When the Beverly Wilshire Hotel opened at 9500 Wilshire Blvd in Beverly Hills on January 14, 1928, it was known as the “Beverly Wilshire Apartment Hotel” and operated as an apartment building not a hotel as we conceived hotels today. Back then, Beverly Hills’ population was less than 18,000 (it’s currently around 32,000) and nearby Rodeo Dr. was decades away from being the famous commercial strip it is today. Built on the site of the former Beverly Hills Speedway, it opened just a year and a half before the stock market crash, so it’s lucky to have survived the Great Depression (movie money may have had something to do with that.) This image was taken in 1937, by which time it had weathered the worst of the worst and was on its way to becoming the landmark hotel is today. And yes, it’s often referred to as “the Pretty Woman hotel” as this is where Richard Gere was living when he picked up Julia Roberts.
John J says: “The Los Angeles Speedway was south of Charleville blvd., and not under the hotel. Maybe the confusion comes from the entrance being on Speedway Drive, now El Camino?”
This is how the hotel looked in December 2022. Those colorful awnings are changed every season.
I thought it was a bit older than that. There’s a shot in Chaplin’s “City Lights” where you can see the hotel in the background. It’s one of those times the drunk millionaire was driving Charlie around in his car. The movie was released in 1931, so the hotel was nearly brand new!