incognito” and “Drenched.” The Standard Downtown L.A. has three water-bed cabanas housed in plastic pods that resemble something out of a 1960s sci-fi movie, and a bar that will deliver you cocktails whether you're in the pool, on a sleek white lounge chair or on the dance floor. In other words: It's totally worth the hassle of getting in. The rooftop closes at 1:30 a.m., but Standard pool events often trickle into hotel-room parties that rage into the wee hours of the morning. 550 S. Flower St., dwntwn. (213) 892-8080, standardhotels.com/downtown-la. —Jennifer Swann

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