The museum was founded by Armand Hammer, the late CEO of the&nbsp;Occidental Petroleum&nbsp;Corporation, as a venue to exhibit his extensive art collection, at the time valued at $250 million.&nbsp; Designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes, the New York-based architect responsible for the Dallas Museum of Art and the Walker Art Center, the building housing the museum was conceived as a Renaissance palazzo with galleries centered around a tranquil, interior courtyard and a relatively austere exterior profile.&nbsp; Known as "America’s vainest museum” at its inception, the Hammer is now widely acknowledged as “a hot spot for contemporary art and ideas and a venue for serious exploration of overlooked historical subjects.A diverse range of free public programs is presented at the Hammer Museum six evenings a week throughout the year, including lectures, readings, symposia, film screenings, musical performances, and other events.&nbsp; the museum has since expanded its scope to become “the hippest and most culturally relevant institution in town. &nbsp;Particularly important among the museum’s critically acclaimed exhibitions are presentations of both historically over-looked and emerging contemporary artists. The Hammer Museum also hosts over 300 programs throughout the year, from lectures, symposia, and readings to concerts and film screenings. As of February 2014, the museum’s collections, exhibitions, and programs are completely free to all visitors.With its new show, Provocations: The Architecture and Design of Heatherwick Studio, the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, portrays itself as a kind of exploratory museum. The exhibition’s texts and labels are posed as challenging questions about form and content to engage its audiences with philosophical conundrums with far-reaching consequences upon the landscapes in which the speculative becomes reality.

The Hammer Museum was established in 1989 and its focus is on diversity and inclusion. As such, the museum gives artists of all backgrounds and genders opportunities to present their work.

Picture of Hammer Museum Gala in the Garden

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Founded in 1990, the Hammer Museum is an art museum and cultural center known for its artist-centric and progressive array of exhibitions and public programs. It is associated with the University of California Los Angeles and is dedicated to diversity and inclusion. It is the only institution to devote 50% of its exhibition programming to female artists. Its mission statement is: "The Hammer Museum at UCLA believes in the promise of art and ideas to illuminate our lives and build a more just world."

Hammer Museum

Begin driving in Beverly Hills and get a glimpse of some of its historic mansions, hotels, performing arts centers, and shops before driving to the Westwood area of Los Angeles. Check out more historic buildings, including an LDS Church, an art museum, and a Ralphs grocery store.

In 1892, an unsuccessful gold and silver prospector named Edward Laurence Doheny arrived in Los Angeles County and purchased six hundred acres of barren land in the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains to drill for oil. While much of this land did not prove to have an abundance of oil, Doheny would find his fortune in land nearby. Eventually, Doheny and his friend, Charles Canfield, also discovered substantial amounts of oil in Mexico, making them the largest producers of oil at that time. His land in L.A. County did produce countless orange and lemon trees, and in 1927, he gifted the property to his son Ned and his family.Construction on Greystone Mansion began soon after, and it would cost more than $4 million and take three years to complete. The mansion was designed by Gordon P. Kaufmann and constructed by the P.J. Walker Company. The pristine gardens were created by landscape architect Paul Thiene, who was inspired by a mixture of Gothic and neoclassic styles. The opulent home has fifty-five rooms and covers 46,000 sq. ft. The walls are made of gray Indiana limestone that are three feet thick and there is a Welsh slate-shingled roof. The plumbing, designed for the seismic activity of California, is suspended on cables that sway when the earth shifts.Ned, his wife Lucy, and their five children moved into the mansion during construction, but just five months later, Ned was found dead in the home in an apparent murder-suicide committed by his longtime friend and secretary, Hugh Plunkett. Although the reason for the murder-suicide remains unknown, one theory is that Plunkett was reacting in fear of being investigated for his and Doheny’s role in delivering bribe money to the Secretary of Interior, Albert Fall, during the Teapot Dome Scandal.Lucy Doheny remained at Greystone with her children and second husband, Leigh Battson, until 1955, when they sold much of their land to the Paul Trousdale Corporation for the development of the Trousdale Estates neighborhood. The rest of the land was sold the next year to Henry Crown of Park Grey Corporation. Crown did not live in the mansion, but he did lease it out as a film location. In 1965, the City of Beverly Hills bought the property for just over $1 million and installed a 19-million-gallon water tank, which remains the largest reservoir in Beverly Hills.In 1971, Greystone Mansion and its surrounding property was deemed a public park by the City of Beverly Hills. Five years later, Greystone was acknowledged as a historic landmark and recognized on the National Register of Historic Places. The nonprofit Friends of Greystone was formed in 2001, and its mission is to raise funds for the preservation and restoration of the mansion. Greystone Mansion has served as a filming location for many TV shows and movies, including Gilmore Girls, Dark Shadows, ER, Ghostbusters, The Bodyguard, and Spider-Man.The mansion itself is not open to tour, but it is available for filming and special events. The grounds of Greystone Mansion are open to the public, and the estate hosts the annual Beverly Hills Flower &amp; Garden Festival, The Annual Hollywood Ball, and the Catskills West drama camp. The majestic Greystone Mansion, with its rich history filled with tragedy and mystique, remains one of Beverly Hills’ most prized locations.

Edward Laurence Doheny, a millionaire oil tycoon, gifted a sizable tract of land in Beverly Hills to his son, Ned, as a gift in 1927. Construction soon began on Greystone Mansion, marking the beginning of a three-year undertaking that would cost $4 million. The name “Greystone” came from the estate’s abundant use of Indiana limestone, which was grey in appearance. Greystone is 46, 000 sq. ft., consists of 55 rooms, and has stables, kennels, tennis courts, a firestone, greenhouse, and swimming pool and pavilion on the property. Greystone is now owned by the City of Beverly Hills and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Numerous movies and television shows have been filmed at Greystone Mansion, and it is only open for special events.

Greystone Mansion

Harry Winchester Robinson was the son of Joseph Winchester Robinson, the founder of J. W. Robinson Department Store in Los Angeles. He and his wife, Virginia resided in Beverly Hills on about twenty acres north of the end of Elden Way. Their home, built from 1908 to 1911 in Beaux Arts style, was the first residence constructed in Beverly Hills; it was designed by Nathaniel Dryden, a self-taught architect and Virginia's father. The Robinsons moved into the home in the fall of 1911. The reinforced concrete house was built at a cost of around $25,000.The one-story, twelve-room house with a balustraded parapet featured a central porch supported by paired columns and topped with urns. The rear elevation featured French doors, casement windows, and a broad, bay window. The interior was decorated with crystal chandeliers, marble fireplaces, antique furniture from their travels around the world, and antique Oriental rugs. Harry passed away in 1932 at age 54 but Virginia remained in the home and served on the board of directors of the department store until the 1960s. Virginia became known for throwing lavish parties at the house and was jokingly called in the newspapers the "First Lady of Beverly Hills." The opening night party for the Hollywood Bowl was always held in the Robinsons' backyard. She once joked that she always had at least four butlers to wait on her, and that since she had fun at parties, her guests did, too. Virginia died in 1977 at age 99, just two months away from the philanthropist's 100th birthday, after living in the area since she was ten years old.The couple added a playhouse pavilion/ pool house to the property in 1924, about 100 yards from the house, with Palladian and French details and a reflecting pool. A marble terrace was built in the rear yard of the main house for entertaining. The servants lived in a separate building on the property, next to the house, behind the kitchen; the two-story building in Florentine Renaissance style featured a driveway arch and enclosed pavilions at either end on the second floor.Harry and Virginia, along with landscape architect Charles Gibbs Adams, created a series of patio gardens with fountains on the terraced slopes of the property; the gardens were planted with flowers (including a separate rose garden), shrubs, and fruit or eucalyptus trees. A grove of palms was established northeast of the house. Connecting the house with the playhouse pavilion was a grassy mall lined with Italian cypress trees. A series of footpaths and brick steps connected the gardens.The property was down to about six acres by the late 1970s. Virginia bequeathed the Beverly Hills estate with her 6,000-square-foot mansion to Los Angeles County with an endowment. A charitable foundation, the Friends of Robinson Garden, was organized in 1982 to help in repair and upkeep of the property. The property is run by the L.A. County Department of Parks and Recreation. The group has installed a new HVAC system and renovated the tile-lined reflecting pool. The house museum is furnished as it looked in the 1940s and 1950s. Some programs at the Virginia Robinson Gardens include working with at-risk youth and giving tours to the county's third graders to teach horticulture.

This historic estate is the first mansion built in Beverly Hills for Virginia Robinson. The residence was completed in 1911 and was the home of Virginia and her husband, Harry, the son of the founder of J.W. Robinson Department Store. Harry died in 1932, but Virginia continued to reside in the home, where she became known for throwing lavish parties, until age 99 in 1977. The property was bequeathed to Los Angeles County in 1977, and today, guided tours are offered with advance reservations. The Beaux Arts style house has become a museum from the 1940s/1950s era and features landscaped gardens and a 1924 playhouse pavilion/ pool house. The Virginia Robinson Estate became a National Register of Historic Places listing in 1978 and is a Beverly Hills as well as a California Historical Landmark.

Virginia Robinson Estate/ Gardens

The story of the legendary Beverly Hills Hotel begins in 1912 when the former manager of the Hollywood Hills Hotel, Margaret Anderson, hired architect Elmer Gray to build what would become the Beverly Hills Hotel for $500,000. It was two years later that the city of Beverly Hills was officially incorporated. In 1915, the first five of the Hotel's bungalows were built, offering exclusivity for the wealthiest of visitors and stars.From the time of its conception, the Hotel has attracted the most famous names in Hollywood. In 1919, the swashbuckling Douglas Fairbanks purchased a lodge just above the Hotel and expanded it. He and wife Mary Pickford named the mansion "Pickfair." By the late 1920s, Anderson was ready to sell the Hotel and it was purchased by the Interstate Company of New York. With the stock market crash and the onset of the Great Depression, even the Hotel was affected closed in 1933, only to be reopened a year later by the Bank of America. During the Depression, the Hotel continued to offer grandeur to the most privileged, even the infamous pool was surrounded by pure white sand the Hotel had imported from Arizona.The 1940s saw another change of hands with the Hotel, the vice president of Bank of America, William Courtright, purchased the Hotel with celebrity friends Irene Dunne and Loretta Young, as well as Harry Warner and Joe Schnitzer. In 1948, the Hotel underwent an architectural redesign by Paul Revere Williams. Williams decided to have the Hotel painted pink and added the Fountain Coffee Room to accompany the Polo Lounge restaurant. It was then the moniker the "Pink Palace" was born.The Beverly Hills Hotel has remained an attraction for some of Hollywood's biggest names, especially the solitary bungalows. Out of the Hotel's 23 bungalows, Marilyn Monroe preferred to stay in Bungalow 7, while Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton briefly lived in Bungalow 5. Howard Hughes, the reclusive aviation pioneer, director, and business magnate, was so obsessed with maintaining his privacy he occupied nine bungalows on and off for 30 years. The Hotel has also been a prime location for filming and can be seen in movies such as Designing Women (1957) and California Suite (1978).The Beverly Hills Hotel has not been without controversy, however. It made headlines in 1986 when owner Ivan Boesky, son-in-law of the late owner Ben L. Silberstein, who purchased the Hotel in 1954, was indicted by the Securities and Exchange Commission for insider trading. Shortly thereafter, the business magnate Marvin Davis purchased the Hotel, only to be bought out the next year by what is now the Dorchester Collection. For three years, from 1992 to 1995, the Beverly Hills Hotel closed down for a $100 million renovation, to be re-opened with only more extravagance. In 2012 it was officially named the first historic landmark under the Beverly Hills Historic Preservation Ordinance, recognizing the staple the Beverly Hills Hotel has been in the city of Beverly Hills for over a century.

The Beverly Hills Hotel opened to the public in 1912, two years before the city of Beverly Hills was incorporated. For over a century the "Pink Palace" has served as a key attraction to Beverly Hills' visitors. Designed to lure the wealthy away from neighboring cities such as Pasadena, the Beverly Hills Hotel has attracted everyone from the most prominent businessmen/women to presidents, and countless celebrities. During the 1940s, the Hotel boasted the most premier restaurant in the Los Angeles area, the Polo Lounge. It was not uncommon to see Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Humphrey Bogart, or Judy Garland enjoying lunch and, often, too much alcohol. The Fountain Room was added in 1948, showcasing famed designer Don Loper's banana leaf wallpaper, the signature print of the Beverly Hills Hotel. Tourists still flock to both the Fountain Room and Polo Lounge to enjoy a first-class meal suitable for the likes of Sinatra and Elizabeth Taylor. To celebrate the Beverly Hills Hotel's 100th anniversary in 2012, it was named the first historic landmark in Beverly Hills. While the shops on nearby Rodeo Drive may be constantly evolving, the Beverly Hills Hotel will remain a showcase of history in Beverly Hills. 

Beverly Hills Hotel

Located just south of the Beverly Hills Hotel and legendary Sunset Blvd. on five acres of land defined by Washingtonia palms, roses and other lush flowers and plants is the oldest public park in Beverly Hills, the Will Rogers Memorial Park. In the center sits a gorgeous fountain and lily pond inhabited by koi fish.As the newly-formed city of Beverly Hills was residentially expanding, the Rodeo Land and Water Company created amenities and civic areas for the people to enjoy. The land south of the Beverly Hills Hotel was originally an extension of the grounds, but the hotel owner, Margaret Anderson, deeded the five acres to the city for the establishment of the city's first park. Beverly Hills' first architect, Wilbur Cook, Jr., designed the layout of the park, which opened in 1915 and was called "Sunset Municipal Park."Besides being appreciated for its scenic beauty and use of recreational space, Sunset Park was also a popular site for filming. Charlie Chaplin filmed scenes at the park for his 1921 movie, "The Idle Class," and the classic duo Laurel and Hardy filmed the opening scene to their film "Pack Up Your Troubles" in the park in 1932. Will Rogers, an actor, vaudeville performer, well-known humorist, aspiring politician, and philosopher, also frequented the park. For a few years, Rogers and his wife owned a home on North Beverly Drive, just down the street from Sunset Park. In 1926, he was named the first Honorary Mayor of Beverly Hills and was a pillar in the community. Sadly, Rogers' life was cut tragically short in 1935 when he was killed in a plane crash in Alaska. The city honored their "favorite son" in 1952 by renaming Sunset Municipal Park "Will Rogers Memorial Park."Over the years, few changes have been made to the park besides the addition of lush greenery and flowers and public restrooms. In 1996 the park closed for a $1 million renovation to restore it back to its 1920s appearance. At the time of the re-opening in 1997, new commemorative plaques were installed. The historic renovation won the park preservation awards from the California Park and Recreation Society and American Society of Landscape Architects. More than a hundred years after it first opened, the Will Rogers Memorial Park continues to hold true to its original intention of serving as a peaceful recreational space for everyone to enjoy.

Located across the street from the historic and legendary Beverly Hills Hotel, the Will Rogers Memorial Park, named for the late actor, humorist, cowboy, and philosopher, dates back to 1915. Originally part of the front lawn of the Beverly Hills Hotel, the owner deeded five acres of land to the city in 1915 for the establishment of a local park. In 1926, Will Rogers, who owned a ranch in Beverly Hills, was named the Honorary Mayor of the city of Beverly Hills and held the title for two years. In 1952, 17 years after Rogers' tragic and sudden death in a plane crash, Sunset Park was renamed in his honor. The park features a historic fountain, a lily pond, beautiful gardens, and space for entertainment. The Will Rogers Memorial Park has offered pristine beauty and peace to the people of Beverly Hills and visitors for over one hundred years, and it pays homage to one of the kindest, most humble men to grace the city, Will Rogers.  

Will Rogers Memorial Park 

In the years after the incorporation of Beverly Hills in 1914, the city grew at a rapid rate. Besides a steady flow of movie stars building mansions like Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford did with "Pickfair," East-coasters also found appeal in the warm, sunny Southern California climate. Due to the increase in population, more civic projects and buildings were needed to create the prestigious city Beverly Hills was destined to be. When Will Rogers was made "Honorary Mayor of Beverly Hills" in a ceremony in front of the Beverly Hills Hotel, cameras were on-hand to film the event. Later, the footage was played in movie theaters across the country and thousands of letters poured in to congratulate Rogers on his honor. With the onslaught of so many letters, it appeared Beverly Hills was now in need of its own post office. The city of Beverly Hills petitioned Washington, D.C. for funds to build a post office, but the $85,000 offered by Congress was not enough and the city turned the funds down. After a few more unsuccessful attempts to obtain more money, the "Honorary Mayor" of Beverly Hills sent a letter of his own to the Secretary of the Treasury, humorously requesting $250,000 for the post office. Rogers' letter prompted a visit from officials in Washington, who decided a post office was necessary for the burgeoning city and $300,000 was designated for the new building. Architect Ralph C. Flewelling, who had also designed buildings at the nearby campuses of USC and UCLA, worked in conjunction with Alison &amp; Alison Architects to build the Italian Renaissance Revival style post office on the site where the Pacific Electric Railway station stood. Inside the interior Grand Hall, an artist named Charles Kassler drew eight fresco murals depicting scenes from the Great Depression and the beginnings of the mail service. Kassler said at the time of completion he wanted to portray "working people returning to a fully functioning society." In one lunette titled "The Bison Hunt," artists are seen working on another mural at the Los Angeles Public Library. The fresco murals, created during President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, were funded by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and is now one of the two remaining frescos from the New Deal period located in the California Federal building system. The Beverly Hills Post Office officially opened in 1936. Over the decades, the building became an architectural landmark in the city frequented by famous faces daily. Almost fifty years after the Post Office was dedicated it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. But within a few years, the historic site would be declared surplus property because the postal services outgrew the building and a larger facility was built in a new location. The Beverly Hills Cultural Foundation, a group of local civic and business leaders, came together to protect the landmark structure and assigned it to be used as a culture venue. In October 2013, the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts opened with a star-studded gala attended by such stars as Robert Redford, Charlize Theron, Gwen Stefani, and Demi Moore. The brainchild of philanthropist Wallis Annenberg, The Wallis consists of the old Post Office and a 500-seat Bram Goldsmith Theater. Theater-goers have the opportunity of enjoying both classical and modern performances in one of Beverly Hills' most historic landmark buildings.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1985, the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts opened its doors in 2013 in the building that was once the Beverly Hills Post Office. Originally opening in 1936 during the New Deal, the Post Office featured eight fresco murals painted by a Works Progress Administration (WPA) artist and is now one of two remaining sites in California's Federal building system featuring New Deal art. After the building was outgrown, the Beverly Hills Post Office moved to a larger facility and the original building was named surplus property. Finally, the Italian Renaissance Revival style building was once again put to use when the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts opened at the location. In addition to the old Post Office, The Wallis consists of a new 150-seat Lovelace Studio Theater and a 500-seat Bram Goldsmith Theater. Due to its location and design, The Wallis is a unique mix of history and futurism, making it a distinctive experience for locals and visitors. 

The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts

The Beverly Wilshire Hotel was built on the site that was once a popular auto racetrack in the early 1920s. Real-estate developer Walter McCarty built the Hotel and architects Walker and Eisen designed it in the Italian Renaissance style. The Beverly Wilshire was the most luxurious hotel on Wilshire Boulevard west of Los Angeles's Ambassador Hotel. At the time it opened in January 1928, it was known as the Beverly Wilshire Apartment Hotel. The Hotel was slow to get off its feet, Hollywood stars were either residing in Beverly Hills or staying elsewhere and the population of the town was under 1,000. That would soon change.The clientele grew exponentially in the 1930s and 40s. So much so, at one point the Hotel covered an entire block in Beverly Hills. Once the tennis courts were built, they were used to host tennis championships featuring professionals such as Bobby Riggs and Pancho Gonzales. In 1969, Welton Becket and Associates designed a fourteen story addition, making the Beverly Wilshire the tallest building in Beverly Hills at that time. The wings located on El Camino Real are joined by an exclusive cobblestone driveway consisting of lanterns that were imported from an Edinburgh castle. The latest pool was modeled after the actress Sophia Loren's private pool at her home in Italy.The Beverly Wilshire has stood the test of time, thanks to its sturdy structure and able architects, surviving strong earthquakes and serving as an air raid shelter during World War II. The Hotel features high-class restaurants such as Wolfgang Puck's "CUT" that opened in 2006 and was designed by the same architect who designed the Getty Museum, Richard Meier. Famous faces who have enjoyed luxury meals at "CUT" include Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, Will Smith, Elton John, and Steven Spielberg. A choice site for filming, the Beverly Wilshire has been featured in films Valentine's Day, Sex and the City: The Movie, Escape from the Planet of the Apes, and the most popular, Julia Roberts' and Richard Gere's Pretty Woman. Throughout its illustrious history, the Beverly Wilshire has played host to names like Emperor Hirohito of Japan, the Aga Khan, Michael Caine, Farrah Fawcett, and many more. Thousands of Elvis fans sent letters to the Hotel when he lived their while filming movies and department store heiress Barbara Hutton lived and died there in 1979. In June of 1987 the Beverly Wilshire was recognized for its rich history and was officially placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Four Seasons has managed the Hotel since 1992 and in 2006 it became the Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel. With two-story suites, fine restaurants, exclusive shopping, and a rooftop terrace that looks out over Rodeo Drive and Beverly Hills, the Beverly Wilshire continues to offer the luxury it was designed for in 1928. On a major street in a city that is constantly evolving, the Beverly Wilshire prevails.

Located in the heart of downtown Beverly Hills, the Beverly Wilshire Hotel has served as a staple in the city since 1928 and has become known to people all over the world thanks to it being a prime film location for movies and television. The Italian Renaissance structure built of Tuscan stone and Carrara marble was first called the Beverly Wilshire Apartment Hotel. Under new ownership in the 1940s, the name was changed to the Beverly Wilshire Hotel and an elaborate renovation took place, adding a grand ballroom to host big bands as well as tennis courts and an Olympic sized swimming pool. The next renovation to take place occurred under the ownership of Hernando Courtright, who doubled the size of the hotel in the early 1970s by adding a new wing. Notable entertainers who called the Beverly Wilshire Hotel home for a period of time were Elvis Presley, John Lennon, and Warren Beatty. Notable guests include the Dalai Lama, President Barack Obama, Al Pacino, and Elton John. The 1990 movie "Pretty Woman" starring Julia Roberts was primarily based at the Beverly Wilshire, earning it a prestigious place in hotel history.

Beverly Wilshire Hotel

The famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright moved from the Midwest to Los Angeles in 1922 and rented a studio space in West Hollywood in early 1923. Wright went on to design four private homes in concrete textile-blocks in Los Angeles. In 1924, Wright moved back to the Midwest but often visited Los Angeles, where his son, Lloyd (also a respected architect) was based. The elder Wright completed two more domestic buildings in Los Angeles in the late 1930s.In 1952, Wright designed his last building in greater Los Angeles, the Anderton Court Shops in Beverly Hills. Wright wrote to the client, Nina G. Anderton, that the building was "a little gem of an unusual sort." Anderton, a local philanthropist, hired Wright in 1951. The three-story building was shaped like an inverted V to give more front window space to each shop The exterior walls were constructed of a concrete mixture (gunite) sprayed over a metal form, and then covered in plaster; floors were conventional poured concrete. It featured a spire with internal lighting that looked like a space-age antenna; a spiral ramp surrounded a three-story octagonal light well, allowing access to multiple shops in this quirky building. The tower was meant to draw the eye of shoppers to the building, with its large front windows, some of which were cantilevered. The chevron pattern seen in the tower was echoed in the downward tapering seen in the building's soffits, fascia, and piers.The building is 50 feet wide and 150 feet front to back. The exterior was originally light buff-colored with trim of oxidized copper; budget cuts changed the trim from copper to plastic reinforced with fiberglass. To increase the building's resistance to fire, the roof was created by pouring concrete over wood beams, four feet apart and covered by mesh. Wright's designs called for the interior beams in the ceiling to be kept a natural wood color, painted Cherokee red, or covered with a thin layer of plaster. Interior walls were covered in plaster. Several small shops were located within the North Rodeo Drive building; Wright's design included a fireplace within each shop.The Anderton Court Shops building was one of the few retail structures ever designed by Wright. Others include the V.C. Morris Gift Shop (San Francisco, 1948) and the Hoffman Auto Showroom (Manhattan, 1954); both were pre-existing buildings modified by Wright. Later changes were made to the Anderton Court Shops. A mast that topped the spire was removed. The building was painted white with black trim. A store space that once occupied two levels was divided into two shops; what originally held three shops and a penthouse apartment/studio became six shops. When the building was documented in the early 2000s for listing on the National Register, there were three shops on each of the two sides of the building. Each shop was staggered a half-floor from its neighbors along the ramp that surrounded the hexagonal light well. The building continues to contain retail businesses in the exclusive Rodeo Drive shopping district.

The Anderton Court Shops building at 332 N. Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills is the last building in the L.A. area designed by famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The building dates to 1952 and is Usonian style. The three-story-plus-penthouse building is one of only three retail buildings designed by Wright. A concrete mixture (gunite) was sprayed over a steel frame to create the structure's walls, which were then covered in plaster. Floors were conventional poured concrete. The building has some unusual features, including a lighted spire, a curving ramp surrounding an octagonal light well, and a V-shaped plan. In 2006, the Anderton Court Shops became a National Register of Historic Places listing for its architectural significance. It continues to hold six retail shops in the exclusive shopping district, including Beladora, a jewelry store.

Anderton Court Shops

The Church of The Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Beverly Hills was founded in 1923, just nine years after the incorporation of the city. When it was founded on December 12th of that year, Beverly Hills was a small, agricultural town not yet known for housing the rich and famous. In that year alone, the newly-established Los Angeles Diocese founded eighteen parishes in the area, making it the busiest year for the Diocese. It was the Bishop John J. Cantwell who designated the location of the new church, on the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and Bedford Drive. Cantwell appointed Father Michael J. Mullins as pastor and requested he create a Catholic Motion Picture Guild in anticipation of the growth of the film industry. Over time, the Guild and parish would host members such as Jackie Coogan, Jane Wyman, Danny Thomas, Loretta Young, Gene Kelly, Rosalind Russell, and Bob Newhart.As the church on North Roxbury was being built, the first Mass was held in the nearby Windemere Apartments before moving to a location on Camden Dr. and finally to the Beverly Hills Hotel. Construction began on the Mission Revival Style church designed by J.J. Donnellan in 1924 and was completed a year later. On February 1, 1925 Bishop Cantwell dedicated the stucco structure parish. The church remained as is until a 1959 renovation overseen by Msgr. Daniel F. Sullivan when a main altar and two side altars made of marble were installed. The altars contained the relics of the two saints, Felicitas and Perpetua, and the patroness of the Los Angeles Diocese, St. Vibiana. In 1930, the Good Shepherd Parish School opened, and as of 2018, the school remains the only Catholic school in Beverly Hills.Being located in Beverly Hills, the Church of the Good Shepherd has seen its fair share of famous figures enter through the church doors. One notable visit occurred during the tenure of Msgr. Sullivan in 1961 when President John F. Kennedy attended Mass. Msgr. Sullivan recalled that before the president came, the Secret Service surveyed the church, chose the pew the president would sit, and installed a phone in a room off the vestibule that could receive any emergency calls from Washington.In 1950, in what would be known as the "Wedding of the Year," Elizabeth Taylor wed her first husband, Conrad Hilton, Jr. at the Church of The Good Shepherd. Another famous wedding to take place here was between Rod Stewart and Rachel Hunter. Both marriages were short-lived. Funerals held here for stars included: Rudolph Valentino (1926), Gary Cooper (1961), William Frawley (1965), Alfred Hitchcock (1980), Danny Thomas (1991), Eva Gabor (1995), Frank Sinatra (1998), and Zsa Zsa Gabor (2016). The Church of The Good Shepherd is open during the day for visitors to come in, look, pray, or light a candle. Since its opening in 1925, the Church of The Good Shepherd has maintained its prominent historical stature in Beverly Hills.

The Church of The Good Shepherd was established just nine years after the city of Beverly Hills was incorporated and is the oldest church sanctuary in the city. The congregation was founded in 1923 and this Mission Revival Style church was dedicated by John Joseph Cantwell on February 1, 1925. The original stained glass windows that depict numerous saints were shipped to California from France, Germany, the British Islands, and other states. The Church of The Good Shepherd has been the venue for numerous Hollywood events. Bing Crosby was a regular worshiper, stars such as Elizabeth Taylor and Mark Wahlberg married here, and the funerals of Rudolph Valentino, Gary Cooper, Alfred Hitchcock, Rita Hayworth, and Frank Sinatra took place at the Church of The Good Shepherd. The Church was also the setting of a scene in Judy Garland's "A Star is Born" (1954). The parish continues to serve the needs of Catholic parishioners in Beverly Hills and welcomes visitors. 

Church of The Good Shepherd, Beverly Hills

Overtaking Chicago as the second-largest city in the nation, Los Angeles was booming in the 1980s. The city was flooded with new opportunities for investment bankers, lawyers, and business leaders in the newly built modern high-rise towers. Another workforce sector traveled to the very same towers in the evening to work as janitors. Working for low wages and without benefits, janitors saw the high rises not as beacons of opportunity but as symbols of the vast chasm between the wealth of others and their daily experience. As long as the plight of janitorial workers was relatively hidden from the general public, leaders of the nascent movement believed they would have little success in mobilizing public opinion. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) worked to bring awareness to the struggle of working people, supporting their rights to fair wages and compensation. Established after World War II, the Los Angeles chapter of the SEIU had a strong local presence and many union members. In the 1980s, companies increasingly hired non-union contractors and janitorial companies. This led to plummeting wages and a weakened union in Los Angeles. As experienced union janitors either changed jobs or moved away, contracting companies enthusiastically recruited immigrant employees with fewer options for employment. Janitors worked for as little as $4.50 an hour, cleaned more office spaces than ever before, and worked without sick leave and health insurance. In response, SEIU created the Justice for Janitors union in 1985 to specifically target issues faced by the largely immigrant workforce of the non-union contract cleaning industry. The effort gained recognition at a national level, but with little progress in this suburb of Los Angeles, the Justice for Janitors campaign decided to try new tactics in Century City. Scholar Christina Springer likens the effort to an “organizational laboratory” with members conducting research to consider various tactics and strategies. They established committees that contacted local governmental agencies, built relationships with Latino churches and neighborhoods, and taught people about their legal rights. After minimal signs of progress, Justice for Janitors decided to focus on the plight of janitorial workers employed by International Service Systems. ISS was at the time the largest contract employer of janitorial services in the world, and in Century City, they were contracted to clean eleven out of thirteen office buildings. On June 15, 1990, janitors and their supporters peacefully marched from Roxbury Park to a rally in Century City to draw attention to pay and working conditions at ISS. As protestors were turning onto Century Park East from Olympic Boulevard, they were met by over one hundred police officers fully clad in riot gear who ordered them to disperse. Protestors instead moved from the sidewalks to the middle of the street and sat down in an act of nonviolent civil disobedience. Claiming that the march was an illegal assembly, the police ordered them to leave. Threats escalated and some members of the LAPD began beating the protestors with batons. Ana Veliz, protesting in hopes of securing health insurance for her unborn child, was clubbed three times in the back. Four days later, after being hospitalized for her injuries, she was told that she had miscarried. Sgt. de la Torre of the LAPD said in a statement to the LA Times that the show of force by the officers was justified owing to the much larger number of protesters in comparison to officers. He was earlier quoted saying the the police acted to force the protestors to move. Later investigations concluded that the use of force was not warranted, and some graphic images of the treatment of protestors circulated in media outlets across the country, leading to calls for an investigation. One photo depicted a middle-aged, unarmed Latino man being struck in the face and body by two separate officers wearing helmets and wielding batons. In the coming months, ISS signed the union agreement that immediately raised all salaries to $5.20 an hour while also guaranteeing health insurance for all workers in the coming year. The day is remembered as Justice for Janitors Day and is celebrated by continuing calls for economic equality and immigration reform.

This location was the site of a violent clash by police against peaceful protestors who were part of the Justice for Janitors union and police on June 15, 1990. Thanks to media footage of the event, the city was forced to pay out over $2.2 million for the victims of police brutality. However, at the time of the protest, the event also led to an end to protests by a largely immigrant workforce in the face of low wages, unsafe working conditions, and the lack of health insurance or paid sick days for janitorial employees. Most of the protesters were working for minimum wage, then $4.50 an hour. To publicize their cause Justice for Janitors mobilized by holding rallies in the Century City area, and after a few weeks of small scuffles with law enforcement, police officers were alerted to a planned peaceful march from Roxbury Park in Beverly Hills to office buildings in Century City. The police responded with force. Protestors, mostly consisting of immigrant women, were shoved back to Olympic Boulevard by officers trying to prevent their progression to Century Park East. Media attention led to a new contract that included a small raise and health insurance.

Justice for Janitors Protest, June 15, 1990

The Annenberg Foundation was established by Walter Annenberg, who served as Ambassador to the Court of St. James (the royal court of the United Kingdom), in 1989. He also owned Triangle Publications, which he eventually sold for over one billion dollars. He and his wife were dedicated to philanthropy and passed this onto their daughter Wallis, who is now president of the organization (her children are involved as well).

Founded in 2009, the Annenberg Space For Photography is the first cultural destination in Los Angeles dedicated to photography. It was established by the Annenberg Foundation, which supports non-profit organizations in the city, country and around the world that strive to improve the communication of knowledge and ideas so as to create a better society. The Space presents digital and print photography exhibitions and hosts a number of public programs throughout the year including workshops, lectures, portfolio reviews, and panels. Many of the best photographers around the world have presented and given lectures about their work here. 

Annenberg Space For Photography

When the Century Plaza Hotel opened on June 1, 1966, it was dubbed “The Hotel of the Future.” Plans for the hotel began in 1961 when William Zeckendorf, a real estate developer, and ALCOA purchased around 180 acres from 20th Century Fox, a studio that had decided to downsize. Zeckendorf and ALCOA designed a new area in Los Angeles called Century City, a “city within a city,” to be filled with stores, apartments, and a boutique hotel at the center.A prominent architect named Minoru Yamasaki, who would later design the World Trade Center, began working on the proposed hotel, which took five years to complete. Standing at 19 stories and with 750 rooms, the Century Plaza Hotel dominated the skyline in Century City. During the early years of the new city, the Century Plaza Hotel stood as the highest building on the hill, and the prestigious Presidential Suite even offered a view of the distant Pacific Ocean. But the grand mid-century modern hotel’s prime feature was the unique arch that appeared like a crescent moon.The interior of the hotel was just as exquisite, with an ornate ballroom, open lobby, and guestrooms filled with luxuries such as ice machines, electric blankets, and radios built into the nightstands. At the time it opened, the Century Plaza Hotel was the only hotel in the country to have color television sets in its rooms. Opening night in 1966 was officiated by Andy Williams and Bob Hope, and numerous celebrities and famous names were in attendance. With its luxury and elegance, the hotel was booked to host the Emmy and Grammy Awards.Numerous presidents stayed as guests at the Century Plaza Hotel. On August 13, 1969, President Richard Nixon hosted the “Dinner of the Century” to celebrate the return of the Apollo 11 astronauts. At the time, it was the only state dinner to be hosted outside the White House. In addition to the celebrities and aviation pioneers that attended, 14 members of Nixon’s Cabinet and representatives from more than 80 countries were present. No president frequented the hotel more than Ronald Reagan, who hosted many fundraising and inaugural celebrations in the ballroom, leading the media to call the Century Plaza Hotel the “Western White House.”Despite being a landmark in Century City, by the beginning of the 21st century, the hotel was in decline. Conditions became so poor that in 2009 the National Trust for Historic Preservation named the hotel one of the Most Endangered Places in America. Soon, plans were made to raze the building and replace it with high-rise condominiums. Fortunately, Woodbridge Capital Partners invested more than $2 billion in renovations and saved the historic hotel from demolition.In 2016, an extensive renovation that included restoring the fading exterior historical architecture while modernizing the interior began. After five years of intense renovation, in 2021, the Century Plaza Hotel reopened as the Fairmont Century Plaza. Now a part of the Fairmont Hotels and Resorts family, just as when the hotel opened in 1966, it is once again a leading luxury hotel in Los Angeles.

When the Century Plaza Hotel opened in 1966, the curved hotel was a centerpiece in newly established Century City. Designed by renowned architect Minoru Yamasaki, the mid-century modern hotel evokes the optimism of the 1960s. The Century Plaza Hotel went on to host the Emmys, Grammys, and, in 1969, the first state dinner held outside of the White House. President Ronald Reagan stayed at the hotel so frequently that it became known as the "Western White House." In 2021, the hotel reopened as the Fairmont Century Plaza after an extensive $2.5 billion renovation, and it remains a leading luxury hotel in Los Angeles.

Fairmont Century Plaza 

Architect Percy Parke Lewis (1885-1962) designed the two-story Chateau Colline apartment building on the southern edge of the Westwood Hills development. The 375-acre campus of the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) had been established nearby in the late 1920s, and Westwood Village became a shopping destination. Multiple apartment buildings were constructed in the newly popular part of town. Some of Lewis' previous local projects include these Westwood structures: St. Alban's Episcopal Church, Fox Theatre, and Desmond's department store. Chateau Colline was constructed in 1935 by A.A. Zimmerla for a Mrs. L.A. Pfeiffer. Hollywood stars Clark Gable and Betty Davis are rumored to have lived in Chateau Colline.The design of Chateau Colline was based loosely on sixteenth-century French chateaus, with elements drawn from Gothic and Renaissance eras. This style was uncommon in Los Angeles and became especially popular for homes of the wealthy after the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago promoted accurate interpretations of European architecture.The original wooden shingles remained on the steeply-pitched roof when Chateau Colline was documented in 2002 for listing in the National Register. Over the main part of the building, the roof is made up of multiple hipped roofs; roof edges are trimmed with red, barrel-shaped tiles. The corner turrets are topped with cone-shaped roofs with metal finials; stucco or decorative brick cover the turrets. Gabled dormers were surrounded by cast concrete trim. Four stuccoed chimneys each reached a vertical pair of apartments. Diamond-shaped leaded glass casement windows are found on the front and rear of the building.A flight of concrete steps led from Wilshire up to the front courtyard, bordered by two sides of the multi-winged building. The courtyard was heavily shaded by pine trees when studied in 2002. A detached concrete garage was near the southeast corner of the property, by a driveway. Another free-standing garage is accessed via Birchwood Drive.The property was owned by Wilshire Chateau, LLC in 2002. The luxury apartment building with its two detached concrete garages were listed in 2003 for their significance as an example of late nineteenth and twentieth century Chateauesque revival architecture. Chateau Colline now contains eight condominium units; each has one or two bedrooms with about 1,000 square feet of living space. Dark hardwood flooring, wood-burning fireplaces, sunken living rooms, upgraded kitchens with wine refrigerators, and a private garage are some of the perks of calling Chateau Coline your home.

The castle-like building in Westwood on Willshire Boulevard near Devon Avenue is Chateau Colline, a 1935 apartment building. Dwarfed by the neighboring highrise condominiums, the two-story building peeks out from behind trees that hide its turrets and leaded-glass windows from the street. In need of upgrades, the owner requested permission in 2001 to tear down the apartment building and rebuild multi-story condominiums on the property. Within months, local government and concerned citizens helped to have the building declared a Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monument. In 2003, Chateau Colline became a National Register of Historic Places listing. The building contains eight one- and two-bedroom condominium residences.

Chateau Colline

The&nbsp;Los Angeles California Temple&nbsp;(formerly the&nbsp;Los Angeles Temple), the tenth operating and the second-largest&nbsp;temple&nbsp;operated by&nbsp;The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints&nbsp;, is on&nbsp;Santa Monica Boulevard&nbsp;in the&nbsp;Westwood district. When it was dedicated in 1956, it was the largest of the church's temples, though it has since been surpassed by the&nbsp;Salt Lake Temple&nbsp;due to later expansions. The temple serves 41 stakes in&nbsp;Los Angeles,&nbsp;Ventura, Kern,&nbsp;Santa Barbara, and&nbsp;San Luis Obispo&nbsp;counties.&nbsp;The grounds include a visitors' center, which was renovated in 2010, the Los Angeles Regional&nbsp;Family&nbsp;History&nbsp;Center, both of which are open to the public, and the headquarters of the church's California Los Angeles&nbsp;Mission.&nbsp; The Los Angeles Temple was announced on March 23, 1937 by church President&nbsp;Heber J. Grant, when the church purchased 24.23&nbsp;acres&nbsp;from the&nbsp;Harold Lloyd&nbsp;Motion Picture Company. Construction was to begin soon thereafter, but financial difficulties relating to the&nbsp;Great Depression&nbsp;and&nbsp;World War II&nbsp;delayed the groundbreaking until 1951.The temple plans were revised at this time to include a&nbsp;priesthood&nbsp;assembly room, an unusual feature in temples built after the&nbsp;Salt Lake Temple. It was also expanded to accommodate an unprecedented 300 patrons per session.This was the first temple with an&nbsp;angel Moroni&nbsp;statue since the&nbsp;Salt Lake Temple. When the statue was installed it faced southeast, as the temple does. It was later turned to face due east at the request of church president&nbsp;David O. McKay.This was the last temple designed to use live actors instead of a film to present the&nbsp;endowment. The&nbsp;motion-picture&nbsp;presentation soon replaced the live actor presentation, and the progressive presentation (in which patrons moved from one room to another) was replaced with stationary ordinance rooms (i.e., patrons remained in a single room for the entire ceremony). In 2003, the temple reverted to a progressive-style presentation of the endowment (but still using a film) and completely renovated the&nbsp;Terrestrial room.The Los Angeles California Temple was closed for renovations in late November 2005, with reopening originally scheduled for May 2006, but eventually delayed until July 11, 2006.&nbsp;The renovation also included a seismic overhaul and a complete redesign and reconstruction of the baptistry, which had long been plagued by mold due to poor ventilation.The temple sits atop a small hill above the intersection of Overland Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard. The well manicured grounds are open to the public and are filled with various plants, including&nbsp;Canary Island Pine&nbsp;trees, several varieties of&nbsp;palm trees,&nbsp;Bird of Paradise&nbsp;trees, olive trees, and rare&nbsp;Chinese Ginkgo&nbsp;trees. At the left and right of the temple are two fountains, and at the front is a large reflection pool. Several family-themed statues further beautify the grounds. In December, the temple grounds are decorated with thousands of multi-colored lights in celebration of&nbsp;Christmas.Numerous church facilities are on its grounds including a meetinghouse, a baseball field, the headquarters of the church's California Los Angeles Mission, and apartments (used by&nbsp;missionaries, temple workers, temple patrons, and visiting church officials).The remaining land, along Manning Avenue, was subdivided for residential lots, the sale of which considerably offset the expense of constructing the temple. Along with the&nbsp;Bern Switzerland Temple, dedicated a few months before, these were the church's first temples built outside of an LDS-dominated area. The Los Angeles Temple was the first temple explicitly designed for automobile accessibility: with its parking facilities being larger than those of any temple built previously and with no direct pedestrian connection between the front doors and Santa Monica Boulevard.The temple's architecture is generally&nbsp;Modernist, an aesthetic that extends to the choice of exterior cladding: 146,000 square feet of&nbsp;Mo-Sai&nbsp;pre-cast concrete facing, a mixture of crushed&nbsp;quartz&nbsp;and white&nbsp;Portland cement&nbsp;quarried in&nbsp;Utah&nbsp;and&nbsp;Nevada. The very light brown pigmentation of the Mo-Sai blend has the advantage of concealing the thin layer of soot that accumulates on most buildings in Los Angeles. The temple is 369 feet long, 269 feet (82 m) wide and has an overall height of 257 feet. Atop the temple stands a 15-foot tall statue of the&nbsp;angel Moroni. The building's architect,&nbsp;Edward O. Anderson, patterned it after Mayan architecture.The rooms include a&nbsp;baptistry, celestial room, four&nbsp;ordinance rooms, ten&nbsp;sealing&nbsp;rooms, and an assembly room that stretches the entire length of the temple. The Los Angeles Temple features murals on the walls of its progressive-style ordinance rooms, including the celestial room. The only other temple with celestial room murals is the&nbsp;Idaho Falls Idaho Temple.

The Los Angeles Temple was the 10th operating temple and the first one to be constructed in California back in 1956, although it was announced back in 1937. Other CA temples include: Fresno, San Diego, Redlands, Sacramento, Newport Beach and Oakland. At the time, this was the LDS church's second largest temple and was the second temple to have an Angel Moroni capstone following the one in Salt Lake City. On temple grounds is also a visitor center for the public to visit. 

Los Angeles California LDS Temple

Ralphs Grocery was founded in 1873, and the first store was in Los Angeles at the corner of Sixth and Spring Streets. George A. Ralphs headed the first store and was later joined by his nephews, Walter W. and Elmer. Ralphs Grocery Company was formally incorporated in 1909. The company opened its first branch store in 1911 at Pico and Normandie. The Spring Street location switched to self-service in 1914, making it one of the country's first supermarkets.Westwood was still ranchland in the 1920s when it was purchased by a developer, the Janss Corporation. The company's vision for Westwood was a model-planned community aimed at the middle class. The University of California chose part of the land in 1925 for the U.C.L.A. southern campus. There were no shopping centers or restaurants convenient to the campus site, so Westwood Village came into the design stage, under the approval of an architectural jury. Corner locations were designed for visual impact and often featured towers. The two-story, corner rotunda of the Ralphs grocery store was meant to signal you were entering Westwood Village; it is accented by a denticulated cornice. The building's style is a combination of Spanish Colonial Revival and Mediterranean. The building's exterior imitated stone: the stucco has been scored to look like random coursed stone. Other parts of the exterior are smooth stucco or ornaments of cast stone. The sides along both streets include Tuscan columns and multiple arches.The Westwood Village store became the sixteenth Ralphs; by 1936. Ralphs had 25 supermarkets. A consumer group, Women of the Pacific, picketed in front of Ralphs in Westwood in 1941 to protest the company signing a closed-shop contract with the Food Council of Los Angeles. The group's opinion was that no company had the right to sign such a contract binding on its employees unless the employees are willing to join a union of their own free will. In 1968, Ralphs Grocery Company was acquired by Federated Department Stores, Inc. By 1973, there were 67 Ralphs across L.A., Los Angeles County, and Ventura County, plus eight stores in the San Francisco area. Richard Ralphs was chairman of the board of the company in 1973. The president of Ralphs Grocery spoke at the 100th anniversary of the grocery company in early 1973; Eugene B. Walsh mentioned innovations that would soon appear in Ralphs stores - computerized checkout stands and automated warehousing. Ralphs installed its first fully automated cash registers in 1973. Ralphs had just introduced cost-per-measure tags to their store shelves, so shoppers could compare deals. Their next innovation was to be the addition of nutritional ingredient information on products manufactured by Ralphs.There were 262 Ralphs supermarkets in Southern California by 1997. Ralphs is actually owned by Kroger now, based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Ralphs Grocery still exists as an independent division of Kroger. There continues to be a Ralphs in Westwood, now at 10861 Weyburn Ave., a couple of blocks to the northeast. Kroger announced plans in October 2022 to acquire competitor Albertsons, if the deal passes antitrust laws. Albertsons, based in Boise, Idaho, operates around 300 grocery stores in California.

Ralphs Grocery was the first supermarket chain established in Southern California, and this Westwood neighborhood store with its white cylindrical rotunda has stood over the corner since 1929. The story is one of the original buildings in Westwood Village and in November 1929, just a couple of months after students arrived at the new U.C.L.A. campus nearby. The building held a Ralphs supermarket until the mid-1960s and was the sixteenth Ralphs opened in the Southern California grocery chain. Ralphs Grocery Store was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. The building now contains several tenants including Alfred Coffee and Sweetfin (a Japanese/ Hawaiian restaurant).

Historical Driving Tour of Beverly Hills, California to L.A.'s Westwood

Hammer Museum

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information