Biltmore Hotel
One source states that when the Los Angeles Biltmore Hotel opened on Oct. 1, 1923, it was a “statement to the rest of the world that Los Angeles had arrived as an American metropolis.” Some 3,000 people attended the opening gala at which they dined on seven courses, were surrounded by flowers and were entertained by seven orchestras accompanied by caged canaries. Hotelier John McEntee Bowman partnered with the architectural team of Schultze & Weaver and Italian muralist Giovanni ‘John’ Smeraldi to create “one of the first great hotels in the western United States.” Saved from demolition in the late 1970s by Gene Summers and Phyllis Lambert and given a $30 million makeover, it was purchased by the Millennium Hotel group in 2000. The Biltmore was designated a Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monument in 1969.
Los Angeles, Los Angeles County
Photographers: John Bare, Lonny Ross