Beverly Wilshire – built on a racetrack, became Hollywood's address

At the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Rodeo Drive, in the heart of Beverly Hills, stands a hotel older than the city's fame for shopping. Built on the site of a one-time motor-racing track and raised by developer Walter G. McCarty, the Beverly Wilshire Apartment Hotel opened its doors in January 1928, designed by the Los Angeles firm Walker & Eisen in the Second Renaissance Revival style. Since that first morning the address has drawn Hollywood's elite and a long line of visiting royalty, and it still does: Four Seasons has managed the hotel since 1992, and the MICHELIN Guide now awards it Two MICHELIN Keys. Condé Nast Traveler's readers went further still, naming it the number one hotel in Los Angeles for 2026. Behind the Italian Renaissance facade sit 395 rooms and suites, Wolfgang Puck's steakhouse CUT, a Forbes Five-Star spa and a pool styled on an Italian villa — proof that careful reinvention can outlast any trend.

01The house

Beverly Hills was barely a decade old when ground was broken on the former Beverly Hills Speedway, where locals had once picnicked and watched Model T races on Sunday afternoons. Real-estate developer Walter G. McCarty hired Walker & Eisen, then one of the busiest architectural firms on the West Coast, to raise a building in the Second Renaissance Revival style, and the Beverly Wilshire Apartment Hotel opened its doors in January 1928. The United States added the building to the National Register of Historic Places on 12 June 1987.

The hotel doubled in scale in 1971, when the fourteen-storey Beverly Wing, designed by Welton Becket & Associates, rose on ground that had been tennis courts and an Olympic-sized pool — briefly making the Beverly Wilshire the tallest building in Beverly Hills. The two wings meet at El Camino Real, a private cobblestone driveway lined with thirty-eight gaslight lanterns imported from a castle in Edinburgh and covered by a domed porte-cochère. The building has stood through the earthquakes of 1933, 1971 and 1994, and served as an air-raid shelter during the Second World War. Four Seasons took over management in 1992, and the Wilshire Boulevard facade — glimpsed in countless productions — is still best remembered for its exterior appearance in Pretty Woman, even though the film's interior scenes were shot elsewhere.

02Rooms and suites

Of the hotel's 395 keys, 258 are guest rooms and 137 are suites, spread across the ten-storey Wilshire Wing and the fourteen-storey Beverly Wing. A refurbishment of the Beverly Wing's accommodation, designed by David Collins Studio, has dressed the rooms in soft pastels, pairing old Hollywood glamour with a contemporary, understated edge.

Insider tip

At the foot of Rodeo Drive; Four Seasons has managed the hotel since 1992.

Outlooks run to Rodeo Drive, the Mediterranean-style pool or the domed porte-cochère, with higher floors opening toward the Hollywood Hills or the city skyline and balconies available on request. At the top of the range sit a penthouse suite and two presidential suites, while the Royal Suite — a former private residence with its original hardwood floors and crown moulding — opens onto a terrace with views over Rodeo Drive and the hills beyond.

03Where to eat

Wolfgang Puck opened CUT inside the hotel in 2006, in a dining room designed by Richard Meier, the architect behind the Getty Center. The steakhouse builds its menu around exquisite cuts of beef and seafood from around the world, served in a lively open kitchen, and seats 104 indoors.

For all-day dining there is THEBlvd, the hotel's see-and-be-seen restaurant, seating 83 inside and a further 42 on the terrace overlooking Rodeo Drive. Poolside, the Pool Bar & Café adds 28 outdoor seats plus six at the bar, serving a modern take on classic pool-bar food beside the Mediterranean-style pool.

04The bar

THEBlvd Lounge gathers around an illuminated onyx bar and deep sofas, a quieter counterpoint to the terrace outside, while CUT Lounge sits beside the steakhouse with its own Rough CUTs menu of cocktails and small plates — a room built for a drink before, or instead of, dinner.

05Spa and pool

The Spa at Beverly Wilshire holds a Forbes Travel Guide Five-Star rating and unveiled a renovation in February 2025 to mark the honour. Its design is built as an urban refuge: a curved water wall surrounds what the hotel describes as the largest amethyst geode in California, set against walnut and onyx finishes. Treatments range across massage, facials and body work, with the Beverly Wilshire Signature Facial as the house specialty, alongside an aromatherapy crystal steam room, an ice fountain, an experience shower and a tranquility lounge.

Outdoors, the Mediterranean-style pool was modelled after Sophia Loren's private villa in Italy, with cabanas, poolside Evian spritzes and a two-storey fitness centre overlooking the water.

06The neighbourhood

The hotel sits at one of the world's most photographed intersections, where Wilshire Boulevard meets Rodeo Drive, putting its guests within walking distance of the street's flagship boutiques and Beverly Hills' better-known restaurants and galleries. It is a address built for arriving on foot as much as by car — El Camino Real's lanterns are only steps from the first shop windows.

07Making the most of a stay

The Spa keeps variable hours — Monday to Thursday 10am to 7pm, Friday to Sunday 9am to 7pm — worth checking before booking a treatment around dinner. The pool opens daily from 6:30am to 5pm, with the Pool Bar & Café running from 11am to 5pm. The hotel is pet-friendly, with gourmet pet dining and amenities for travelling dogs, and families are welcomed with wheelchair-accessible rooms and services for children available on request.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.