Just three or four decades on from the beginning of the great Northern California wine boom, and finally a local style is emerging. Italian and French architecture made sense in the early years, when the wineries of the Napa and Sonoma valleys were still striving to be taken as seriously as their European counterparts. But today’s California has a homegrown architectural tradition, a fine example of which is downtown Healdsburg’s decidedly modern h2hotel.

Harmon Guest House, an ultra-modern boutique hotel in the heart of Healdsburg, was designed by San Francisco architect David Baker, and like all the best in modernist-inspired architecture, it couldn’t have been built anywhere else. Raw concrete construction can feel cold, but here it’s warmed up by the contrast with the organic materials used elsewhere, from the reception desk, made from a fallen eucalyptus tree, to the building’s façade, a screen made of reclaimed redwood slats that serves as a sun shade.

Picture the ideal California coastal destination and you might picture a place like San Luis Obispo. Nestled just about midway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, this smallish city offers laid-back, beachy relaxation while also offering plenty to explore and see, at a decidedly non-urban pace. (SLO doesn’t call itself “SloCal” for nothing.) Enter Hotel San Luis Obispo, a boutique hotel that’s equally suited as a home base for exploring or as a sanctuary for a private getaway.

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