Los Angeles, Biltmore Hotel 1958 unusual postcard

Postcard

 

• Picture / Image:  The Biltmore Hotel, Los Angeles, California
• Publisher:  none (the hotel?)
• Postally used:  yes
• Stamp:  2x 2c red George washington definitives
• Postmark(s):  Los Angeles Jul 6 1958
• Sent to:  Liverpool, England
• Notes & Key words:  message only on other side

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Postage & Packing:

UK (incl. IOM, CI & BFPO): 99p

Europe: £1.60

Rest of world (inc. USA etc): £2.75

No additional charges for more than one postcard. You can buy as many postcards from me as you like and you will just pay the fee above once. (If buying postcards with other things such as books, please contact or wait for invoice before paying).

Payment Methods:

UK - PayPal, Cheque (from UK bank) or postal order

Outside UK: PayPal or Google Checkout ONLY please.   NO non-UK currency checks or money orders (sorry).

NOTE: All postcards are sent in brand new stiffened envelopes which I have bought for the task. These are specially made to protect postcards and you may be able to re-use them. In addition there are other costs to sending so the above charge is not just for the stamp!

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information:

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Millennium Biltmore Hotel is a hotel located in downtown Los Angeles. At its opening in 1923, it was the largest hotel west of Chicago^[1] and by 1969 was designated a Historic Cultural Landmark by the City of Los Angeles. The Millennium Biltmore is operated as part of the Millennium & Copthorne Hotels chain. The hotel has 70,000 square feet of meeting and banquet space. From its original 1500 guestrooms it now has 683 due to room reorganization.

Originally, the idea for the hotel arose out of a desire to create a grand icon to show the rest of the country that Los Angeles had "arrived". By 1920, filmmaking was Los Angeles' biggest industry, and the perfect climate was its biggest attraction. Nightlife was booming and wealthy East Coast families were building and expanding property in sunny southern California at an extremely rapid rate. But there was no landmark hotel, until a prominent banker named Joseph Sartori called a meeting of 40 of the city's business leaders to suggest building one. They chose this location across from Pershing Square for its proximity to the rail lines and the park, which would allow for spectacular views from guest rooms. The group persuaded hotelier John McEntee Bowman to finance the project, and named it "The Biltmore", recalling other hotels he had also developed. That "The Biltmore" is a chain of hotels is a common misconception—none are related except in name.

In just 47 days, New York architectural firm Schultze and Weaver (of Waldorf-Astoria fame) came up with the $10 million design. The hotel was entirely completed in just 18 months and dedicated on October 1, 1923. The official hotel opening gala on October 2 began a week-long celebration. Cecil B. deMille, Jack Warner and Mary Pickford attended the opening gala, in which seven orchestras in eight dining rooms played all night.

When it opened, the hotel boasted 916 guestrooms and 826 bathrooms on 11 floors. Five hundred more rooms were added in 1924. An instant triumph, the hotel's high service standards and luxurious appointments made it a premier West Coast destination. It was frequented by movie stars, business titans, millionaires and socialites—so much so that guests and visitors would sit in the benches along the galleria just to see who they could catch a glimpse of. The 1700-seat Biltmore Theater was constructed in 1924 on the corner of Grand Avenue attached to the hotel—it ran sold-out plays continuously until it was closed in the mid-1950s, when the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and Music Center opened nearby.

Over the years the hotel has changed ownership and undergone several restorations, notably a $30 million renovation in the mid-1970s and a $135 million project between 1984 and 1987, when the main lobby was relocated to this spot from its original location in the Rendezvous Court. Two floors of rooms were converted into offices (now storage and maintenance), murals were touched up and walls were repainted. 1984 was also the inception of the 24-story office tower that now stands on the corner—made of a six-brick mix identical to the original building. Today the hotel is owned and operated by Millennium Hotels and Resorts.