Monday, October 17, 2005

The "Boo"selvelt Hotel

These days, everyone is talking about the Roosevelt Hotel. After the painstaking restoration of its Spanish-Moorish lobby, with its hand painted beams, tiled floors and leaded glass windows, the hotel is home to the Tropicana Bar, new nightlife perch to the rich and famous. They don't hold a candle to the older residents of the hotel though. The Roosevelt is rumored to be haunted. Not just haunted either, but lousy with ghosts.

Built on what was once strawberry fields, the Roosevelt opened in 1927. The first academy awards were held here in 1929 (then they were called the "Merit Awards.") The Blossom Room was used for wrap parties, and other receptions (including those for the winners of Queen for a Day and This is Your Life.) In the 1930s, the hotel opened the Cinegrill for jazz performances, Great artists and writers like Hemmingway, Fitzgerald and Dali attended. Mary Martin and Eartha Kitt opened to rave reviews there in the 1950s.

It's said that Bill "Bojangles" Robinson taught Shirley Temple their famous staircase dance in the Lobby there. Errol Flynn supposedly made gin in the barbershop during prohibition.

Marilyn Monroe and Montgomery Clift both stayed here; they say that their ghosts still wander the halls. Sometimes Marilyn is reflected in mirrors. When the wind blows off the desert, you can hear Clift playing his bugle. Even in the ultra hip Tropicana Bar, the ghosts have gotten past the red velvet rope and walk among the glitterati.

The Roosevelt Hotel 7000 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA

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