I would look at where you'll be visiting... if it's focused to a few places centrally located (tough in LA) then that might answer your question for you. If you'll be all over the place, that makes it harder. My first trip to LA was a 6-day vacation and we were all over the place, from Universal City down to Laguna Beach, Malibu out to Anaheim. Seeing that we would be everywhere but didn't want to change hotels, we stayed at LAX. It's not close to anywhere we were visiting, but was a good point-of-return from everywhere. Rates are much better also (sample week June 16-21 on Hotwire has 3.5* for $82/night and 4* for $114/night), though not somewhere you'll want to be walking at night. If you do want to go a bit more luxurious, Hotwire has either the Hyatt or Inter-Continental (could be either based on betterbidding.com) for $179/night that week. If you're looking for a balance maybe try a split of LAX (for if/when you'll be south of downtown) and BH.