The Hollywood Roosevelt - History
historic hotels historic accommodations historic lodging historic resorts historic inns
Our historic hotels and resorts offer unique accommodations that capture the essence, elegance, and style of timeless American history and culture. Book today!
/favicon.ico
Historic Hotels Worldwide
Located across from the famous TCL Chinese Theatre, The Hollywood Roosevelt resides in the heart of downtown Hollywood. It specifically sits near the world-famous Hollywood Boulevard and its celebrated Hollywood Walk of Fame. The Hollywood Boulevard itself was originally called “Prospect Avenue,” until real estate developer Charles E. Toberman decided to transform it into a vibrant theatre district during the 1920s. Working alongside Sid Grauman, Toberman developed several theaters and concert halls, including the TCL Chinese Theatre, the Egyptian Theatre, and the El Captain Theatre. Toberman also played a role in constructing a number of other structures, too, such as the Hollywood Masonic Temple and the Max Factor Building. Hollywood Boulevard quickly became the center of the neighborhood, with countless movie stars frequenting its shops and restaurants. To commemorate the thoroughfare’s symbolic association to the Los Angeles film industry, E.M. Stuart of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce spearheaded an effort to create a special monument in its honor in 1953. Stuart and his fellow chamber members worked closely with the Anesco Construction Company to create what they called the “Hollywood Walk of Fame,” which would consist of installing shiny brass stars along the boulevard’s sidewalk. Each star would feature the name of a prominent person affiliated with the local film industry. Today, the Hollywood Walk of Fame extends for some 15 blocks and contains over 2,600 stars. The entire area is protected as a National Register of Historic Places District by the U.S. Department of the Interior.

When the group of Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pitchford, Louis B. Mayer, and Sid Grauman decided to construct a luxurious boutique hotel in downtown Hollywood, they wanted it to be the best. For the project, they hired the architectural firm Fisher, Lake & Traver. The architects developed the building based on the principles of Spanish Colonial Revival-style architecture. They designed the hotel with an asymmetrical T-shaped layout that extended 12 stories up into the air. Build with concrete, the building displayed such beautiful architectural features, such as wrought iron balconies, pierced gills, arched windows separated by columnettes. It also contained Churrigueresque ornamentations throughout the façade. Fisher, Lake & Traver topped the building off with a gorgeous red roof. In all, it took nearly a year and some $2.5 million to complete. When the hotel was finally ready to open in May of 1927, the group chose to name it “The Hollywood Roosevelt” after former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt.

Yet, the architectural beauty of The Hollywood Roosevelt declined significantly in the 1950s, when various owners attempted to “modernize” the hotel. In their haste to make the building more palatable to contemporary travelers, they concealed its most distinguishing architectural features. Owners around this time even coated the entire façade in a paint of seafoam green. Fortunately, salvation arrived in the form of Radisson Hotels in 1985, which invested $35 million in restoring The Hollywood Roosevelt back to its original appearance. Using the blueprints drafted by Fisher, Lake & Traver, Radisson managed to salvage the ornate Spanish Colonial Revival design aesthetics. Much of its work focused specifically on restoring the guestrooms, as well as the interior lobby. Radisson Hotels also hired the renowned British painter David Hockney to create a magnificent mural inside the hotel Tropicana Pool. The Hollywood Roosevelt has since undergone several other renovations in 2005 and 2015.

First Academy Awards Ceremony (1929): Known more commonly as “The Oscars,” the Academy Awards have been a fixture in American pop culture for nearly a century. People across the nation watch every year to see their favorite actors and actresses recognized for their wonderful talents. This prestigious award ceremony originally began back in 1929, when the very first Academy Award ceremony was held at The Hollywood Roosevelt. Yet, the very idea of such an event was born two years prior, when Louis B. Mayer established the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (otherwise known as the AMPAS). A prominent movie producer and co-founder of MGM studios, Mayer had long wished to find a way to unite the different branches of the film industry together. He decided that the best strategy was to create a luxurious annual award ceremony that would collectively celebrate their work. According to Mayer himself: “I found that the best way to handle filmmakers was to hang medals all over them…If I got them cups and awards, they'd kill them to produce what I wanted. That's why the Academy Award was created.” He subsequently tasked the art director at MGM—Cedric Gibbons—to design the trophy that the various winners would receive, eventually creating the famous Oscar Statuette. Selections for the First Academy Awards began in early February, with the selection process taking several months to complete.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences chose the Hollywood Roosevelt to serve as the venue for the award ceremony. The event itself consisted of an exquisite banquet attended by 270 people. Tickets cost five dollars a person, roughly equivalent to $75 in today’s money. Hollywood’s most celebrated stars arrived in all sorts of luxurious cars and were greeted by swarms of adoring fans as they made their way inside the hotel. Yet, the ceremony was not broadcasted live either on radio or television. Instead, the president of the AMPAS—actor Douglas Fairbanks—announced all of the award-winners during a brief 15-minute ceremony. In total, 12 different awards were given out for the following categories: Outstanding Picture, Best Unique and Artistic Picture, Best Directing (Comedy Picture), Best Directing (Dramatic Picture), Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Writing (Original Story); Best Writing (Adaptation); Best Art Director; Best Cinematography; Best Engineering Effects; Best Writing (Title Writing). Emil Jannings won Best Actor for his role as General Dolgorucki in the film, The Last Command, while Janet Ganynor received Best Actress for her work in three separate movies—7th Heaven, Street Angel, and Sunrise. The recipient of the Outstanding Picture—the predecessor to today’s Best Picture award—was the movie Wings, starring Clara Bow, Charles “Buddy” Rogers, and Richard Allen.

Carole Lombard, actress known for her roles in My Man Godfrey, Nothing Sacred, and To Be or Not to Be.

Charlie Chaplin, actor known for his silent roles in The Kid and A Woman of Paris.

Clark Gable, actor known for his roles in It Happened One Night, Mutiny on the Bounty, Gone with the Wind.

Douglas Fairbanks, actor known for his roles in The Thief of Baghdad, Robin Hood, and The Mark of Zorro.

Elizabeth Patterson, actress best remembered for her role as Mrs. Trumbull on the hit television show, I Love Lucy.

Errol Flynn, actor known for such roles in Captain Blood, The Charge of the Light Brigade, and The Adventures of Robin Hood.

Frances Farmer, actress known for her roles in Come and Get It, Rhythm on the Range, and Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake.

Gloria Swanson, actress known for her roles in such movies as Sunset Boulevard, Sadie Thompson, and Queen Kelly.

Greta Garbo, renowned actress known for her roles in Grand Hotel, Romance, and Anna Christie.

Lew Ayres, actor best remember for playing Paul Bäumer in All Quiet on the Western Front.

Marilyn Monroe, actress known for her roles in Bus Stop and Some Like It Hot.

Mary Martin, actress remembered for her roles in South Pacific and The Sound of Music.

Mary Pickford, renowned actress known for her role in the silent film Coquette.

Montgomery Clift, actor known for his roles in such movies like I Confess, Red River, and A Place in the Sun.

Shirley Temple, child actress known for her role in Bright Eyes and The Little Princess.

Will Rogers, actor known for his roles in such films like Judge Priest, In Old Kentucky, and Steamboat Round the Bend.

Ernest Hemingway, author known for writing such books like A Farwell to Arms and The Old Man and the Sea.

F. Scott Fitzgerald, author known best for writing The Great Gatsby.

Max Baer Sr., World Heavyweight Champion in boxing from 1934 to 1935.

1926: A group of four prominent film industry professionals decided to create a luxurious new hotel in Los Angeles’ up-and-coming Hollywood neighborhood. Those individuals were: actor Douglas Fairbanks and his second wife, movie star Mary Pickford; legendary movie producer Louis B. Mayer; and the owner of the famed TCL Chinese Theater, Sid Grauman. Hiring architectural firm Fisher, Lake & Traver for the project, the hotel took nearly a year to construct.

1929: The very first Academy Awards ceremony was held inside The Hollywood Roosevelt. Unlike format of most Academy Awards, this event was not broadcast live either on the television or radio. Instead, the ceremony consisted of a private gala dinner that was followed by a quick 15-minute series of presentations. The movie, Wings, won Best Picture, while Emil Jannings and Janey Gaynor won Best Actor and Best Actress, respectively.

1930s: Clark Gable and Carole Lombard began frequenting a penthouse on the hotel’s 12th floor in complete secrecy. Having fallen in love, their relationship proved scandalous as Gable was still married to fellow movie star, Rhea Langham. Gable would eventually divorce Langham and marry Lombard. The two would remain married until Lombard’s untimely death in 1942.

1940s: Marylin Monroe moved into a guestroom on the 2nd floor that overlooked the hotel’s magnificent Tropicana Pool. Her managers had placed her in the hotel, so she had easy access to the many Hollywood producers that wished to employ her as an actress. That space is preserved today as the “Marilyn Suite.”

1952: Actor Montgomery Clift spent three months at The Hollywood Roosevelt while working on From Here to Eternity. Based on a novel of the same name, the movie followed the challenges facing three U.S. Army soldiers stationed on Hawaii in the months leading up to the Attack on Pearl Harbor. The film eventually won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.

1955: The Hollywood Roosevelt was featured prominently in an episode of I Love Lucy. The episode concerned the fictious arrival of the Ricardos and the Mertzes to Hollywood. Elizabeth Patterson—celebrated for her role as Mrs. Mertzes on I Love Lucy—lived at the hotel over the span of her entire career.

1985: Radisson Hotels acquired The Hollywood Roosevelt, investing some $35 million to completely renovate the hotel back to its former glory. The company used the original blueprints to guide its working, focusing heavily on rehabilitating the accommodations and interior lobby. Renowned British painter David Hockney was then hired two years later to create the beautiful mural at the bottom of the hotel’s Tropicana Pool.

1991: The City of Los Angeles declared The Hollywood Roosevelt to be a “Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument” for its close connection to Hollywood’s film industry. This development occurred on the heels of the U.S. Department of the Interior identifying the hotel as a significant contributing structure for the Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District.

1995: Hong Kong-based real estate developer Goodwin Gaw acquired the Hollywood Roosevelt, later partnering up with David Chang to run the business as co-owners.

2005: The Thompson Hotel Group assumed control over The Hollywood Roosevelt from Gawn and Chang. The company subsequently began another series of extensive renovations that cost more than $30 million. Among the focal points of the project was the creation of a new dining establishment called “25 Degrees.” The Dodd Mitchell Design Group led the redesign efforts.

2015: The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel became wholly independent once again. The new owners then initiated their own renovation of the building, which cost $25 million to complete.