Pretty Woman

The infamous Las Palmas Hotel

If the above structure looks vaguely familiar, look again.  You probably have seen it before, as it is the film home of Julia Roberts' character in the movie Pretty Woman.

Julia Roberts on the fire escape, in a scene from the movie

On our recent tour of Hollywood, we drove past the building for Eva's sake.  It's right off Hollywood Boulevard, so it's not hard to find.  Eva got a kick out of seeing this building, which she recognized from the movie.

Eva by the hotel

Of course, we started quoting lines from the movie:  Big mistake.  HUGE mistake.

It's fun to quote films.  Do you speak movie, too?  I'll bet you do.  We are products of our culture, after all, are we not?

It looks considerably nicer these days, than it did in the movie

The Las Palmas looked pretty nice, like it had recently been painted and spruced up a bit.  I suppose a little bit of fame doesn't hurt.

Getting that photo op!

One of the fun things about showing someone around Southern California is that look they get when they recognize something from a film.  I have to admit, after living her for a while, you get a bit jaded.  It's hard to see a TV show or film without figuring out where something has been shot - and it's never where it's supposed to be!

When I worked down at the Los Angeles Harbor I saw movie crews all the time.  San Pedro's Ports O'Call has doubled for quite a few places on earth.  It's fun when you're in on the secret.

For Pretty Woman fans, here is the glamorous hotel that our hero, Richard Gere, takes the Pretty Woman to:

The Beverly Wilshire Hotel

It's the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. (I got a bit of a glare on my photo.  Sorry!)  At least the hotel exteriors were used in the movie.  The interiors were done on a sound stage, I believe.

Yup, it's Move Magic!