Beverly Wilshire Hotel

Beverly Wilshire Hotel
The Beverly Wilshire Hotel in 2007
Location Beverly Hills, California, USA
Coordinates 34°4′1″N 118°24′3″W / 34.06694°N 118.40083°W / 34.06694; -118.40083Coordinates: 34°4′1″N 118°24′3″W / 34.06694°N 118.40083°W / 34.06694; -118.40083
Built 1928
Architect Walker & Eisen[1]
NRHP reference # 87000908[1]
Added to NRHP June 12, 1987
The Beverly Wilshire Hotel in 1959

The Beverly Wilshire Beverly Hills (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. Guests have included US presidents and celebrities.

Location

The hotel is located at 9500 Wilshire Boulevard on the east side of South Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, California.

History

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 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 2006, the hotel was again renamed following a renovation, dropping the Regent affiliation and becoming Beverly Wilshire Beverly Hills (A Four Seasons Hotel).[7]

Since 2006, Wolfgang Puck has operated a restaurant, Cut, in the hotel.[8]

Notable guests and as a filming location

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.[8]

The American socialite and Woolworth department store heiress Barbara Hutton spent her last years in poor health in the hotel and died there in May 1979.[2].

Other notable guests include U.S. President Barack Obama,[9] the Emperor of Japan Hirohito, the Dalai Lama and Sadruddin Aga Khan,[8] as well as the musicians Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler,[10] Elton John, and actors Michael Caine, Michael Douglas, Farrah Fawcett, Bette Midler, Dustin Hoffman, Anjelica Huston, Robert Pattinson, Walter Matthau and Al Pacino.[8]

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.[8]. Decades later, 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.[11]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "National Register of Historical Places - California (CA), Los Angeles County". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2007-02-14.
  2. 1 2 3 "THE BEVERLY-WILSHIRE HOTEL". Travel Guide (lcsbg.com). 2011-02-09.
  3. ↑ "Famous for Two Elegant Beverly Hills Hostelries : Innkeeper Hernando Courtright Dies". LA Times (latimes.com). 1986-02-25. Retrieved 2015-02-27.
  4. ↑ http://articles.latimes.com/1985-11-06/business/fi-4809_1_beverly-wilshire
  5. ↑ http://www.travelweekly.com/Destinations2001-2007/The-Beverly-Wilshire-undergoes-a-transformation
  6. ↑ http://articles.latimes.com/2010/oct/06/business/la-fi-9900-wilshire-20101006
  7. ↑ https://ehotelier.com/news/2006/09/26/regent-beverly-wilshire-renamed/
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 "Seeing Stars:The Hotels of the Stars The Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel". Seeing-stars.com. Retrieved 2011-11-30.
  9. ↑ "Obama and rain in L.A. make for potential traffic nightmare". Los Angeles Times. 2011-11-25.
  10. ↑ Gorkow, Alexander. "Im Interview: Eric Clapton und J. J. Cale – "Ich bin dran. Also, die Antwort ist: Nein." – Kultur". Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). Sueddeutsche.de. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
  11. ↑ "Los Angeles: Top 10 'Entourage' Hotspots". BlackBook Magazine. 2009-07-28.
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