Not a chain. Not a brand. A landmark.
The Hollywood Roosevelt opened in 1927, the same year talking pictures changed everything. The hotel was bankrolled by the people who built Hollywood. Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Louis B. Mayer, and it's been at the center of it all ever since.
Independently operated, twelve stories tall, and still writing its own story on Hollywood Boulevard.
Almost a century of showing up.
Every decade brought something new. Most of it was never planned. All of it was legendary.
Opening Night
Developer C.E. Toberman opens a 12-story, 400-room hotel at 7000 Hollywood Blvd., directly across from Grauman's Chinese Theatre. The investors read like a studio credits reel: Sid Grauman, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Louis B. Mayer, Marcus Loew. The lobby is Spanish Colonial. The ambition is anything but modest.
The First Oscars
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences — whose headquarters were on our mezzanine — holds the very first Academy Awards in the Blossom Room. Douglas Fairbanks hosts. Al Jolson performs. Wings wins Best Picture. The whole thing takes 15 minutes.
Radio Goes Live from the Blossom Room
Live radio broadcasts beam dance band performances from the Blossom Room across the country. The Patio Roof restaurant overlooks Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Every premiere party worth attending is held here. The Roosevelt becomes the undisputed social headquarters of Hollywood.
Through the War and Out the Other Side
Throughout the 1930s and 1940s the hotel hosts premiere after premiere, industry event after industry event. After WWII, a full remodel keeps the Roosevelt at the center of Hollywood's postwar renaissance. The city is changing. The hotel keeps up.
The Pool Opens. Everything Changes.
The Resort Wing opens with 60 guest rooms, individual patio sun-decks, a 30-by-75-foot tile swimming pool, pool bar, snack bar, and tropical gardens. Industry publicists immediately start using the pool as a backdrop for photo shoots with new talent. It becomes the place to be seen.
Marilyn Moves In
Marilyn Monroe stays at the hotel — first in the Tower, then in room 229 in the Resort Wing. Her first commercial photographs are taken around the pool. She's not yet Marilyn Monroe. She's about to be. The Roosevelt is where it starts.
Montgomery Clift. Lucy. Shirley Temple.
Montgomery Clift stays in room 928 for months while filming From Here to Eternity. I Love Lucy films at the pool in 1955 when the Ricardos come to Hollywood. Bill "Bojangles" Robinson teaches Shirley Temple his famous stair dance on the tile stairway to the mezzanine. This is just a normal Tuesday.
Cinegrill Theater, the Blossom Room, the Garden Room
Under Hull Hotels, the Roosevelt becomes known for its nightlife trifecta. Cinegrill Theater becomes one of Hollywood's premier live music and cabaret venues. The hotel evolves from premiere-party headquarters to full-blown entertainment destination.
Hockney Paints the Pool
British artist David Hockney paints the bottom of the Tropicana Pool. It becomes one of the most photographed pools in the world and the single most iconic piece of public art in Hollywood. Radisson Hotels had restored the property two years earlier. Hockney makes sure nobody forgets it.
Declared an LA Historic-Cultural Monument
The City of Los Angeles designates the Hollywood Roosevelt a Historic-Cultural Monument. It's not just a hotel anymore — it's a protected piece of the city's identity. You can't tear this place down. You can only add to its story.
Renovation. Preservation. Recognition.
A full renovation and facilities update brings the hotel into the modern era while preserving everything that makes it irreplaceable. In 2016, the Roosevelt is inducted into Historic Hotels of America, a designation of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Not bad for a building that was just supposed to be a place for movie stars to sleep.
Where Oscar Was Born
On May 16, 1929, 270 guests sat down for a banquet in the Blossom Room. Douglas Fairbanks handed out awards in 12 categories. The whole ceremony lasted 15 minutes. That room — our room — is where the Academy Awards began. The Academy's offices were on our mezzanine. This wasn't a venue rental. This was home.
The Hockney Pool
In 1987, David Hockney painted the floor of the Tropicana Pool. It became one of the most photographed pieces of public art in Los Angeles and turned a swimming pool into a cultural landmark. You swim on top of a Hockney. Try doing that at a Hilton.
The Staircase
The tile stairway to the mezzanine is where Bill "Bojangles" Robinson taught a young Shirley Temple his famous stair-step routine. That staircase is still there. You can walk it tonight. Some hotels have elevators. We have history built into the steps.
Some of the people who've called this place home.
No corporate headquarters.
We don’t follow a corporate playbook. We follow the rhythm of the building.
We're independently operated. Every decision — from the cocktail menu to the poolside DJ — is made by people who actually walk through this lobby every day. People who know the building. People who know the boulevard. People who know that the best way to run a legendary hotel is to let it be one.
In an era of cookie-cutter hospitality, the Roosevelt is the opposite: a one-of-one hotel with a one-of-one history, operated by people who think that's worth protecting.
Independent
No chain. No parent company. Our own rules.
Landmark
LA Historic-Cultural Monument since 1991.
Preserved
Historic Hotels of America since 2016.
Original
Same address since 1927. Same energy since always.
LA Historic-Cultural Monument
Designated by the City of Los Angeles as a protected cultural landmark
Historic Hotels of America
Inducted by the National Trust for Historic Preservation
Original AMPAS Headquarters
Home of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences
Almost a hundred years on the same corner of Hollywood Boulevard. Still independent. Still showing up. Still the one.
Be part of the story.
Every guest who walks through that lobby becomes part of almost a century of history. Your chapter starts when you check in.
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