The Peninsula Beverly Hills

A Heavenly Hideaway

By Elyse Glickman

Beverly Hills is the epicenter of what most people consider old school Hollywood glamour, and it exists in many sumptuous forms. While the iconic Beverly Hills Hotel screams, “I have arrived” from a small hilltop just north of Sunset Boulevard, The Peninsula Beverly Hills does it more discreetly at the intersection of Wilshire and Santa Monica Boulevards. Though it is a short walk from Rodeo Drive shopping and the showier movie set that is The Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel, The Peninsula is an ivy-covered haven that one may accidentally drive by if blinking at the wrong moment.

This hidden quality suits The Peninsula Beverly Hills just fine—a major selling point that has likely made it a desirable spot for exclusive charity galas, A-list only pre-award show parties and gifting suites, and celebrity photo shoots. The European-style hotel blends so seamlessly with the surrounding neighborhood, that the grandeur of the its interior still sneaks up on you when entering the lobby be it for the 10th or 100th time. Since 1991, The Peninsula Beverly Hills has stayed enduringly successful through this recipe, blending together old Hollywood opulence with modern comforts and the privacy that is in such short supply in the TMZ era.

A Breath of Fresh Air

By design, The Peninsula is intended to attract a certain type of client cheerfully willing to pay for the best-of-the-best elegance, hands-on attention, and privacy. That philosophy extends throughout the hotel and to the pool area, freshly renovated by Cheryl Rowley Design, whose luxury property spreads have been showcased in Architectural Digest.

The pool is technically open only to hotel guests and their parties, and those who reserve the pool for business or philanthropic events. Savvy, fast-track Angelinos, however, always knows there is an “insider’s tip” that can get them access to the most exclusive domain. In the case of the Peninsula’s pool, if you book a later dinner at the adjoining Roof Garden (at least 24 hours in advance and based upon availability), you can request to dine in a cabana at no extra charge. From there, it is up to you how you fill out a romantic night in Beverly Hills or charm the socks off your friends or colleagues.

Dim Sum and Then Some

The Peninsula also boasts The Club Bar, The Living Room, and The Belvedere, all capitalizing on the talents of Executive Chef James Overbaugh and his team, as well as the jewel-box qualities of the hotel’s architecture and interior design. While a contemporary/market driven menu helps bolster the profile of The Belvedere (the only hotel restaurant in Southern California to earn the AAA Five Diamond award for the twelfth consecutive year), The Living Room and The Club Bar manage to have a warm, homey quality that make them ideal spots to host informal business chats or just catch up on things outside the office.

Thanks to its welcoming ambiance, The Peninsula Beverly Hills is well-suited for large formal business gatherings, with over 3,892 square feet of meeting and event space, providing the flexibility for every type of event from presentations to product launches to lavish formal galas. Even with its capacity to entertain big, however, there is always something new and enticing to help savvy guests mix business and pleasure.
This fall, for example, The Peninsula rolled out its Chocolate Dim Sum menu, created by Overbaugh and Executive Pastry Chef Miguel Torres. This temptation consists of crisp dumplings stuffed with dark chocolate, or white chocolate with a hint of citrus-cream-cheese flavor; dipping sauces of passion fruit, orange-raspberry and ginger-caramel; and green tea ice cream.

With a nod to its Asian roots, the The Peninsula Beverly Hills also offers authentic savory dim sum conceived by Chef Jimmy Chiu, a Hong Kong native who honed his culinary skills in and around the flagship Peninsula Hong Kong. This exotic adjunct is available in-room, in The Club Bar, and in The Living Room, where new resident pianist Antonio Castillo de la Gala entertains from 7:30 p.m. until midnight.

A Global Village

The guest-only areas of the hotel are feasts for the other senses, with their artful blend of Asian and European design and amenities. The Peninsula Spa and Health Club, for example, incorporates cutting-edge treatments (such as new acupuncture facials and exclusive Shiffa precious gemstone treatments) with the finest therapists, equipment, and products which has made it one of the top day spas in the U.S. by top travel magazines. It also rolls out glamorously into the pool area, where fresh fruit cocktails (non-alcoholic and otherwise) are blended on-the-spot and to order.

The hotel also offers a decadent variety of complimentary chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royces and Lexus sedans to squire guests to the best of what Beverly Hills has to offer.