by: Stephen Schochet
Since it was built in 1929, The Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel has attracted rich and famous guests from around the world. To the general public the hotel is most famous for being used in the 1990 movie Pretty Woman. They have disappointed thousands of people by turning down requests from around the world who would like to stay in the same suite that Julia Roberts and Richard Gere had in the movie because it does not exist, it was filmed at the Walt Disney studio.
Julia Robert's character in the film was not the only pretty woman who stayed there. In the 60's the hotel became a swinging hangout for Warren Beatty and Jack Nicholson, with parades of women going in and out of their rooms. A little old lady who stayed beneath Beatty constantly banged her ceiling with her broom, to try and get him and his lady friends to stop making so much noise.
Not everyone was having fun in the hotel. Michael Caine spent his honeymoon there with his beautiful wife Shakira. Caine was and is a favorite of the staff. In honor of Shakira they decided to give them the authentic Indian honeymoon suite. In India, the honeymoon beds hang from the ceiling with bells hanging from the bottom. The neighbors like to hear the bells go off for the happy couple, but in this case Shakira was already pregnant and Caine was jetlagged. All they wanted was to get some sleep but they couldn't do it because of the blankety blank bells! The English actor ended up ordering four hamburgers from room service and stuffed the buns into the bells so that they could get through the night!