BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.
The 73-year-old Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel has been reintroduced after a two-month restoration program.
The room continues to celebrate California's relaxed lifestyle with its familiar green and white stripes and similar color scheme still intact. Updated carpets and upholsteries reflect the hotel's warm residential feel, and a new hostess stand has been added. Fixtures, lighting and furniture were replaced, and ornate mirrors, historic images, and renewed rich, dark paneling adorn the walls. In the patio's outdoor space, enhanced heating, sound systems and improved lighting make al fresco dining in the evenings even more appealing. Flower settings, vintage lamps, Riedel glassware, and new linens all add refreshing touches.
Home to Hollywood royalty, the Polo Lounge has a rich history and storied past. Charlie Chaplin had a standing reservation for Booth 1 for decades, which remained empty if he didn't show up. In the 1940's, Marlene Dietrich, a frequent hotel guest and one-time resident, eradicated the "no slacks for women" dress code when she refused to wear a skirt in the Polo Lounge. And in 1972, H.R. Haldeman, White House chief of staff to President Richard Nixon, and John Ehrlichman, assistant to President Nixon for domestic affairs learned of the Watergate break-in while breakfasting here.
In addition to the new lobby and refreshed Polo Lounge, the hotel's restoration program continues at the pool cabanas and Cabana Café, followed with all guestrooms and suites being updated by the summer of 2014.
