Last Hurrah for Hernando’s Hideaway

They gathered last Friday at Hernando’s Hideaway in the Beverly Wilshire for a last lunch, a last drink.

More than two years ago, the Regent Hotel Chain purchased the great hotel that anchors Rodeo Drive and the Hideaway, with its leather bar and mariachis and McCarthy salads, just isn’t quite the style its new owners are seeking.

Style was always a great commodity at the hotel, and no movie mogul ever promoted a star the way the late and legendary Hernando Courtright spotlighted his hostelry. He was a master of hype, a producer of pizazz, a showman, a stylist. His round, smiling face was familiar to the readers of the social news for more than three decades. “El Padrino” was frequently photographed astride a horse decorated in the style of Old Mexico--a living and lucrative symbol, he hoped, of Los Angeles and its heritage.

Hernando, Don Hernando--but wait. His real name was Bill, his longtime associate Helen Chaplin said at the lunch.

And his heritage? Well, not Spanish or Mexican, but Irish and Basque.

It was Don Hernando, though, who was the topic of conversation, the center of attention, on this, the last day of his Hideaway. He would have liked it that way.

Chaplin--surrounded by a smattering of staff from the Beverly Wilshire, from Rodeo Drive, from the Beverly Hills Hotel--talked about how “Mr. Courtright” operated. She would certainly know. The loved and vivacious Chaplin celebrates her 75th birthday Tuesday, and last year left the Beverly Wilshire after a 35-year career in which her last post was hotel vice president. Chaplin, who joined the hotel staff in 1952, nine years before Courtright, spent decades at the side of her tough-minded boss as he shaped his successful public image.

It had all begun before, though, when Courtright entered the hotel business in the late 1930s somewhat by accident. He was one of the “bright young men” of A. Giannini’s Bank of America, and had come south to foreclose on the bankrupt Beverly Hills Hotel.

As Chaplin tells it, Courtright foresaw the need for hotel rooms that the coming boom and World War II would bring, and so he put together a group of investors, purchased the hotel and created the legend the pink landmark still enjoys. He never missed a trick. For example, the Polo Lounge was established because Courtright wanted that crowd hanging out at his hotel. In the same way, he was to court other “right kinds of people,” socially prominent groups like the elegant Charros and the Rancheros when he got to the Beverly Wilshire.

He arrived at the Beverly Wilshire in 1961 after a quick detour to serve as president of a new development known as Century City. His reign at the hotel marked “a great change,” Chaplin remembered. He opened a restaurant and brought in fine wines, believing that “a great hotel is known by the table it sets,” as Chaplin related it.

But his concept of greatness, of what would sell, was constantly evolving. His restaurant, the Oak Bar, later became the El Padrino. And once dancing was added, Hernando’s Hideaway became Don Hernando’s, then after 10 years returned to its original incarnation.

Power Breakfasts

As the Hideaway, it was the first “power breakfast” place, a well-known stop on any major book tour. Any morning, there were studio heads and agents, publicists and authors all trying to make their deals in between bites of the best-selling huevos rancheros .

In its heyday, familiar faces abounded. Oona Chaplin would join her close friends Carol Matthau and Gloria Vanderbilt for Mexican food. And because the hotel prided itself on its service, it catered to special dietary needs, Helen Chaplin stocking peanut butter to satisfy author William Buckley’s breakfast penchant.

Courtright was especially proud of his membership in the select Bohemian Club in Northern California, “I think the same camp as Edgar Bergen,” Chaplin said. Some things did not, however, go as smoothly. He was unceasing in his attempts to build and enlarge the legend and it was frequently Chaplin’s job to achieve Courtright’s desires for awards and recognition. A few were tough to pull off.

“Mr. Courtright wanted a certain award from the Mexican government and kept telling its representatives that he should get it, being a direct descendant of Hernando Cortez. I kept telling him not to say that, that Cortez had killed all the Aztecs,” Chaplin remembered. Eventually it was pulled off.

Around Chaplin, last Friday, the party continued. Seating hostess Peggy Crowley snapped pictures and a large cake inscribed “Happy Birthday Hellen” was produced, followed by another to mark Crowley’s birthday, which is today. Turning the event into a birthday party was orchestrated by hotel publicist Mary Jo Klein, who was joined by the Beverly Hills Hotel’s Chuck Cartier and Sheila O’Brien, publicist Craig Donahue and Katy Sweet, the veep of Fred Hayman/Beverly Hills. The table was crowded with McCarthy salads, named for Courtright’s pal Neil McCarthy and still served--at the Polo Lounge--finely chopped, allegedly because “McCarthy had dental problems.”

Producer Al Ruddy stopped by the table to announce “the gang’s all here,” and grab a quick kiss from Chaplin. In the corner, Friday regulars discussed where they would eat now that the Hideaway was closing. Grover Asmus, Roger Converse, Eric Skipsey and Bob Clark (regular John Good, Donna Reed’s husband, was absent this day) had started lunching here several years back, since their wives always had Friday lunch at the nearby Bistro Garden.

Around the room, it was a festive goodby, and one celebrating Chaplin as much as the Hideaway, with staff from throughout the hotel coming by to bring presents and kiss her. She hasn’t left the business, because she is now vice president of Ayala Hotels, with its Campton Place in San Francisco and the new Checkers that she is opening downtown in late winter.

“This will always be your home, Helen, regardless of what your business card reads,” Kurt Stielhack, general manager of the Beverly Wilshire announced.

That’s right, Miss Chaplin. And while you’re up, please pick up an award.