Today, under the ownership of the Sultan of Brunei, you are but a troubled shadow of your former glory.
There was a time when I knew my way around the hallways of your fabled hotel. I met with Bob Colacello and his Warhol pack in the Polo Lounge when they, in the 70s, tried to hire me away from Norman Lear to work for Interview Magazine. I waited in your salon many early mornings while my friend, Margaret Whiting, had her hair brushed-out and styled. When my boss’s secretary would call and say, “Ted would like you to meet him at the Beverly Hills Hotel for lunch. Polo Lounge, 1:00 sharp,” it always meant a promotion. When my agency partner, Don Havens, and I made a new hire we’d take them to lunch at your hotel on their first day—a return visit was something for them to aspire to.
The last time that I stayed at your hotel, Fox’s Marvin Davis owned the place and you could tell that it wouldn’t be long before great memories would never again be made there.
Today Variety is reporting that “the venerable Beverly Hills Hotel is beginning to feel the impact of the industry’s outrage over the anti-LGBT and anti-female laws enacted in Brunei, the home country of hotel owner Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah.”
Social Media’s power players, business moguls, and entertainment execs are taking you to task:
Beverly Hills Hotel, I’m glad I knew ye during one of the heydays of your 100-year history. It doesn’t seem that future generations will have that opportunity as you slip deeper and deeper into irrelevance.
