I started driving past the Century Plaza Hotel, along Century City's Avenue of the Stars, pretty regularly sometime in the year 2020, during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
circa Dec. 2021
It was on my way home from the Santa Monica College swimming pool—but it wasn't the most convenient way home.
If you were to drive by South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, California—or even wheel around its parking lot, looking for a nearby restaurant, as I have—you might think that it's just another mall.
But this shopping center is a little different.
Not only is it the largest indoor shopping mall on the West Coast, but it was also one of our first. And it's one of the most successful malls in a country where most shoppers seem to be staying home to make their purchases online.
Most people wouldn't give a Macy's department store a second glance—but I'm not most people.
Besides, even though it happened long before I arrived in California, I know how Macy's took over some of the historic Robinson's department stores (like in Woodland Hills and Newport Beach).
I can only assume there are more historic treasures hiding behind a Macy's logo elsewhere in SoCal.
Which brings me to the Macy's on Lake Avenue in Pasadena, California.
Every time I'd drive past it, I'd marvel at what I assumed—but didn't really know—to be a landmark shopping destination. It dominates Lake Avenue, with its wide, low profile—and its Streamline Moderne elements on the north wing catching the eyes of passerby drivers like me.
I'd always wondered what it was like inside, but I'd always be on my way to something else—and wouldn't make time to stop and go in.
That changed when Pasadena Heritage recently offered a tour of Macy's Lake Avenue—which turns out to be the former Pasadena location of Bullock's department store.
[Last updated 6/2/26 12:30 PM PT—The Beverly Hilton has demolished its pool as part of the One Beverly Hills development. It plans to rebuild it in approximately the same location (but not exactly) and raise it up to the second story. I recently got a view of the construction site from above while visiting the rooftop restaurant, Circa 55 (scroll for pic). Other parts of the hotel are also under construction, and the self-parking structure has been demolished.]
I've long been fascinated with the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills, California—for reasons having nothing to do with the Golden Globe Awards, whose ceremony has taken place there every year since 1961.
View from the Waldorf-Astoria, where Trader Vic's once stood, circa 2017
It really doesn't have anything to do with its architecture, either—though the Welton Becket-designed hotel (in a lovely shade of "marshmallow white") is a nice slice of Mid-Century Modernism circa 1955.
The hotel—which was opened by Conrad Hilton and retained the family name despite being bought by TV game show impresario Merv Griffin in 1987—held my fascination on nearly every business trip I took to LA because of the Trader Vic's it once housed.
I'd been desperate to visit it—but had a hard time determining my own schedule when I was in town working.
And I couldn't convince any of my colleagues, coworkers, or contacts to meet me there.
Then in 2007, Trader Vic's lost its proper location—a wing of the Beverly Hilton that was ultimately demolished—and was relegated to a new poolside location until 2017, when it closed for good.
Although I did visit the reduced Trader Vic's bar a couple of times during those 10 years...
circa 2009 (Google Street View)
...the ghostly shadow of the demolished wing haunted me while it sat there vacant for way too long (until the Waldorf-Astoria was built in its place, finally opening the same year Trader Vic's closed for good).
Fast forward to last week, when I was somewhat inspired by my recent "tikication" at Caliente Tropics Resort in Palm Springs...
...and decided to spend a day of the recent heatwave working poolside at the Beverly Hilton's Aqua Star Pool [Update 2026: now demolished].
At 93 by 36 feet, it's supposedly the largest heated hotel pool in Beverly Hills—which meant swimming laps in between typing on my laptop and sipping on mojitos.
The pool is fraught with celebrity lore—starting perhaps with its inauguration, when it was christened by "Million Dollar Mermaid" Esther Williams swimming through a cascade of floating gardenias. [Update 2026—That curved area on the upper level of the building is where I was standing to look down from above at the construction site.]
And then there was that time Angelina Jolie jumped in fully dressed in her Golden Globes gown after winning her award for Gia in 1999.
[Update 2026] And now it's gone.
Of course, the hotel itself has drawn its fair share of famous and infamous clientele, too—even outside of awards season.
They ranged from the Rat Pack, Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, and Whitney Houston (who drowned in her hotel room bathtub in 2012).
...to international heads of state, including JFK who nicknamed the hotel the "Western White House."
All of those celebrities and more loved the old Trader Vic's restaurant just as much as they loved the hotel itself and its pool...
Trader Vic's Lounge circa 2010 (Photo: Neeta Lind via Flickr, CC BY 2.0)
...but I can't imagine any Hollywood elite enjoyed happy hour at the poolside "lounge" version of Trader Vic's.
circa 2010
The first time I went to the lounge—the only Trader Vic's at the Beverly Hilton I ever got to experience—I ordered a drink called the "Parrot Pot." According to my Facebook post at the time, I got to keep the parrot.
Only now, 10 years later, I have no clue what happened to that parrot. And it's freaking killing me.
When the bell finally tolled for Trader Vic's Lounge, I didn't know until it was too late. One night, I showed up after an event elsewhere in the hotel, and I couldn't find any trace of it left.
It was heartbreaking—because even a disappointing Trader Vic's is better than no Trader Vic's at all.
Likewise, the one at L.A. Live in Downtown Los Angeles by the Staples Center—which the Eater blog called "a mall version," and rightly so—had only lasted five years, closing in 2014. At least I managed to get a souvenir mug from the that one (even though it was after the fact).
I tell myself that there's absolutely nothing I can do about having missed out on Trader Vic's proper location at the Beverly Hilton. It's never coming back.
And while I was hoping to get some closure by visiting its gravesite, I think my poolside day only made my regret worse—and made me feel more forlorn about the whole thing.
The lounge is a grab-and-go snack bar now. It's completely unrecognizable.
My only recourse, I think, is to try to keep this type of thing from happening again.
No matter which gate or terminal your airline directs your arriving flight to at LAX, there's something you're sure to see—the Theme Building.
circa 2019
It's at the center of it all at LAX—hovering like a space ship while all the rental car and hotel shuttles and taxis and rideshares encircle it on World Way, bobbing and weaving around the parking structures and the ill-marked exits that simply have you return to the airport instead of heading to your destination.
circa 2019
Situated on an island of sorts between West Way and East Way, the Theme Building is the kind of beacon—day or night—that makes you say "What the heck is that?" and then become obsessed with it. I don't think that's just me. I think it's pretty much everybody.
circa 2019
Completed in 1961 as a joint venture between architects Charles Luckman, William Pereira, Welton Becket, and Paul Revere Williams (though some say Williams has been given more credit than he deserves on this particular project), the "new terminal facilities" were dedicated by none other than Lyndon B. Johnson, the sitting Vice President of the United States at the time (and future POTUS 1963-9).
circa 2019
And the Theme Building was an essential part of the plan to bring LA's international airport into the "Jet Age" with state-of-the-art facilities and a futuristic, Googie vibe.
circa 2019
LAX had come a long way from its first iteration as Mines Field—a mere landing strip built in the late 1920s out of a clearing in the bean and barley fields of the former Mexican land grant, Rancho Aguaje de la Centinela.
circa 2019
And in keeping up with the new jet set, there was no telling what new heights this flight facility could reach.
circa 2019
Also known as the "Theme-and-Arch Building," the LAX spaceship (whose initial design is credited to draftsman James Langenheim of the Pereira-Luckman firm) ultimately became nothing more than a symbolic center of the airport—and not a functional one.
circa 2019
In fact, it's kind of hard to get to on foot, especially with luggage in tow. And there's not much reason to go there if you're not flying in or out of LAX.
circa 2019
There used to be, however, an exception—the circular Encounter Restaurant and Bar.
circa 2019
Encounter closed permanently in December 2013, but its signage persists on the tiled wall outside the (now locked) glass entry doors...
circa 2019
...and outside the elevator that would take you to the top while playing some Star Trek theme-inspired soundtrack (or a copycat version thereof, listen at the bottom of this post).
circa 2015
Standing under those stuccoed arches, encircling the flying saucer like the rings of Saturn, visiting is truly an "out of this world" experience.
circa 2010
I had the foresight to go out of my way to get up in there back in October 2010. Although Encounter had originally opened in 1997, the building itself later needed renovations in 1999 and seismic retrofitting and other structural reinforcements in 2007. It didn't reopen until July 2010.
circa 2010
I was living in NYC at the time but had ramped up my West Coast visits in anticipation of moving here. And after flying back and forth so many times over the course of that year, I just had to visit that UFO-shaped restaurant suspended in the air.
circa 2010
The Jetsons-like interior was accented by the spaceship's exterior lighting design—contributed by Michael Valentino of Disney Imagineering, circa 2000. The lava lamps on the crater-shaped bar were a bit much, as were the laser-beam bar guns and alien beer taps. And the themed menus—except the one for "junior space cadets"—offered cocktails like "The Black Hole" and the "Bossa Supernova."
circa 2010
And at the time, I didn't appreciate that much of the spacey-chic I was witnessing was the work of other Disney imagineers, too—like Eddie Sotto (who designed the textured walls to look like the moon's surface) and Ellen Guevara (who worked with Sotto on the flowing carpet patterns).
But oh, what I wouldn't give to ride that elevator again—and listen to that kooky sci-fi music—and get a good look at all the crazy design elements inside—and watch all the planes taking off and landing on the runways outside.
Encounter website circa 2007 (Screenshot via Internet Archive)
I did actually dine at Encounter one more time—that same year, in fact, when I'd returned to LA to interview for the job that ultimately moved me here. I was staying at a hotel near LAX and my future boss met me at the airport for dinner.
Considering the business nature of our meeting, I didn't get the chance to take any nighttime photos of the Theme Building or its restaurant. But to be honest, I was so obsessed with collecting new experiences from 2010 to 2014 that I didn't really feel the need to go back. I thought I'd been there and done that.
In fact, it didn't occur to me to go back to Encounter ever again—until it was too late.
Nothing has replaced the Encounter Restaurant in the Theme Building, although there's been talk of how it might be reimagined—especially with the success of the newly reopened (and preserved) TWA terminal at JFK. The observation deck is even closed. The only signs of life are the Bob Hope USO operations on the ground level.
So what could be next?
If I had endless amounts of money, I'd try to open a tiki bar there. I'd probably even keep the space theme. Outer space and underwater are strikingly similar sometimes.
Aesthetically, there's not a huge difference between the the bottom of the sea and the surface of the moon.
[Last updated 7/22/26 8:33 PM PT—The Cinerama Dome and adjacent Arclight multiplex closed during Covid shutdowns and never reopened. Thanks in large part to a one-man campaign known as Save the Cinerama Dome, the family that operates the complex has leased it to Sony Pictures Entertainment's subsidiary Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, which will reopen it in 2028.]
The first time I went to the Cinerama Dome, it wasn't to see a movie (despite the fact that it is, by virtue of its name, a cinema).
A couple of weeks ago, I was out with an out-of-town friend on a Friday night when we realized we'd stumbled into some kind of big night out for soccer fanatics.
At the bar, I met someone who handed me a branded tote bag and introduced himself as part of the new Los Angeles Football Club.
"We tore down the old sports arena," he said, proudly, "and we're building a new stadium in Exposition Park right now."
Ah yes.
Until then, I'd practically forgotten that I'd gotten permission to document the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena right after its final hurrah (three Bruce Springsteen concerts)...
If Hollywood has a skyline, the mid-century Capitol Records tower at Hollywood and Vine is pretty much it.
Designed by Welton Becket, it was the first circular office building in the world—and at 13 stories high (the height limit at the time so as not to be taller than City Hall), it was Hollywood's first high-rise office building to be air-conditioned.
Which is something.
I've been wanting to get into the Capitol Records building ever since I first saw it on a business trip to LA, when I myself was working at a different record label on the other coast.
But, like many office buildings, unless you've got a meeting there, you're hard-pressed to find a way in.
Then again, as I always say, there's always a way in.
My access today came by way of the 60th anniversary of Capitol Studios...
...and, as part of the celebration, a small group of 10 of us got to spend about two hours exploring the hallowed (and probably haunted) halls of this legendary factory of hit records.
I remember working in the classical department of Atlantic Records during the label's 60th anniversary. It was a really big deal. We all got our photos taken with Ahmet at a big celebration. I was doing a job that my dad could understand—and at a company he actually recognized.
In Studios A and B, I got up close and personal with Nat King Cole's Steinway piano...
...and Billy Preston's Hammond B3 organ that he used to play with The Beatles.
I sat on a stool that had been made to Frank Sinatra's specifications...
...face to face with one of his microphones.
I got to listen to isolated tracks from Tom Petty's "American Girl" and (completely unintentionally) Sam Smith's "Stay With Me," which sounded amazing.
Sam Smith recorded his album here in Hollywood, and took advantage not only of Capitol's vintage Neve 8068 sound board (signed by Rupert Neve himself), but also some of the studio's eight subterranean "echo chambers."
Constructed out of reinforced concrete in a trapezoidal shape (and original to the building), the echo chambers are a surprisingly analog approach to creating reverb in a digitally-equipped age. The music is piped into them, and the echo of it is piped right back out and recorded in the studio above it.
Then again, all three of the recording studios at Capitol are analog. As one engineer said, it's easier to physically grab onto something to make a change rather than have to pull it up on a computer.
They even still use the tape machines sometimes.
A lot of this equipment has created a lot of high-quality sound recordings that have stood the test of time...
...and sound just as pristine—and relevant—now as they did back then.
I've never heard The Who's "Pinball Wizard" or Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" better than I did today in Studio C's surround sound.
Maybe it's because our engineer, Charlie, told us to crank it up as high as we wanted.
Music types always like their music loud.
Capitol's studios aren't just about recordingthe songs—but also finishing them off, adding effects, and sending masters off to be manufactured—so we got to visit a couple of mastering suites as well.
And here's where my mind was really blown, because we got to watch the process of lacquer mastering for vinyl (also known as "vinyl cutting"), as demonstrated by legendary vinyl mastering engineer Ron McMaster.
He's been cutting records for Capitol since the 1980s; but when vinyl sales went into a slump and interest in LPs waned, he switched to mastering CDs.
Now that interest in vinyl is resurging, Ron is back in the phonograph business—with two vintage Neumann disc-cutting lathes that he practically had to rescue from being scrapped when it seemed like they'd become obsolete. And it's a good thing, too, since nobody makes those machines anymore (and when Ron needs a spare part, he's got to search the internet for it).
I'll be honest: I didn't really understand what I was watching when Ron used the machine to cut a 45 RPM (a.k.a. a 7-inch) of "Wouldn't It Be Nice?" from The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds (which just turned 50 years old this month). The song was playing, and the grooves seemed to appear on the 10-inch vinyl disc as if by magic.
It was the perfect ending to a tour inside a building that itself looks like a stack of vinyl records.
Of course, I'm not done with that building yet. The rooftop observation deck still beckons me, its red blinking beacon spelling out H-O-L-L-Y-W-O-O-D in Morse code.
Unfortunately, it closed to the public after 9/11. Fortunately, I'm not your average "public" citizen.
Here's a great little video on the construction of the tower, initially dubbed "Project X":
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