The Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel became a refuge for evacuees during the Pacific Palisades wildfire, reflecting the juxtaposition of Hollywood glamour and human tragedy. Wealthy residents fled with pets and children, lining up at luxury hotels like The Peninsula and Sunset Tower for shelter. Among them were familiar faces, including Kathy Hilton and Tom Hanks. Despite the turmoil, some sought normalcy through beauty treatments and social connections in the hotels. Philanthropy emerged, with stars like Jamie Lee Curtis and John Legend engaging in relief efforts. Amid loss, a new dating trend called “wildfire hookups” also took shape.
The Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel (referred to by locals as the “Pink Palace”) has always been the epitome of Hollywood glamor and chic. Luxury leather booths are packed with Tinseltown’s biggest stars to discuss multi-million dollar projects over £35 (about $43) dirty martinis and the signature McCarthy Chopped Salad.
But this week, as the Pacific Palisades wildfire raged 21 miles away on Sunset Boulevard, the quiet lobby looked like a battlefield.
A line of Los Angeles’ wealthiest residents stretched from the lobby, along a red carpet and into the parking lot, where panicked, crying and distraught people arrived clutching children, dogs and parrots.
“They arrived in Teslas and Bentleys, still wearing the clothes they were wearing when they fled,” one hotel official told me.
“One lady had it for the kids, so we brought ice cream from the restaurant while the kids hugged the family Labrador in the lobby.
“Then she started crying and realized she hadn’t brought any pictures of her mother who died when she was a child.”
Across Los Angeles, five-star hotels such as The Peninsula, Four Seasons, Sunset Tower, L’Ermitage and Bel Air (Prince Andrew’s favorite) are fully booked.
Rooms cost more than $1,000 (£819) a night, and the law prohibits price hikes during a crisis, but sources say there are tiers of rooms.
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A bird’s-eye view of the scale of California’s wildfires
The rich and famous check into the city’s five-star hotels, but none of the hotels publish a list of their celebrity guests.
A line of Los Angeles’ wealthiest residents stretched from the lobby, along a red carpet and into the parking lot, where panicked and tearful people arrived clutching children, dogs and parrots.
Chrissy Teigen is seen evacuating from the Los Angeles fires in a hotel with her dog on her Instagram Story.
“There are senior executives at Netflix who are upset because someone in Universal’s marketing department got a better suite. We may be in the middle of Armageddon, but in a town like L.A. Status still matters.”
None of the hotels release celebrity guest lists, but a devastated Kathy Hilton, the hotel heiress whose “It Girl” daughter Paris lost her Malibu home in a fire, was spotted in the Polo Lounge .
Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson were reportedly spotted at The Peninsula, the power broker hotel where disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein once had a permanent suite.
Meghan’s super agent Ari Emanuel was seen sipping tea in the lobby, while Jamie Lee Curtis was reportedly comforting a friend in a restaurant. A night’s stay at Jennifer Aniston’s favorite hotel, Sunset Tower, can cost up to $5,000 (£4,000).
Incredibly, just this past weekend I sat by the hotel’s pool with sparkling views of the city, sipping cocktails at a party celebrating this year’s Golden Globe Awards. That seems like a lifetime away. Since then, six wildfires have killed at least 10 people and destroyed the Pacific Palisades, home to Sir Anthony Hopkins, Ben Affleck and Harrison Ford.
This week at the Art Deco Sunset Tower, owner Jeff Klein, the hospitality legend who also runs the San Vicente Bungalows (where Prince Harry is rumored to stay during his stay in Los Angeles), will be hosting his usual… Maintained discretion.
“I can’t deny that there is stress,” he said. People lost their homes and personal belongings. We hope that what we can provide is a quick escape from the stress and anxiety they are experiencing.
Tom Hanks and wife Rita Wilson reportedly spotted at The Peninsula Hotel (pictured)
People evacuate from wildfires in California. At least 10 people killed in 6 fires
Tom Hanks and wife Rita Wilson were reportedly spotted at The Peninsula. The Peninsula is a hotel for power brokers, where disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein once had a permanent suite.
“It’s great to know that something that makes you happy can come back and that it’s still there and still standing. And it’s the same piano and bass player. , the same stiff cocktail.”
“It feels like Titanic,” a source told me. There’s music, cocktails, great food, fine linens, and a piano player. But this terrible tragedy is unfolding, people have lost everything, and no one knows what they will return to. It’s very sad. ”
But despite undeniable human tragedy and loss, standards must be maintained.
My Pilates instructor said he’s never been busier. He says he even receives phone calls from women looking for training in his hotel room, saying, “I don’t care about the price, I need you!”
According to a spokesperson for Beverly Hills’ most famous celebrity dermatologist, other women are using their time wisely, hiding in their rooms and getting lip injections, facial fillers, and Botox. It is said that they are doing so.
“We arrive discreetly and immediately go to the room. They can rest or sleep, and when they come out after the fire, no one will know that small adjustments have been made.”
As we reported in yesterday’s Mail, another custom medical service is delivering Ozempic and other weight-loss drugs to hotels to help women maintain their weight loss after skipping lunch.
A friend of mine, a Hollywood real estate agent, told me, I lost 40 pounds in Munjaro and I have to keep it off. Thankfully, my doctor managed to get it and Ubered me to my hotel.
“I’ve lost everything, but if this crisis makes me fat again, I’m damned.”
On the other hand, you also have to think about your pets. Demi Moore is one of many evacuees sleeping with dogs, but the actress, who won her first Golden Globe award last weekend, has nine dogs. She and her daughters Rumer and Scout Willis stay at the $900-a-night L’Ermitage hotel in Beverly Hills with their pampered dogs, including a 1.5-pound Chihuahua named Pilaf. are.
Flames erupt at a road intersection in Pacific Palisades, California, on January 7th.
Brave firefighters are seen responding to the Kenneth Fire in the West Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles on Thursday, January 9th.
After failing to extinguish a massive fire, charred remains of homes are all that remains in vast swaths of the luxurious Pacific Palisades neighborhood
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A source said, “There are dogs all over the hotel. The staff run around with poop scoops, but no one notices them. They have such a gentle energy that it’s nice to be around them. It happens and it’s confusing, but it’s fun.”
Plans are underway at the Beverly Hills Hotel to install a fake fire hydrant and lawn away from the main pool area “to give the dogs their own space and prevent the odor of urine from wafting into the pool.” The fire sparked many acts of kindness in this notoriously harsh city.
Chef Wolfgang Puck, who cooks at the Oscars Governor’s Ball every year, is offering free meals to firefighters at his five-star restaurant Spago. The restaurant’s classic Beverly Hills pizza with salmon and caviar costs about £50.
Other celebrities, including singer John Legend, who is currently holed up in a hotel with his wife Chrissy Teigen, four children, four dogs, and a bearded dragon, have joined exhausted firefighters and others at barricades across the Pacific Ocean. He reportedly sent his personal chef to deliver food for the police. Palisades.
Jamie Lee Curtis has donated $1 million to relief efforts, and as of last night we heard that other stars including Gwyneth Paltrow and Julia Roberts have also pledged to match her donation.
Paltrow’s ex-husband, Coldplay’s Chris Martin, has been calling friends in the music industry to discuss holding a concert to raise money for the victims.
A prominent therapist who has treated some of LA’s biggest stars sat in the lobby of the Four Seasons Hotel on Thursday night, offering free consultations.
“The shock is wearing off, reality is setting in, and people are now realizing that they have no home, no school for their children, their future has been taken away and their past has been destroyed.” he told me. “They just need to talk.”
Cars line up as people evacuate from wildfire west of Los Angeles
Palisades fire destroys thousands of vehicles, along with businesses and homes
The devastation of the Palisades fire seen early in the morning in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles on Friday, January 10th.
Police announced Thursday that they have arrested a man suspected of intentionally starting the Kenneth Fire in Los Angeles’ West Hills neighborhood. he has not been charged
Residents are only now beginning to move back into their neighborhoods, often only to find that they have lost everything.
But it’s not all doom and gloom.
A new phenomenon called “wildfire hookups” is spreading across the city. One friend, who is single and staying at the L’Ermitage in Beverly Hills, said the messages on the Raya app, a celebrity-only dating app, were “substandard”. She ended up drinking with a famous TV host at a hotel bar.
A Beverly Hills source said: “There were a lot of encounters.”
“People are grieving. They’re drinking. They have nice hotel rooms. There’s a lot of ‘consolation’ going on.” Rome may be on fire, but that’s no excuse for not having hot sex and great martinis. ”