Valentine’s Day can put a lot of pressure on loved ones, so ABC7 teamed up with CitySearch to find the top 7 best and most diverse Valentine’s Day destinations.

At No. 1, indulge your Valentine at the historic Sunset Marquis and Villas, a sweet oasis right off the Sunset Strip. Boasting lush gardens, a world famous chef and the chance to bump into rock royalty, there is no other place like it.

“Quite possibly one of the most beautiful properties in all of Los Angeles. This is truly a getaway,” said Citysearch editor Mar Yvette.

There are specials all weekend long, including a delicious $38 champagne brunch inside their beautiful indoor/outdoor restaurant, and a family-friendly Valentine’s Day package.

“They have this really fun one, where you actually get a room, you get a dozen roses, breakfast in bed or at the restaurant, spa treatments and even an on-site professional baby sitter,” Yvette said.

The hipster lounge we’ve gathered in is in the lobby of the Sunset Marquis in West Hollywood, California. A framed black-and-white photo of the Kings hangs in a spot of honor: closest to the bar. It’s autographed, with a inscription that reads, “Scene of the crime!”

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/09/28/kings.of.leon/index.html?iref=newssearch

STRIP-AHH The Sunset Marquis is partying pretty now that it has a brand-new spa walls of shimmering, aqua-colored tiles. Rocker pations used to late-night recording sessions and impromptu villa debauches can partake of facials by Arick Odaka, the sure-fingered azstbetician responsible for Hilary Swank’s spotless skin, and body treatments that use Erbe, a line of organic botanical blends whose creator trained under Umbrian monks. For post-massage blissing out, head up to the gem-like rooftop pool.

Sunset Marquis is pleased to announce the opening of SPA, a place of peace and wellness nestled in the hotel’s Villa Garden as the final step in its unparalleled expansion. The hotel is introducing celebrated NYC institution, Erbe, exclusively to the West Coas. Erbe—Italian for herb—has customized ancient recipes from Italy’s rich herbal tradition that dates back to the Renaissance when monasteries were centers of herbal knowledge.

SPA at Sunset Marquis was designed by Oliva Villaluz, who designed all other aspects of the hotel’s recently completed expansion. Emcompassing the 1800 square feet are four private areas including a dedicated facial room, massage suite and two wet rooms offering 5×8 rain showers. In addition, the Villa Pool will be an extension of SPA. Hotel guests and non-residents can enjoy treatments as well as the special SPA menu designed by Executive Chef Guillaume Burlion, (voted by the New Your Times as one of the “Best Chefs in America” and with Michelin star pedigree) at the private Villa poolside cabanas. Porsche, the luxury automotive company, is the designer of the plush leather spa furniture. Villaluz creatively used variations of aqua iridescent tiles to envelope the interior of SPA.

The Sunset Marquis and Villas appointed 2-star Michelin rated and 5-star/5-diamon rated Guillaume Burlion as Executive Chef. Chef Burlion is creating a unique, signature menu encompassing his global experiences and understanding of California cuisine for the hotel’s new restaurant, simply called RESTAURANT (at Sunset Marquis).

RESTAURANT at the Sunset Marquis offers a stunning indoor-outdoor space that offers views of a waterfall and pond and cuisine that covers breakfast through dinner, ranging from smoothies and Corned Beef Hash to Lobster Angliotti and  Liberty Duck Breast Honey & Orange. If you’re going to live like an A-lister, you might as well eat like one.

For those looking for four-star ambiance, in a stylish restaurant setting, dine indoors. Or if you’d rather enjoy your prime veal chops with crispy sautéed potato cakes under the sun or stars, you can’t beat the garden view from the patio of RESTAURANT at Sunset Marquis, where the idyllic outdoor atmosphere of the Sunset Marquis is experienced in full.

Where stars come out to play

Star-spotting is second nature to residents of WeHo—That’s West Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.

So suppressing a doubt-take when Roger Daltrey steps aside for me as I enter the airy patio bar at the Sunset Marquis isn’t easy. “Kia Ora from New Zealand,” I say to The Who’s legendary frontman. He beams and says “Thanks, I’m heading down there tomorrow.”

I couldn’t blame it on jetlag, having slept eight hours of 12 in one of Air New Zealand’s luxurious lie-flat airpods. And while the blue-sky California ambience and blood-temperature air were calmly intoxicating, star-struck describes my condition.

I’ve entered the new O’merica through the homeland-security paranoia of LAX – “yes, sir, the belt and shoes through the x-ray machine, too,” and survived a wild taxi ride along LA’s boulevards of broken dreams. “Nothing changes,” according to cabbie Mikhail, “America is run by corporations. Obama’s dreaming if he thinks he can change that.”

There’s a kind of dirty realism on the streets of LA. Roads are rough, the air hangs limp, grime settles on the neon Eat Here and Buy This signs that pepper the endless acres of urban sprawl. But relief is palpable as we start to climb into Hollywood’s leafy foothills.

Although the legendary Hotel California is up the coast a bit, Eagles penman Don Henley might well have been writing from the Sunset Marquis. There’s a chilling truth to the link “you can check out any time you’d like, but you can never leave,” and not a few hearts, souls and reputations have surely been left here. The lush and tranquil Sunset Marquis, just off the Sunset Strip, is the A-lister’s hotel of choice. “Rooms so nice, even rockers won’t trash them,” goes the spiel. It’s been the semi-official private sanctuary for Hollywood’s elite since 1963 – “Safe refuge for the notorious, the infamous and the accused.”

Gliding into the shady babbling-waterfall-and-palm-tree oasis is peacefully surreal, and if you can see them, you can sense the stars revolving. John Paul Jones (keyboards, Led Zeppelin) is in residence. Madonna has not long finished recording at the underground studio. Chili Pepper Anthony Kiedis is a regularly welcomed wayward son. Billy Bob Thornton calls it his home away from home.

With a two-star Michelin chef, black-and-white prints of famous guests, a whiskey bar for later, Keith Richard’s old Stratocaster in a glass case (although a shameful lack of a house guitar for the itchy-fingered guests), it’s easy to feel in the heart of Hollywood.

Claiming to have “more tattoos per guest than any other leading hotel,” the Sunset Marquis Hotel and Villas is the rock and roll hotel of choice—legendary bands like the Rolling Stones stay here when they’re in town and Alanis Morrissette and Madonna have both used the hotel’s on-site recording studio. The Sunset Marquis offers 104 suites and 52 villas set in a 5-acre private garden paradise. Amenities include 24-hour concierge, two restaurants, two heated out-door pools, high-speed Internet access, a fitness center, laundry and dry cleaning facilities. Perfect for more intimate affairs, the hotel can accommodate up to 40 for meetings, and 200 for a reception.

Whenever I’m in LA, I stay at the Sunset Marquis. It’s very comfortable and I really like its location. I can walk to Barnet’s Beanery which I’ve known and loved forever. I like the omelets and chili burgers. They also have a good trio salad, made up of egg salad, chicken salad and tuna salad. You feel healthy ordering a salad, but it’s huge.

I can also walk to the Beverly Center. It can’t be much more than a mile away, otherwise I’d pass out. But I don’t drive in LA anymore. It would be easier for me to drive in LA if every other driver had a bubble over their head explaining why they were on the road.

Oh, one more thing about the Sunset Marquis. They’ve added this back area to the property that’s like a tropical paradise, with another pool and flowers everywhere. There’s a great restaurant back there and another bar that now has my picture behind it. I can sit and have a drink and look at a picture of myself popping everybody the bird. How good is that?

All of which only goes to show how wrong a first impression can be. The next day, trailed by car-loads of paparazzi, Megan Fox drove her white Mercedes 4×4 from her house in the hills to my hotel, the Sunset Marquis, in West Hollywood. We sat in the garden and talked – and talked, and talked. Initially, it was difficult to square this breathless conversationalist with the guarded glamourpuss from the shoot. Simon Pegg, who starred with Megan in the 2008 comedy, How to Lose Friends & Alienate People, experienced a similar confustion after working with her for a short time. “I remember the first time we had a drink and chatted for a while,” Pegg says. “She absolutely floored me because whereas before there’d been this quiet wallflower who got nervous about doing scenes, suddenly there was the extraordinary, outspoken, complex, smart, experience person. She’s a contradiction, I think.

A generous helping of Hollywood glamour is served along side California-style Continental fare at Los Angeles’s Restaurant, located in the fabled Sunset Marquis hotel. It features Austrial-crystal chandeliers, shimmering surfaces and a lush garden dining area.