| Westin Bonaventure Hotel | |
|---|---|
 Westin Bonaventure Hotel, 2006 | |
  Location in Central Los Angeles | |
| Hotel chain | Westin Hotels |
| General information | |
| Location | 404 South Figueroa Street Los Angeles, California |
| Coordinates | 34°03′10″N118°15′21″W / 34.052778°N 118.255833°W /34.052778; -118.255833 |
| Opening | January 1977 |
| Management | Aimbridge Hospitality |
| Height | 367 ft (112 m) |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 33 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | John C. Portman Jr. |
| Other information | |
| Number of rooms | 1,358 |
| Number of suites | 135 |
| Number of restaurants | Bona Vista Lounge Hotel Food Court Restaurants L.A. Prime Lakeview Bistro Lobby Court Coffee Bar |
| Website | |
| https://bonaventurehotel.com/ | |
| [1][2][3][4][5] | |
TheWestin Bonaventure Hotel and Suites is a 367-foot (112 m), 33-story hotel inLos Angeles, California, constructed between 1974 and 1977.[6] It was designed by architectJohn C. Portman Jr. The top floor has arevolving restaurant and bar. It was originally owned by investors that included a subsidiary ofJapanese conglomerateMitsubishi Corporation andJohn Portman & Associates. The building is managed byAimbridge Hospitality (IHR), and is valued at $200 million.
The hotel and its architect John Portman have been the subject of several documentaries and academic analyses.[7][8]
MarxistphilosopherFredric Jameson discusses the hotel in his 1984 essay, "Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism", and in his 1991 book by the same name.[9][10] He writes that
the Bonaventura aspires to being a total space, a complete world, a kind of miniature city (and I would want to add that to this new total space corresponds a new collective practice, a new mode in which individuals move and congregate, something like the practice of a new and historically original kind of hyper-crowd).[11]
In his bookPostmodern Geographies: The Reassertion of Space in Critical Social Theory (1989),Edward Soja describes the hotel as
a concentrated representation of the restructured spatiality of the late capitalist city: fragmented and fragmenting, homogeneous and homogenizing, divertingly packaged yet curiously incomprehensible, seemingly open in presenting itself to view but constantly pressing to enclose, to compartmentalize, to circumscribe, to incarcerate. Everything imaginable appears to be available in this micro-urb but real places are difficult to find, its spaces confuse an effective cognitive mapping, its pastiche of superficial reflections bewilder co-ordination and encourage submission instead. Entry by land is forbidding to those who carelessly walk but entrance is nevertheless encouraged at many different levels. Once inside, however, it becomes daunting to get out again without bureaucratic assistance. In so many ways, its architecture recapitulates and reflects the sprawling manufactured spaces of Los Angeles.[12]
The hotel is a 33-story building, with no floors numbered "7" or "13"; the top floor is therefore numbered "35". The four elevator banks (each containing three cars for a total of 12) are named by colors and symbols: Red Circle (the only one that goes to "35"; the other three only go to "32"), Yellow Diamond, Green Square, and Blue Triangle. The color-coded system of directions was a later addition, as visitors found the space confusing and hard to navigate.[13]
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Several bronze plaques commemorate elevator scenes from three major films:
It has been featured in many movies and television series over the years, includingThe Driver,[16]Interstellar,[17]Strange Days,Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (as part of the city of New Chicago),Wonder Woman,[18]Blue Thunder,It's a Living,[19]Starsky & Hutch,L.A. Law,The A-Team,Breathless,Matlock,This Is Spinal Tap,Playing God,Chronos,Nick of Time,[20]Rain Man,[20][21]Ruthless People,[20]Logan's Run,[20]My Fellow Americans,[20]Midnight Madness,Moonlighting (TV series),Showtime,Hard to Kill,The Lincoln Lawyer,Chuck,Heaven Can Wait,Xanadu,The New Dragnet,Time After Time,Moby Dick,[22]Zoolander,[23]MaXXXine,Lethal Weapon 2,[20]The Fantastic Journey[24][25] and was destroyed (via special effects) inEscape from LA,[26]Epicenter, andSan Andreas. The front of the hotel was also featured in the British children’s television seriesTots Tv ‘American Adventure’ special where Tilly, Tom and Tiny went to explore a different country and were observing tall buildings and went onto the roof of the hotel to observe the view ofLos Angeles.[27] While under construction, it appeared in the 1975 filmThe Wilderness Family (released a year before the hotel opened). In cartoon form, the building can be seen in the first shot ofJem in the episode "The Beginning", and in the animeSteins;Gate. In November 1979, the ABC soap operaGeneral Hospital videotaped some on location scenes there dealing with Luke Spencer, played by Anthony Geary who was hired to assassinate Senator Mitch Williams. In 1999,Power Rangers Lost Galaxy used the building as the administration building of the space colony Terra Venture, with Red Ranger Leo falling from the building after a battle with main villain Trakeena.
In 2002, the hotel was the location for aFear Factor stunt which involved crossing a bridge of plexiglass discs on cables suspended on the lobby's fifth floor.[28] The television seriesIt's a Living was set in a restaurant atop the Bonaventure. The hotel is also showcased in episodes ofCSI and its exterior can be seen inAmericathon,Mission: Impossible III,Almighty Thor,Hancock, and at the beginning of theLionel Richie "Dancing on the Ceiling" music video. The building made appearances in the 2002Aaliyah music video "More Than a Woman", 1991Kylie Minogue music video "Step Back in Time", the 1985Survivor music video "The Search Is Over", the 2004 video gameGrand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the 2012 video gameCall of Duty: Black Ops II (in the "Aftermath" multiplayer map) and in the 2013 video gameGrand Theft Auto V with the name "Arcadius Business Center" (having three towers instead of four towers and featuring glass elevator animations).
The hotel was also used as a setting for R&B singerUsher's music video for the 2002 hit single, "U Don't Have to Call". A pivotal scene in the season four (2005) episode "Another Mister Sloane" of the espionage dramaAlias took place in the Bonaventure Hotel as well, while it was also featured in season one (2017), episode five of another espionage drama,Counterpart. In 2021,Rihanna's "Savage x Fenty Show Vol. 3" was filmed entirely on location at the hotel.[29][30] The hotel also hosted the first task for the final leg ofThe Amazing Race 33, which aired in 2022.[28]
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