Beverly Hills Preps 100 Rolls-Royces for Holiday

If you’ve always thought of Labor Day as a ho-hum holiday, consider what’s planned for Sept. 2 in one of the Southland’s poshest places.

Beverly Hills has decided to stage its first Labor Day bash, and you can bet it’s going to be extraordinary.

The opening ceremony will be a parade of 100 Rolls-Royces chauffeuring film and TV celebrities as well as other Beverly Hills gentry. You’ll also catch a glimpse of the elite car company’s 1986 models.

The main event is a trio of Olympic-class cycling races, with professional riders circling city streets for prize money and the Mayor’s Cup. Celebrity bicycle races also are planned.

Arrive before the noon kickoff for a good viewing place along Rodeo Drive, Brighton Way, Beverly Drive and Dayton Way that form the half-mile parade and cycle course.

Nearby on Canon Drive, food stands will offer treats from the gourmet kitchens of Beverly Hills restaurants. Added enticements are special holiday rates at some of the city’s hostelries.

Of course you don’t have to wait for this end-of-summer celebration to enjoy an escape to Beverly Hills. It’s an elegant antidote for anyone who missed a vacation to Europe this season.

As the visitors bureau proudly boasts, Beverly Hills is a world within a city. You can be pampered in the continental manner at multi-star hotels, dine on the dishes of famous chefs and shop at boutiques with a global array of goods.

For sightseers a major activity is driving up and down the city’s tree-lined avenues to gaze at the resplendent residences. You can visit one of Beverly Hills’ grand estates that’s been opened to the public as the Virginia Robinson Gardens.

Almost destinations in themselves are the luxurious hotels of Beverly Hills. Best known are L’Ermitage, the Beverly Wilshire, Beverly Hills and Beverly Hilton.

Special Rates on Rooms

Their normal room rates exceed the budgets of many visitors, but weekend reductions and packages may entice you to spend a night or two in Beverly Hills style. Consider the stately Beverly Wilshire Hotel in the heart of the city at Wilshire Boulevard and Rodeo Drive.

Rates for a double there begin at $135, and you’ll pay as much as $1,000 for the Royal Suite. However, make reservations for the Great Affordable Weekend (good through Labor Day) and you can sleep in splendor for $85 a night.

You must book both Friday and Saturday nights, but a bottle of champagne, valet parking and late 3 p.m. Sunday checkout come with the package. You also have unlimited use of the sauna and minigym.

The hotel is well known for fine French dining in La Bella Fontana restaurant. Less formal is El Padrino, a rotisserie and bar decorated with saddles and tack of early California rancheros. It’s a popular place for champagne brunch on Sundays.

Another Wilshire Boulevard hotel, the Beverly Hilton, serves haute cuisine in its award-winning L’Escoffier. The hotel’s Mr. H presents bountiful buffets, while exotic drinks and dishes lure diners to Trader Vic’s.

Stores Are Nearby

The Beverly Hilton attracts weekenders with reduced rates and its location adjacent to Robinson’s Wilshire that’s open on Sundays. Just up the boulevard are Neiman-Marcus, I. Magnin, Saks Fifth Avenue and Bonwit Teller.

The hotel’s double rates range from $122 to $155, but by making reservations for the One-Night Delight package, $90 buys a deluxe room, breakfast and parking. The offer is good any day and you can extend your stay at the same nightly rate.

For a secluded weekend in Beverly Hills, make your destination the L’Ermitage that’s in a quiet neighborhood along Burton Way. All rooms are spacious suites, each with a fireplace and kitchenette. The Penthouse Suite has a grand piano.

L’Ermitage is a reminder of Europe, especially when you wake up to a continental breakfast, morning newspaper and freshly polished shoes. The gracious service also includes gratis transportation by limousine anywhere in Beverly Hills.

Suite rates range from $205 to $510 (to $1,250 for the penthouse), but L’Ermitage also offers Le Weekend de Grande Classe for $650 a couple. Besides two nights’ lodging and all the hotel’s other amenities, a candlelight dinner is served in your suite accompanied by wine and a musician’s serenade.

Rendezvous of Stars

The grand dame of Beverly Hills’ hotels carries the city’s name and an early reputation as the rendezvous of movie stars. Bean fields surrounded the Beverly Hills Hotel when it opened in 1912 to attract buyers to barren home sites in the area.

Today the hotel and its bungalows are almost hidden by foliage in a verdant residential section of Sunset Boulevard. But Hollywood’s show folk still show up, notably at the famed Polo Lounge and pool-side cabanas.

Business is so good at this distinguished hostelry that weekend rates or packages are never offered; even guests who stay for a month or two pay the nightly rate. Nevertheless, a few cozy rooms are available at $90 single, $20 more for a double. Junior suites begin at $195.

Estate Tour

A mere $3 gives you entry to a nearby estate that was the private paradise of Virginia Robinson, heir by marriage to the department store fortune. Only elderberry bushes grew on the six-acre property when the Robinsons moved there in 1911.

Her lifelong interest in horticulture turned the estate into a botanic garden that she donated to the Los Angeles County Department of Arboreta and Botanic Gardens. Visitors are welcome, but only by reservation because of parking restrictions.

Docents guide hourlong walks along hillside pathways to see hundreds of flowers, shrubs and trees. You’ll also get to peek into both the guest house and home, still furnished as in 1977 when Virginia Robinson died a few days before her 100th birthday.

Garden tours are available Tuesday through Friday at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Call (213) 446-8251 for reservations and directions to the estate.

For additional information about Beverly Hills or the city’s Labor Day events, call the Beverly Hills Visitors Bureau, (213) 271-8174.

From the Los Angeles Civic Center, follow Beverly or Wilshire boulevards west to Beverly Hills. Round trip is 17 miles.