The Golden State is diamond-studded, according to AAA

California continues to be golden when it comes to high-rated lodgings and restaurants.

California added three new hotels and one new restaurant to AAA’s Five Diamond Award list for 2009. The state continues to lead the nation with the most five-diamond properties and is now tied with Illinois for the most five-diamond restaurants. California has 19 lodgings and seven eateries on the AAA’s annual list.

New winners in Southern California are the Beverly Hills Hotel and Bungalows, the Montage Laguna Beach and the Four Seasons Hotel in Westlake Village. The Ritz-Carlton Huntington in Pasadena, which won the Five Diamond Award last year, was acquired this year by Langham International Hotels. The new hotel, the Langham Huntington Hotel & Spa, won the award this year.

San Diego’s Addison restaurant made the Five Diamond Award list for the first time this year.

The winners represent only .28% of the more than 58,000 properties evaluated each year by AAA’s 65 full-time evaluators.

– Hugo Martín, Times staff writer

[Photo: Four Seasons Hotel Westlake Village; Four Seasons Hotel]

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This entry was posted on Friday, November 14, 2008 at 12:17 pm by Hugo Martin and is filed under California, Hotels, Restaurants. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.