WHICH hotel in Beverly Hills is being used for porn shoots? Businessmen across the street say they can't get any work done because they're too busy looking at the action.
Bow Chicka Bow-Wowwww!
We'd be better equipped to make an educated guess if we had a little more info -- say, the film's budget or theme -- but we'll leave it up to you to guess the hotel based on sleaze factor and proximity to business-suited peeper-creepers.
While the official grand opening blowout isn't scheduled to go down until later this month, the NYT had a chance to pop into the London West Hollywood and, surprisingly, christened the hotel with a sparkling review -- a good bit of positive press after the "meh" reviews its much-hyped Gordon Ramsay restaurant has been receiving.
Though the hotel is still partially under construction (the reviewer mentioned the rooftop pool was a no-go zone), yesterday's Times "Check In, Check Out" feature gave props to the hotel's location, acknowledged the "disarmingly helpful" staff and gushed over the rooms:
All rooms have a balcony or terrace, and I woke up to a sweeping view over Beverly Hills. The décor by David Collins Studio is both flamboyant and muted. A wall was covered with parquet veneer and chairs had faux-alligator upholstering, but the colors were washed out, and the open-plan suite felt serene.
Fresh off a Game 1 and 2 win, the Boston Celtics have headed to Los Angeles for Game 3 at the Staples Center. And they will be shacking up somewhere in Beverly Hills, so says the Boston Globe.
We put out our guesses for team hotels in our initial round-up of Los Angeles Hotels for the finals but the fact that the Celtics would be hosting their gameday shootarounds at the hotel made us rethink some of the options. The hotels would have to be big enough or have enough space somewhere to hold a shootaround.
This makes us think of the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Century City, adjacent to BevHills. It has its own special-members only Equinox fitness center attached. Still, we wouldn't be surprised if the Celts picked one of the well-known hotels along Wilshire Boulevard.
However, don't get your hopes too high about seeing either Pierce, Garnett, Cassell and Pruitt at the hotel. These guys all have homes in LA and aren't mandated to stay at the team hotel.
In LA with the family? Want to make everyone happy by facilitating close encounters with celebrities that are sure to excite every member of the fam? Look no further than the Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel. You might spot John Mayer and Jen Aniston! Or Lohan and Alba! But in case the rest of your family is all like, "who? what?" don't worry! A tipster writes:
Saw Mark Walhberg hanging with his new funky bunch--His two kids and pregnant wife. Diane Keaton doing her Annie Hall impression, or is that Annie Hall doing her Diane Keaton impression? It's so hard to tell. And the topper was man-whore/man-pig/man-director Brett Ratner eating messily while talking on a cell phone and while seemingly pitching Rush Hour 4.
Your sister will remember Marky Mark because he opened up for the New Kids on the Block on their last tour, your little bro knows Brett Ratner because he's seen Rush Hour approximately 80 times and your parents will tell you all about how they "have always just loved that Diane Keaton."
With all the famous faces showing up at the Bev Hills Hotel lately, we're pretty sure this is the place to go for guaranteed celeb sightings in LA.
The Beverly Hills Hotel has a little coffee shop on its basement level just past the gift shop and the salon and it is truly one of our favorite places in Los Angeles.
There are only counter seats and only about 20 seats at that. The shop serves up all your favorite diner fare, although the hotel prefers to call it "informal" menus.
We rolled up there Saturday afternoon and were enjoying our tuna melt and classic coke when Lindsay Lohan and an assistant walked in. The duo took two seats at the end of the counter and the coffee shop quieted as peeps tried hard to look like they were not staring at her.
We're not sure what the hotel staff thought when Lindsay stepped into the Pink Palace, after all they are still recovering from Britney's breakdowns there.
The Beverly Hills City Council has approved the plans to demolish most of the existing Beverly Hills Hilton and in its place build a WAC hotel and two luxury condominium buildings. From San Jose Mercury News:
ilton Hotels Corp., which owns the Waldorf-Astoria brand, plans to demolish all structures on the nine-acre Beverly Hilton property except the existing hotel's main eight-story tower, said Beverly Hilton Vice President Corinne Verdery, who is in charge of the project.
In their place would stand a 170-room, five-star hotel, two luxury condo buildings with a total of about 100 units and a conference center, as well as a landscaped garden studded with public art works that would be accessible to the community, Verdery said.
While the garden is a nice concession, Beverly Hills residents are still concerned about traffic and they should be as the Santa Monica/Wilshire intersection where the hotel is located is already so jacked up. The residents are even starting a petition drive to derail the $500 million project.
What will happen to Trader Vic's inside the hotel? We don't know yet....
Well it musta been a hit with rich tree huggers and romantics alike because the hotel is continuing the special menu and candlelight setting throughout the summer.
In honor of Earth Week, Chef de Cuisine Brian Moyers at The Blvd in the Beverly Wilshire, has prepared a three-course menu that is exclusively comprised of items from local and sustainable farmers. The special menu will debut on Friday, April 25, 2008 and continue to be offered every Friday through the end of summer.
The special menu offers five small courses at $85 and $135 with wine pairings. The BLVD restaurant is also offering wine and cheese pairings every Wednesday through the end of summer.
Of course, if you're interested in dining at CUT, the scene of so many celebrity power gatherings, make your reservation far in advance. Or else show up like we did at 6pm on a Friday and promise to be done in an hour and half. You'll surely get a table that way. Worse comes to worst, you can hit Sidebar.
The Montage Beverly Hills slowly continues to rise over the ritzy city's Golden Triangle. We were driving by the other week and snapped this shot of the construction process from the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Beverly Drive.
But we're really curious as to what this place is going to look like when it's done. Thanks to Curbed LA we have a peek at a rendering (inset). Curbed reports:
Yes, the final rendering will likely change slightly again, a rep for the development tells Curbed, but you get the idea--there's a Spanish Colonial Revival thing going on. Set to open by November, the 201-room hotel will also sell condominiums and will offer two 2,000 square-foot fancy Presidential Suites. Just in time for the election.
All in all, it's not as bad as we were expecting the Montage to turn out. And this urban resort will offer a rooftop pool, bar and grill. Hear that Thompson BH? Better get yours open first!
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by Jenna
