Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel

Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel
Location	7000 Hollywood Blvd. Hollywood, California
Coordinates	34°6′4″N 118°20′30″W
Built	1927
Architect	Fisher, Lake & Traver
Architectural style(s)	Spanish Colonial Revival
Governing body	Private
Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument
Designated	1991
Reference No.	545
Location of Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles

The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel is a historic Spanish-style hotel located at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. Named after Theodore Roosevelt and financed by a group including Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford and Louis B. Mayer, it first opened its doors on May 15, 1927. It cost $2.5 million ($33 million in today's money or dollars) to complete this twelve-story building which holds 300 rooms and suites. It is now managed by Thompson Hotels.

Following a major renovation in 2005 which was overseen by Dodd Mitchell, The Hollywood Roosevelt has been more prominently featured in films and in Hollywood nightlife. There has been a recent surge in popularity within young Hollywood in the last few years, thanks to trendy nightclub Teddy's, which is located in the main lobby of the hotel.

Place in Hollywood History

The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel hosted the presentation of the 1st Academy Awards in 1929 inside its Blossom ballroom. Later ceremonies were much larger than this banquet for 250, so there was never an attempt to host the awards at the hotel a third time.

Frances Farmer was the guest of honor in the early 1950s after appearing on This Is Your Life. Marilyn Monroe was a resident at the Hollywood Roosevelt for two years when her modeling career took off. Her first magazine shoot was taken on the diving board on the pool behind the hotel, which was recently removed. The hotel's remodeled pool contains an underwater mural painted by David Hockney.

Alleged hauntings

There have been many rumors of hauntings at this hotel. Some involve celebrities, such as Marilyn Monroe and Montgomery Clift, who lived at the hotel in the past. Others involve a little girl in a blue dress. There have also been reports of cold spots, photographic "orbs", and mysterious phone calls to the hotel operator.

The hotel in popular culture

• It is the location for the finale of the 1988 film Sunset, with a recreation of the first Academy Awards, which were held at the hotel.
• A lengthy sequence in the film Catch Me If You Can, involving Leonardo DiCaprio's character hiding out in a motel, was shot in the hotel's low-rise cabana wing and by its pool.
• It is featured in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle
• In Curb your Enthusiasm, Larry David spars with an inlaw in the lobby of the Roosevelt Hotel after not being able to book a room.
• Carl Kolchak from the television series Kolchak: The Night Stalker spends a few nights in Room 212 while on assignment in Los Angeles. Episode 4: The Vampire. Aired October 4, 1974
• "Hotel Roosevelt" is the title of the third track on the album All the Stars and Boulevards by the California-based rock band Augustana.
• In the first season of Great American Road Trip, the final two families spend the night at the hotel.
• The hotel was featured in the opening of The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. Andy Richter began the introductions as the hotel appeared on screen.
• In the final episode of the seventh season of Entourage, Vince ends his meltdown with a fistfight at Eminem's party at the hotel.
• In the 2010 action/thriller film Takers, there is a shootout in one of the suites at the hotel.
• It is featured in the 2005 music video for You and Me by Lifehouse.
• It is a location and landmark in the 2011 game L.A. Noire.

Notable residents (past and present)

Clark Gable and Carole Lombard paid five dollars a night for their penthouse; it is now named the Gable & Lombard Penthouse. There is also a Marilyn Monroe Suite at the hotel.

Other notable residents and guests of the hotel have included Marilyn Monroe, Shirley Temple, Elizabeth Taylor, Mary Pickford, Gloria Swanson, Clara Bow, Johnny Grant, Charlie Chaplin, Judy Garland, Clara Blandick, Hugh Hefner, David Niven, Lew Ayres, Kirsten Dunst, Douglas Fairbanks, Errol Flynn, Topher Grace, Cary Grant, Jake Gyllenhaal, Lola The Vamp,, Paris Hilton, Scarlett Johansson, Al Jolson, Harold Lloyd, Lindsay Lohan, Eva Longoria, Courtney Love, Mary Martin, Eva Mendes, Marilyn Manson, Chris Jericho, Prince, Nicole Richie, Bill Robinson, Will Rogers, Frank Sinatra, Will Smith, Bruce Willis, Christopher Bennett, Will Ferrell, Ryan Adams, Miranda Cosgrove, Ryan Avery, Demi Lovato, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.

See also

• Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments in Hollywood
• Jason Pomeranc

External links

• Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel Official Website
• Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel @ Seeing-Stars.com
• Haunted Hotel: Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel
• Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel's Bowling Alley: The Spare Room