Beverly Hills Hotel

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The Beverly Hills Hotel, overlooking Beverly Hills, 1921.

The Beverly Hills Hotel in 2007

The Beverly Hills Hotel is a hotel in Beverly Hills, CA, at 9641 Sunset Boulevard. It was opened on May 12, 1912 and started by Margaret J. Anderson and her son, Stanley S. Anderson, who had been managing the Hollywood Hotel. The original main building of the Beverly Hills Hotel was designed by Pasadena architect Elmer Grey. The extensive gardens of the grounds were designed by landscape architect Wilbur David Cook. Since the city's inception, the hotel has been a central meeting place for residents and business people, especially from Los Angeles's movie and television industries.

The hotel is a member of The Leading Hotels of the World and is currently managed and owned by the Dorchester Collection. The Dorchester Collection is a collection of five luxury hotels in the United Kingdom, the United States, France, and Italy and was organized in 1996 to manage the hotel interests of the Brunei Investment Agency.

Svend Petersen, the pool manager at the hotel for 42 years has become a Hotel Ambassador in 2002 and is a symbol of Old Hollywood. He opened up the pool after hours for the Beatles and he taught Faye Dunaway to swim a freestyle crawl in for Mommie Dearest. The Eagles featured it in the album cover art of their 1976 LP "Hotel California".

It is also home to the famous Polo Lounge.

Some of the hotel's owners have been celebrities: Irene Dunne, Loretta Young, and currently the Sultan of Brunei.

1 Recent Purchase
2 Controversial Guest Policy
3 Contacting the Hotel
4 Notable Guests
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Recent Purchase

Marvin H. Davis bought the Hotel for 54 million from Burt Slatkin & Ivan Frederick Boesky infamous for Wall Street insider trading. Ivan Frederick Boesky bought the 5% of stock that was outstanding for a reported fortune and was able to intice Slatkin to sell despite his desire to keep the hotel. Davis was considered at the time to be a fool to pay such a price for the hotels revenue didn't justify the price. The surrounding Bel Air real estate was ignored by most and Davis found a willing buyer in the Sultan of Brunei less than a year later for $110 million.

[edit] Controversial Guest Policy

The hotel has come under recent scrutiny for its stated and unaltered bigoted policies of dehumanizing individuals and removing guests from the hotel without cause, against law. The hotel has refused to apologize or comment on its conduct or policies (Telephone conversation with public relations, June 06, 2008, 12:08 PST).