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Overview

A consortium composed of a leading Los Angeles real estate developer, film company insiders and two prominent silent film actors commissioned the construction of this grand, 12-story, hotel, intended to cater to tourists visiting Hollywood, the film capital of the world. Built in 1926-1927, the hotel epitomized the booming growth of Hollywood during the 1920s and became an important meeting and lodging place for film executives and movie stars in its earliest years. It also became a notable example of the Spanish Colonial Revival Style applied to a high-rise building.

Building History

The Hollywood Roosevelt Properties Corporation hired the Los Angeles and Fresno-based architectural firm of Fisher, Lake and Traver to design a new 12-story tourist hotel located on the southwest corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Orange Drive. H.B. Traver served as the lead design partner on the Hollywood Roosevelt. (See "Hollywood to Get New Hotel: Film Money Backs Project to Cost $2,500,000," Los Angeles Times, 10/22/1925, p. A1.) According to this 10/22/1925 article, "The structure will be built in T-shape, done in Spanish type architecture and will cover a ground area of 160x180 feet. It will contain 400 rooms. Featuring the exterior will be a roof garden with a third-floor entrance. The grounds about the hostelry are to be landscaped in such manner as to produce the effect of a garden in Spain." It continued, "In addition to the hotel proper, the building will contain accommodations for nine stores, front on both Hollywood Boulevard and Orange Drive, and of the ultra-exclusive type." The architects' affiliated construction company, Trewhitt-Shields, signed a contract in 10/1925 to erect the hotel within a year's time, although the firm missed the deadline by about a year. The Los Angeles Times reported on 10/23/1927, that the "Contract for the building was let for $1,434,100, and the site and furnishings will bring the investment for the project to $2,500,000." Among the original backers of the Hollywood Roosevelt Properties Corporation were the local developer, Charles Edward Toberman (1880-1981), impresario Sid Grauman (1879-1950), film producer Lou Anger (1878–1946), movie executive Joseph M. Schenck (1878-1961), and actors, Douglas Fairbanks (1883-1939) and Mary Pickford (1892-1979). Investor and East Coast hotel executive Hugh A. Beaton, Jr., obtained a 30-year lease to manage the hotel operation in 11/1925. In 1927, Beaton hired J.A. Hadley, who had previously managed the similarly-sized Commodore Perry Hotel in Downtown Toledo, OH, to serve as the Roosevelt's on-site manager. (See "Opening of Roosevelt Hotel Set: Formal Ceremonies Next Friday and Saturday at New Hollywood Hostelry," Los Angeles Times, 10/21/1927, p. A9.)

The groundbreaking ceremony, staged by master showman Grauman, occurred on 05/24/1926, and was emceed by the well-known actor Fred Niblo (1874-1948) and featured an assemblage of silent picture stars, the Mayor of Los Angeles George C. Cryer (1875-1961) as Honorary Chairman, a flyover by the "Black Falcons," a stunt pilot group, and showgirls dressed as pirates from Grauman's Chinese Theatre nearby. (See "Hollywood to Christen New Hotel," Los Angeles Times, 05/24/1926, p. A5.) When construction and interior design had been completed, similarly elaborate opening ceremonies were also choreographed by Grauman. The hotel staged a preview opening on 10/27/1927 for city officials and Southern CA hotel executives, and had a formal, star-studded, public opening the following evening. The Los Angeles Times stated: "The formal opening of the Roosevelt will be celebrated tonight and tomorrow night and will be attended by virtually every motion-picture star of prominence." (See "Newest of City Hotels Previewed," Los Angeles Times, 10/28/1927, p. A2.)

Due to the influence of Schenck and the other owners of the Roosevelt, this 400-room hotel became an important assembly and lodging establishment for the movie industry before World War II. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences occupied offices in the hotel from c. 1928 until 1935, when it moved to new space in the Taft Building. The Blossom Room of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel hosted the first Oscar Awards Ceremony, 05/16/1929. The Dutch-born, Southern California artist, Anthony (Antoon) B. Heinsbergen (1894-1981), painted ceiling murals for the interior of the Roosevelt Hotel.

By the mid-century, the Hull Hotels Corporation had purchased the Roosevelt, to complement its El Rancho Hotels operating in Las Vegas, Fresno, Indio and Sacramento. Hull would eventually purchase theSan Francisco's Bellevue, the Mayfair in Los Angeles, and Sacramento's Hotel Senator, as well.

In 2015, Thompson Hotels operated the Roosevelt containing 300 suites and rooms.

Building Notes

An early newspaper report descirbed the new concrete-and-steel-framed hotel: "The structure will be built in T-shape, done in Spanish type architecture and will cover a ground area of 160x180 feet. It will contain 400 rooms. Featuring the exterior will be a roof garden with a third-floor entrance. The grounds about the hostelry are to be landscaped in such manner as to produce the effect of a garden in Spain." (See "Hollywood to Get New Hotel: Film Money Backs Project to Cost $2,500,000," Los Angeles Times, 10/22/1925, p. A1.) Emphasis was made that the steel-and-concrete construction would be fireproof, a major worry for skyscraper hotels of the time. The building contained nine storefronts, numerous offices and an array of meeting and reception rooms geared to serve the needs of the film industry. Another article outlined the hotel's main features: "Its 400 rooms, several on each floor, of the apartment type with kitchenettes, can be divided into suites of almost any size. On the roof of the building is a complete bungalow-apartment with kitchen and studio apartment. Modern conveniences in each room include mechanical refrigeration from a central plant, circulating ice water, etc." Clark Gable and Carole Lombard occupied the penthouse studio for an extensive period, and it was subsequently named for them. The article then discussed how the hotel would accommodate the film industry and its functions: "Interested in the Hollywood Roosevelt Properties Corporation are many of the celebrities of the screen, producers, directors and persons prominent in the theatrical world. As a result, it is expected that the hotel will be a rendezvous for professional folk. A large and luxuriantly furnished lounge has been set aside for their gatherings, to be known as the Screen Room." (See "Opening of Roosevelt Hotel Set: Formal Ceremonies Next Friday and Saturday at New Hollywood Hostelry," Los Angeles Times, 10/21/1927, p. A9.) In addition, the Roosevelt contained multiple dining rooms where business deals could get done, including a basement grill room, a main-floor containing an expansive dining area and a special supper room, complete with its own pipe organ intended to provide music for nightly dancing, and a spacious private dining room on the second floor.

Tel: 323.466.7000 (2007).

Alteration

In 1950, the Roosevelt's owner, theHull Hotels Corporation,embarked on a $1 million "Parade of Progress" expansion and refurbishment effort. Between 1950 and 1955, Thomas E. Hull (1893-1964), a pioneer of resort hotel design in Las Vegas, and his sister/business partner, Sally E. Crofwell (1890-1959), undertook a series of alterations to the Roosevelt. The first, begun in 04/1950, consisted of the addition of a group of 60 villas clustered around a large swimming pool, a resort-like, poolside setting concept taken from Hull's successful El Rancho Hotel in Las Vegas, NV, opened 04/03/1941. Soon thereafter, all existing rooms in the 12-story original Roosevelt were redesigned, the lobby overhauled, a new dining room, The Islander Room, was opened in 1952, and the existing Cinegrill was expanded and redecorated in 1953.

During 1954-1955, Los Angeles architect Stiles O. Clements (1883-1966) designed a $1 million, 40,882-square-foot addition to the Roosevelt. Constructed by T-S Construction Engineers, Incorporated, this renovation phase included the erection of a four-story, 300-car parking garage, the renovation of the existing Blossom Room (in 1954) and the addition of a two-story, 31-room block to the earlier 60-room expansion. (See "Hotel Expansion Program Now Nearing Completion," Los Angeles Times, 06/19/1955, p. E1.)

The Roosevelt underwent an extensive renovation in 2005, supervised by designer, Dodd Mitchell.