Beverly Wilshire

This classic 395-room landmark property enjoys a rich history as one of Beverly Hills finest hotels.

 It was constructed by real estate developer Walter G. McCarty on the site of the former Beverly Hills Speedway and completed in 1928. By this time, the city had fewer than 18,000 residents. The hotel was then known as the "Beverly Wilshire Apartment Hotel". The E-shaped structure is built of a special Tuscan stone and Carrara marble in the Italian Renaissance architecture style.
New owners renamed it Beverly Wilshire Hotel.

1940s: it was renovated and a ballroom was added to accommodate the popular big bands of the day. An Olympic-sized swimming pool was built also championship tennis courts added, with tennis champion Pancho Gonzalez as tennis director.
The hotel changed hands in 1958 and again in 1961, when it was purchased by a group of investors headed by Hernando Courtright.
Barbara Hutton died at the Beverly Wilshire in May 1979.
Acquired by Regent International Hotels in 1985, the 395-room luxury hotel has been managed by Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts since 1992.

The hotel completed a $100 million renovation in 1989 and a $35 million renovation in 1998.

The Beverly Wilshire was one of the filming locations for the 1990 movie Pretty Woman; also still a common filming location for HBO's Entourage television series, with cast and crew filming there at least three times per season.
 

Pretty Woman
Not only did Pretty Woman help transform Julia Roberts into America’s sweetheart, it made the glamorous Regent Beverly Wilshire a Beverly Hills icon “We still get visitors, almost daily, to see the Pretty Woman Hotel,” says public relations manager, Katherine Petty of the hotel which recently changed its name to the Beverly Wilshire, a Four Seasons Hotel. While just the facade was used in the filming and no scenes were shot in the actual presidential suite, guests still call asking to book it. And the elevators are equipped with seats, just like in the film. Recently a couple visited hotel and worked with the staff to duplicate scenes from the film; they even booked their reservation under the name Miss Vivian. “Our guest relations team made sure that every moment of their stay was a replication of the movie, from when they stepped out of the limo to booking a table at a restaurant for the escargot scene,” says Petty. “She was even equipped with the red dress!”

Gerhard Stutz RM