Beverly Wilshire Hotel | |
Location | Beverly Hills, California, USA |
---|---|
Coordinates | 34°4′1″N118°24′3″W / 34.06694°N 118.40083°W |
Built | 1928 |
Architect | Walker & Eisen [1] |
NRHP reference No. | 87000908 [1] |
Added to NRHP | June 12, 1987 |
The Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel, commonly known as the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, is a historic luxury hotel in Beverly Hills, California. Located at the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Rodeo Drive, it was completed in 1928. It has been used as a shooting location for films and television series.
The hotel was constructed by real estate developer Walter G. McCarty on the site of the former Beverly Hills Speedway. It was completed in 1928 (when the city had fewer than 18,000 residents), and was then known as the "Beverly Wilshire Apartment Hotel". The E-shaped structure is built of a Tuscan stone and Carrara marble in the Italian Renaissance architecture style.
Renamed the Beverly Wilshire Hotel by new owners, it was renovated with a ballroom in the 1940s by architect Paul Revere Williams to accommodate the popular big bands of the day. An Olympic-sized swimming pool was built and championship tennis courts were added, with tennis champion Pancho Gonzalez as tennis director. [2]
The hotel changed hands in 1958 and again in 1961, when it was purchased by a group of investors headed by Hernando Courtright. [2] [3] The hotel was branded as Hernando Courtright's Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Courtright added a new tower wing in 1971, doubling the size of the hotel. [4]
Hong Kong-based Regent International Hotels bought the 395-room luxury hotel in 1985 for $125 million, and renovated it at a further cost of $100 million, renaming it The Regent Beverly Wilshire. [5] In 1992, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts bought Regent International Hotels, and the hotel became The Regent Beverly Wilshire, a Four Seasons Hotel.
The hotel was sold to Hong Kong-based private equity firm Joint Treasure International in 1995. [6] In 1996, a consortium led by Lai Sun acquired the property. [7] In 2006, the hotel was again renamed following a renovation, dropping the Regent affiliation and becoming Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel. [8]
On Saturday, October 9, 1937, F. Scott Fitzgerald lunched at the Beverly Wilshire with Ginevra King, whom he'd known when they were both young and who is held to have been a model for Daisy Buchanan, in his The Great Gatsby . [9]
During a tour in 1940, the Beverly Wilshire was the only major Los Angeles hotel willing to accommodate Paul Robeson due to his race, at an exorbitant rate and providing he registered under an assumed name, and he therefore spent two hours every afternoon sitting in the lobby, where he was widely recognised, "to ensure that the next time Black[s] come through, they'll have a place to stay." Los Angeles hotels lifted their restrictions on black guests soon afterwards. [10] [11]
On November 18, 1966, Sandy Koufax, star pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers, announced his sudden retirement from baseball at the age of 30 due to his ailing arm in a press conference at the Beverly Wilshire. [12]
Elvis Presley and later Warren Beatty spent a number of years in the hotel. It was also the home of John Lennon, when he was separated for several months from his wife Yoko Ono. [13]
The American socialite and Woolworth department store heiress Barbara Hutton spent her last years in near poverty and poor health in the hotel and died there in May 1979. [2]
In 1990, the Beverly Wilshire was the primary setting for the movie Pretty Woman , though most interior scenes were actually shot at the defunct Ambassador Hotel nearby. [13] It also became a common filming location for HBO's Entourage television series, with cast and crew filming there at least three times per season when it was produced from 2004 until 2011. [14]
Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. A notable and historic suburb of Los Angeles, it is located immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately 12.2 miles (19.6 km) northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Beverly Hills' land area totals to 5.71 square miles (14.8 km2), and is entirely surrounded by the city of Los Angeles. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 32,701; marking a decrease of 1,408 from the 2010 census count of 34,109.
Rodeo Drive is a two-mile-long (3.2 km) street in Beverly Hills, California, with its southern segment in the City of Los Angeles, known as one of the most expensive streets in the world. Its southern terminus is at Beverwil Drive, and its northern terminus is at its intersection with Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills. The name is most commonly used metonymically to refer to the three-block stretch of the street between Wilshire Boulevard and Little Santa Monica Boulevard.
Wilshire Boulevard (['wɪɫ.ʃɚ]) is a prominent 15.83 mi (25.48 km) boulevard in the Los Angeles area of Southern California, extending from Ocean Avenue in the city of Santa Monica east to Grand Avenue in the Financial District of downtown Los Angeles. One of the principal east–west arterial roads of Los Angeles, it is also one of the major city streets through the city of Beverly Hills. Wilshire Boulevard runs roughly parallel with Santa Monica Boulevard from Santa Monica to the west boundary of Beverly Hills. From the east boundary it runs a block south of Sixth Street to its terminus.
The Saban Theatre is a historic theatre in Beverly Hills, California, formerly known as the Fox Wilshire Theater. It is an Art Deco structure at the southeast corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Hamilton Drive designed by architect S. Charles Lee and is considered a classic Los Angeles landmark. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 3, 2012.
The Beverly Hills Hotel, also called the Beverly Hills Hotel and Bungalows, is located on Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills, California. One of the world's best-known hotels, it is closely associated with Hollywood film stars, rock stars, and celebrities. The hotel has 210 guest rooms and suites and 23 bungalows and the exterior bears the hotel's signature pink and green colors.
Regent Hotels & Resorts is a British luxury hospitality brand, founded by hotelier Robert H. Burns in 1970. After passing through different owners since foundation, it is currently jointly owned by IHG Hotels & Resorts and Formosa International Hotels Corporation since July 2018, with hotels and resorts in Asia and Europe.
The Polo Lounge is located inside the Beverly Hills Hotel at 9641 Sunset Boulevard, Beverly Hills, California.
Wilshire may refer to:
Peter Lam Kin-ngok, GBS is a Hong Kong businessman and billionaire.
The Town House is a large former hotel property built in 1929 on Wilshire Boulevard, adjacent to Lafayette Park in the Westlake district of Los Angeles, California. After a long career as a hotel it operates today as low income housing.
The Regent Hong Kong is five-star hotel located at 18 Salisbury Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong. The hotel is on the harbour, offering views of Victoria Harbour and is close to various tourist attractions. The hotel has 497 rooms and 85 suites and is considered to be the flagship property of the group.
The Beverly Hilton is a hotel located on an 8.9-acre (3.6 ha) property at the intersection of Wilshire and Santa Monica boulevards in Beverly Hills, California, United States. The Beverly Hilton has hosted many awards shows, charity benefits, and entertainment and motion picture industry events, and is particularly known as the venue of the annual Golden Globe Awards ceremony.
Fred Charles Sands was an American business executive and real estate investor. He served as the Chairman of Vintage Capital Group.
Wilshire Grand Center is a 1,100-foot (335.3 m) skyscraper in the financial district of downtown Los Angeles, California, occupying the entire city block between Wilshire Boulevard and 7th, Figueroa, and Francisco streets. Completed in 2017, it is the tallest building west of Chicago. Though the structural top of the Wilshire Grand surpasses L.A.'s U.S. Bank Tower by 82 ft (25 m), the roof of the U.S. Bank Tower is still 90 ft above the Wilshire Grand's. The Skyscraper Center lists the Wilshire Grand Center as the 15th-tallest building in the U.S. and the 95th-tallest in the world. It won the Structural Engineering Award 2019 Award of Excellence from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.
The Furama Hotel was a 33-storey hotel in Central, Hong Kong, located at 1 Connaught Road Central. The site is now occupied by the AIA Central office building.
The Peninsula Beverly Hills is a luxury, five-star hotel at the intersection of South Santa Monica Boulevard and Wilshire Boulevard. The hotel is part of The Peninsula Hotels, a chain owned by Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels. The Peninsula Beverly Hills was the second Peninsula branded hotel to open in the United States, with The Peninsula New York having opened three years earlier in 1988. When the hotel opened in 1991 it was the first new luxury hotel in Beverly Hills in 20 years.
Hernando Courtright (1904–1986) was an American businessman best known as a hotelier. At different points, he was the proprietor of the Beverly Hills Hotel and The Beverly Wilshire Hotel.
Beverly Grove is an area within the Beverly–Fairfax neighborhood in the Mid-City West region of Los Angeles, California.
The Wilshire Regent is a 23-story, 92.47 m (303.4 ft) full service condominium skyscraper in the Wilshire Corridor section of Westwood, Los Angeles, California and the 103rd tallest building in Los Angeles.
Wilshire/Rodeo station is an under construction, underground rapid transit station on the D Line of the Los Angeles Metro Rail system. It is currently under construction as part of the D Line Extension project, in Beverly Hills, California. Construction started in 2018 as part of Section 2 of the extension project. It is slated to open in 2026.