The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, also known as Hotel Roosevelt, is a historic hotel located at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California. It opened on May 15, 1927, and is the oldest continually operating hotel in Los Angeles.
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History
The hotel was built in 1926, in what is known as the Golden Era of Los Angeles architecture, and was named after the 26th president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt. It was financed by a group that included Louis B. Mayer, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and Sid Grauman. It cost $2.5 million ($43.9 million today) to complete and opened on May 15, 1927.
The hotel went into a decline in the 1950s. An owner around that time demolished its archways, covered up its elaborately painted ceilings and painted the entire hotel seafoam green. Radisson Hotels purchased the hotel in 1985 and, using original blueprints and historic photos of the hotel's Spanish Colonial architecture, undertook a $35 million renovation, restoring the lobby's coffered ceiling and adding a three-tiered fountain, among other improvements. The million-dollar mural at the bottom of the hotel's Tropicana Pool was painted by David Hockney in 1987.
In 1984, the Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District was added to the National Register of Historic Places, with Hotel Roosevelt listed as a contributing property in the district. On August 13, 1991, the City of Los Angeles declared the hotel building Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 545.
In 1995, Goodwin Gaw purchased the hotel from Clarion Hotels, with David Chang later becoming co-owner. In 2005, the Thompson Hotel Group assumed oversight of the hotel's management. The Dodd Mitchell Design Group and David Siguaw oversaw a $30 million renovation of the hotel in 2005. Since 2015, the hotel has been run independently by its own management company. In 2015, the hotel completed a $25 million renovation with rooms designed by Yabu Pushelberg, and plans for a new poolside food and beverage outlet. The hotel was then inducted into Historic Hotels of America, an official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, in 2016.
Design and style
The 12-story hotel has 300 guest rooms including 63 suites. It occupies a site on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and across Hollywood Boulevard from the TCL Chinese Theatre. The building has a Spanish Colonial Revival Style interior, with leather sofas, wrought-iron chandeliers and colorful tiled fountains.
The architects Fisher, Lake and Traver are also credited with the Westward Ho Hotel in Phoenix and The Willmore Building in Long Beach.
The Gable-Lombard penthouse, a 3,200 square-foot duplex with an outdoor deck with views of the Hollywood Hills and the Hollywood sign, is named for Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, who used to stay in the room for five dollars a night. The Marilyn Monroe suite is named for the actress, who lived at the hotel for two years early in her career. Other accommodations include King Superior rooms and vintage 1950s poolside cabanas.
