Three years of drama school might earn you a degree in acting, but one minute inside The Beverly Hills Hotel and suddenly you’re a star. In the City of Angels, Wonderland checks into Marilyn Monroe, Charlie Chaplin and Elizabeth Taylor’s favourite playground for a crash course in Hollywood lore.
It’s 6am, March ‘77. Photographer Terry O’Neill captures one of cinema’s most immortal hangovers: Faye Dunaway, poolside at the Beverly Hills Hotel, hours after winning her Best Actress Oscar for Network. She slouches in a chair, gaze vacant, her golden statuette perched next to a teapot, stilettos still buckled to her ankles, morning papers strewn like confetti at her feet. Behind her, palm trees spear the Californian horizon, the pool shimmering into the sky. The shot became legend – a distilled portrait of Hollywood’s intoxicating trifecta: triumph, fatigue and myth. That’s the Beverly Hills Hotel effect: history served straight, no chaser.
Elizabeth Taylor honeymooned there six times (practice makes perfect). Paul McCartney and Linda Eastman, rumour has it, fell in love on those grounds, while The Eagles found inspiration within its walls for Hotel California. Marilyn Monroe called dibs on bungalow number one, while Chaplin favoured number nine.
Founded in 1912 by businesswoman and socialite Margaret Anderson, the Sunset Boulevard address swiftly established itself as one of the city’s most storied stays. Rodeo Drive, Melrose Place and the West Hollywood strip are mere minutes away, while Santa Monica and Venice Beach lie a breezy 25-minute drive west. Even if you’ve never set foot in La La Land, chances are you’d recognise the hotel’s cursive logo and candy-pink-and-palm-green interiors – hence its enduring nickname, The Pink Palace, and the hordes of tourists jumping into Ubers just to take a snap for the ‘Gram.
From its red-carpet-esque entrance to the buzzing tables of The Polo Lounge and Cabana Cafe – two of Hollywood’s most revered gastronomic haunts – the hotel has long been a creative refuge for A-listers. With 210 rooms and 23 bungalows, the property today belongs to the Dorchester Collection, rubbing shoulders with other icons of hospitality such as Hotel Bel-Air, Le Meurice in Paris, Hotel Eden in Rome, and The Dorchester in London. It’s the best of both worlds: the lavish polish of a Dorchester-approved stay, paired with corridors steeped in old-school glamour.
Los Angeles is a city of overstimulation – everything happening, everywhere, all at once. But for those craving pause, the hotel’s spa offers a menu of indulgences. Why not stay on theme? The Marilyn Monroe Massage feels like a fitting choice. By breakfast, the poolside is a sunlit stage: striped cotton cabanas drape over loungers with effortless elegance, guests reclining like extras in a silver-screen tableau. But no selfies are allowed, of course, to give the stars a little peace. Just another day in Hollywood – quite literally.
Words – Sofia Ferreira
