History

At the start of Hollywood’s golden days, as the silent pictures were being replaced with “talkies”, the Roosevelt Hotel was designed and built on sprawling strawberry fields as a benchmark of glamour and elegance, for celebrities and travelers alike. Named in honor of President Theodore Roosevelt, the hotel opened its doors onto Hollywood Boulevard on May 15, 1927, having been built at the then staggering cost of $2.5 million. It quickly became the epicenter of Hollywood, the Entertainment Capital of the World.

Under the leadership of the “father of Hollywood”, Charles Toberman, the hotel’s construction was financed by the Hollywood Holding Company, which also funded and created several other Hollywood landmarks, including the Chinese, Egyptian and Pantages Theaters and the Hollywood Bowl. Prominent investors in what was at its inception a 248 room, 12 story tower included Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Louis B. Mayer, Joseph Schenck and Marcus Loew. Toberman selected a perfect sight for the hotel: directly across the Boulevard from the Chinese Theater, and the Roosevelt quickly became the gathering place for Hollywood luminaries, who attended post-premier parties in the hotel’s Blossom Room - a room destined for Hollywood history books.
The Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences held their meetings from 1927-1935 in the hotel’s mezzanine-level library. Today, this banquet room, known as the Academy Room, is a popular meeting and wedding space, overlooking the Walk of Fame’s many celebrity stars. Unfortunately, only the painted wood beamed ceiling remains; the wood paneled walls and wood-burning fireplace are no longer visible.

The Roosevelt Hotel and its Blossom Room are most recognized throughout the world as the first home of the Academy Awards. The awards were originally called Merit Awards and were given, for the first time on May 16, 1929, for performances and work covering a two year period. On that special night, Douglas Fairbanks was the event’s host and presented awards to Janet Gaynor for Best Actress, Emil Jennings for Best Actor and to Wings for Best Picture. A guest list of approximately 250 enjoyed a luxurious dinner and dance in the beautifully decorated Blossom Room after the three awards had been given to their respective recipients upstairs in the Academy Room.
Although the Academy continued to hold meetings in the Academy Room for years to come, they moved the award ceremony and dinner downtown to the Biltmore Hotel the following year. Other venues to follow included the Chinese Theater, the Pantages Theater, the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion and the Shrine Auditorium. After more than 30 years absence, the Oscars returned to Hollywood in March 2002, to the newly built Kodak Theater, directly across the street from their very first home at the Roosevelt Hotel.

The Blossom Room has always been a favored place for Hollywood stars and the movie or television industries’ events. “This is Your Life”, a popular TV show that ran for 12 years in the 1950’s and 60’s and was hosted by Ralph Edwards, feted the week’s “surprise” guests at a gala reception in the Blossom Room. Similarly, winners from the hit 1950’s TV show “Queen for a Day” also received a reception at the Roosevelt.

The star-studded history of the Home of the Stars continued in the decades to come. A Roosevelt Hotel broom closet was home to a penniless, unknown actor named David Niven. As a new man in town and not yet employed, Niven was fortunate to meet Al Weingard, a front desk clerk, who arranged for him to “temporarily” use a room in the staff quarters. Later, Niven fondly reminisced that it was “no larger than the broom closet”.

Rudee Vallee made his home at the Roosevelt when he arrived in Hollywood to make his first film, The Vagabond Lover. Vallee named the hotel in his estate as a recipient of his personal and professional momentos.
In the early 30’s, when jazz was the latest rage, the hotel opened “The Cinegrill”, an intimate bar and club that hosted the best in jazz and cabaret entertainment for the next 60 years. F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and Salvador Dali (who was designing movie sets at the time) were among the creative customers who gathered at the Cinegrill to “talk shop”. In the past decade, stars like Ertha Kitt, Cybil Sheppard, Tony Danza, Shirley Horn, Julie Wilson, Margaret Whiting, Kaye Ballard and Michael Feinstein have played the room to adoring audiences. Legendary Broadway musical star, Mary Martin, made her paid debut at the Cinegrill for $35 per week. When she couldn’t find a babysitter, she would bring her infant son along - the future “J.R. Ewing” on T.V.’s “Dallas” - Larry Hagman. In the past decade, stars like Ertha Kitt, Cybil Sheppard, Tony Danza, Shirley Horn, Julie Wilson, Margaret Whiting, Kaye Ballard and Michael Feinstein have played the room to adoring audiences.

It is said that Bill “Bojangles” Robinson first showed Shirley Temple their famous staircase dance on the tiled steps leading from the Lobby to the Mezzanine level. Rumors also persist that during Prohibition, Errol Flynn mixed his notorious gin recipe in the back of the hotel’s barbershop.

Marilyn Monroe posed for her first commercial advertisement - for toothpaste - on the diving board of the hotel’s pool. It is said that Marilyn stayed at the hotel often in the 1950’s, preferring a second floor Cabana Room (246), overlooking the pool. Montgomery Clift resided at the Roosevelt during the 3 months of filming From Here to Eternity. Clift would often pace the hall outside his 9th Floor room, rehearsing his lines and sometimes practicing the bugle, much to the consternation of other guests. The story is told that on particularly windy nights one can hear Monty’s ghost playing the bugle in the 9th Floor corridor.

Linda Goodman, world-famous astrologer and author, wrote her best selling books, “Sun Signs” and “Love Signs” in suite 1207 at the hotel. Goodman said many “magical and enchanting things” happened in the suite and that it definitely had “a haunting quality” about it.

The Roosevelt Hotel is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places. The elegant two-story Spanish-Moorish colonial lobby with its beautifully hand-painted wooden-beamed ceiling, Spanish-tiled floors, and leaded-glass windows, have been faithfully restored to their 1927 splendor. From its beginning in the late 1920’s and continuing today, the hotel has been a favorite “location” site for television shows and feature films, music videos and fashion photography. Recent film shoots include Almost Famous, The Dorothy Dandridge Story, Blow, and the upcoming Steven Spielberg feature starring Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio, Catch Me if You Can.

As Hollywood continues on its path to a new and exciting future that promises to eclipse it’s venerable past, the Roosevelt Hotel is at the forefront of that growth and revitalization, redefining Hollywood history