THE Hollywood Plaza Hotel opened in Los Angeles in 1925 and was popular with film stars because its location – at the famous intersection of Hollywood and Vine – was a short drive from most major studios and near Hollywood’s ‘Radio City.’

Actress Bette Davis (and her mother and her dog) made the hotel home when she first arrived in Hollywood in 1930 and Ava Gardner resided there in 1941 (but then had to move to a cheaper hotel.)

In his memoir, radio star and comedian George Burns, who used one of the guest suites as an office, recalls being encouraged to meet an unknown starlet and ‘the most beautiful girl you’ve ever seen’ by Marilyn Monroe’s agent.

‘I took one look at her and knew an historic event had taken place; it was the first time in history an agent had been telling the truth’ he joked.

Other notable hotel guests were Joe Di Maggio, Babe Ruth, Howard Hughes and Ernest Hemingway.

Designed in Renaissance revival style, the property had a street level ballroom and two garden plazas. Magnificent date palms surrounded the swimming pool and these feature on this 1961 menu for the hotel’s coffee shop.

The Hollywood Plaza closed in the 1970s.