9 Ways to Sleep Your Way to the California Dream (PHOTOS)

The best hotels are all about creating a beautiful alternate reality that bears virtually no resemblance to anyone's "real life." These nine spots hit upon the state's unparalleled propensity for fantasy and the many manifestations of that shimmering mirage: the California Dream. Maybe you really are a glamorous celeb or obscenely wealthy--or just want to get close enough to one to breathe in the same rarefied air--or an earthy-crunchy type who hit it moderately big, a hippie who never sold out, a frustrated literary type, a surfer wannabe, a cocktail-wielding connoisseur of rooftop views of the Pacific... It's all here.

A note about Trazzler's slideshows: we don't do top-tens or best-of lists. Nor are we so morbid or presumptuous as to tell you where you must go before you shuffle off this mortal coil. The world is far too big and fascinating to encapsulate in any kind of definitive list. We simply chose the places that our writers have contributed that make us think, laugh, and, in this case, dream. --Megan Cytron, Editor of Trazzler

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