About the hotel
The hotel came first, the city second: Beverly Hills incorporated two years after the hotel opened in 1912, and grew up around it. Painted its signature pink in 1948 and wrapped in banana-leaf wallpaper, "the Pink Palace" is the most recognisable hotel in America and appears on the sleeve of the Eagles' "Hotel California".
The 23 garden bungalows, added from 1915 onward, invented the celebrity-hideaway format that every resort since has copied — private walkways, dedicated butlers, and total invisibility from the street.
Suites & dining
Bungalow 5 was Elizabeth Taylor's honeymoon standby; Marilyn Monroe favoured 1 and 7; Howard Hughes lived in Bungalow 4 on and off for thirty years and ordered roast beef sandwiches left in a tree. The Polo Lounge remains Hollywood's power-breakfast room a full century after the polo crowd named it, and the Fountain Coffee Room's counter is a 1949 time capsule.
The celebrity connection
Every era of Hollywood has a Pink Palace chapter: Chaplin and Valentino at the start, the Rat Pack in the Polo Lounge, Brando and Monroe by the pool. Faye Dunaway's morning-after-Oscar photograph was taken beside that pool in 1977. The hotel's guest ledger is effectively the industry's family album — which is why studios still block-book bungalows for awards season.
Location
9641 Sunset Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90210
Worth knowing
- ★Older than the city of Beverly Hills itself (hotel 1912, city 1914).
- ★The pink-and-green banana-leaf look dates from 1948–49.
- ★Howard Hughes lived in the bungalows, in bouts, for ~30 years.
- ★The building appears on the Eagles' "Hotel California" album cover.
Questions & answers
Why is it called the Pink Palace?+
The hotel was painted its signature pink in 1948 and wrapped in banana-leaf wallpaper — a look so recognisable it appears on the Eagles' "Hotel California" sleeve. It predates the city of Beverly Hills itself.
Which bungalows are legendary?+
Elizabeth Taylor honeymooned in Bungalow 5 (six times, with six husbands), Marilyn Monroe favoured 1 and 7, and Howard Hughes lived in Bungalow 4 on and off for thirty years.
What is the Polo Lounge?+
Hollywood's power-breakfast room for a full century — named for the polo crowd that drank there in the 1920s and still the industry's deal-making table.
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