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A Star is RebornThe Beverly HiltonBy Valerie Summers
The 570 room hotel was ahead of its time as the first hotel to install high-speed elevators employing the newest technology. The management team hired UCLA scientists to assure complete soundproofing between guest rooms. The Beverly Hilton was also the first luxury hotel to have air-conditioning thermostats in each room giving its guests discretionary heating and cooling options. Pet lovers will be pleased to know that the hotel was one of the first pet-friendly hotels in the country. What was classified as the most exclusive restaurant in the world opened on the Beverly Hilton’s eighth floor. Conrad Hilton flew in three French chefs to cook and train his restaurant team in European service and food preparation for L’Escoffier. Adding to the mystique was the lack of prices on the menu. If you had to worry about cost, you shouldn’t have been dining there. The Beverly Hilton hosted a plethora of milestone events in both the political and entertainment worlds during the last 50 years beginning with the first ever Grammy Awards in 1959 where the one and only Ella was awarded Best Female Vocalist in the hotel’s Grand Ballroom.
In 1987 entertainer Merv Griffen bought the Beverly Hilton which he owned until it was purchased by entrepreneur and co-founder of Pacific Bell Electronics, Beny Alagem’s new company Oasis West Realty in 2003. The following year, the new owner began a more than $80 million reinvention of the legendary property. The International Ballroom was the scene of Nancy Regan’s public support for stem cell research while being honored by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation in 2004. Celebrating its 40th year, the Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon moved from its previous home at CBS Television City to the Beverly Hilton’s International Ballroom, adding a new event to the Ballroom’s history as a philanthropic hub. Sidney Poitier once commented, “I believe more money has been raised in this ballroom than in any other in the world.” Combining star power with politics, California’s own “governator” recently hosted a small gathering to celebrate his birthday in the hotel’s Stardust Lounge. The list goes on with star studded incidents and programs. Longtime Hollywood publicist Dale Olsen recently stated, “There hasn’t been a celebrity in Hollywood for the past 60 years that hasn’t been to the Beverly Hilton at least several times…it is the gathering place of the stars.”
The renovation has effectively transformed the entire hotel into a virtual business center with free wireless internet in all public spaces offering access to e-mail, news and the ability to connect to the web under the California sunshine.
To make things even more luxurious and more convenient for hotel guests, the Beverly Hilton also features a state of the art fitness center, full-service luxury spa, the landmark Trader Vic’s Polynesian restaurant and an unbeatable location at the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. For information: |
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TM
Nineteen fifty five was a banner
year! It was the year of my first visit to Los Angeles. It also marked the
opening of the original Disneyland. And the stars in Beverly Hills got a lot
brighter with the grand opening of the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The hotel’s
well-known architect, Welton Beckett, left his mark on Los Angeles with other
landmarks including the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, the LAX Theme
Building, Capitol Records Building and the Los Angeles Music Center. On August
12, more than 60 members of the press, hundreds of Hollywood stars, numerous
socialites, dignitaries and politicians arrived to celebrate the Grand Opening
over which Conrad Hilton presided.
On July 10, 1960 presidential nominee
John F. Kennedy held a gala fundraiser where his pal Frank Sinatra rounded up a
host of celebrities who mingled with the crowd of 2, 800 supporters. Throughout
his tenure JFK resided in the Presidential Suite while in Southern California.
Stanley Kubrick’s Spartacus took
home the award for Best Picture at the first Golden Globe Awards in the
International Ballroom in 1961. The awards ceremony returned to the Beverly
Hilton Hotel 10 years later and has called it home ever since.
For hotel guests, the
ultimate luxury, replacing the exclusive L’Escoffier restaurant, the eighth
floor now houses the Penthouse Collection, an elite group of nine suites
designed to give guests the finest in style, comfort, flexibility and
technology.
With or without celebrity status,
guests of the Beverly Hilton are all treated like stars. The 80 million dollar
reinvention features rooms with the finest in design and appointments, boasting
the latest in technology and the finest in-room amenities. Outside, the hotel’s
Aqua Star Pool, inaugurated by Esther Williams, remains the largest in Beverly
Hills. Overlooking the pool, the Circa 55 and C 55 Lounge combines a retro-chic
interior atmosphere with cool, casual poolside dining, reflective of the
laid-back sophistication that is uniquely Californian.