Sterling Plaza

The Beverly Hills Citizen reported that 7,500 people attended the festivities on November 7, 1929, when the California Bank Building opened on Wilshire Boulevard, “surpassing any opening that has ever been held in Beverly Hills both for splendor and attendance.” The 7-story Art Deco “wedding-cake” was designed by the architectural team John and Donald Parkinson for the California National Bank of Beverly Hills. The father and son team was busy that year with the opening of Bullocks Wilshire 2 months earlier some 6 miles away. There is conflicting information online about changes of ownership, but the 2022 Cultural Heritage Commission Report from the City of Beverly Hills states that the building was acquired by Louis B. Mayer, cofounder of MGM Studios, in the 1950s. The building was named Sterling Plaza after a purchase by Donald Sterling in the 1990s.

Beverly Hills, Los Angeles County
Photographer: John Bare