HOTEL BEL-AIR, LOS ANGELES
A hidden sanctuary amongst the wooded hills, untouched by the clamour of life beyond its gates, Hotel Bel-Air’s story begins in the 1920’s with the very creation of Bel-Air itself, LA’s ultimate community of exclusivity. The hotel grew from Alphonzo Bell’s original vision to turn the best-situated land in Los Angeles into estates for ‘the kind of people you would like to know and have as your neighbours’, and the vision lives on today. In 1946, a Texan hotel entrepreneur named Joseph Drown bought 18 acres from Alphonzo Bell, including the estate’s mission-style buildings, and immediately began transforming the site into the elegant and secluded hotel we now enjoy. He restored the property and added a series of new guest rooms before the hotel officially opened on August 24, 1946. A quintessentially private and exclusive hotel, delivering low-key elegance since 1946, Hotel Bel-Air is still very much reminiscent of the Golden Age of Hollywood - in the 1950s, the hotel attracted privacy-seeking Hollywood A-listers, including Grace Kelly, Marilyn Monroe, Jackie Gleason and Cary Grant.
A rare piece of living history, the hotel has often played home to many of Hollywood’s finest. Marilyn Monroe posed for photographer Bert Stern at Hotel Bel-Air just six weeks prior to her tragic death. The 1962 shoot commissioned by Vogue resulted in thousands of images and a published book, The Last Sitting. Hotel Bel-Air’s Grace Kelly Suite is named in honour of the actress, who chose the bungalow for her post-Oscar photo shoot and lived at the hotel prior to her marriage to Prince Rainier Grimaldi III. The epitome of gracious elegance and feminine charm, the suite embodies her beauty and iconic style.
M illi O n A ir magazine
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