The Ambassador of Beverly Hills

The red coachman’s coat from Sulka is carefully buttoned. The black Bally shoes are perfectly shined. The gold name badge from Tiffany & Co. is polished and spotless.

All that Gregg Donovan has to do before slipping on his Versace sunglasses is slather some sunscreen on his face and check the tilt of his black top hat in his reflection in the Battaglia storefront window.

“Welcome to Beverly Hills!” Donovan exclaims to no one in particular. “You have arrived!”

Donovan certainly has. The former hotel concierge, 42, has been hired as Beverly Hills’ first official greeter. His job is to welcome the shoppers who the city hopes will bring some post-Sept. 11 recovery to the nation’s glitziest shopping area.

“Every day I come to work I feel like I’m in the ‘Wizard of Oz’ and this is the Yellow Brick Road,” Donovan said as he paused next to a black Rolls-Royce parked on Rodeo Drive, in front of Bernini.

A pair of passing Japanese tourists stared first at the Rolls and then at Donovan. Suddenly, with a slight bow and a theatrical wave of his arms, he started chattering in Japanese. The couple broke out in titters.

Donovan pulled a Japanese-language map from his coat pocket and pointed the way to Gucci, a shop mentioned by the pair. As they walked away, they turned and sneaked one last grinning peek at the man in the red coat.

“I basically said to them, ‘What’s up? I’m the ambassador of Beverly Hills. Welcome to Beverly Hills. You have arrived,’ ” Donovan explained.

Donovan credits an ear for language and a phonetic memory as the reason he can speak a little Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Dutch, German and Swedish. He claims he can say “Hello” and “Welcome to Beverly Hills” in about 100 languages.

“I’m waiting for the Dalai Lama to come to town so I can say it in Tibetan,” he laughed.

Donovan was a child actor (“my big break was a Canada Dry commercial”) before becoming a hotel doorman and, briefly, entertainer Bob Hope’s personal valet. After that he worked as a concierge at such places as the downtown Biltmore Hotel.

He was hired two years ago to work as a strolling concierge at 2 Rodeo, an upscale outdoor shopping mall. Research done in the late 1990s by UCLA economists suggested that there was a widespread feeling that the rudeness experienced by the Julia Roberts character in “Pretty Woman” was commonplace in Beverly Hills.

So the faux Italian piazza hoped Donovan would counter the perception that Beverly Hills merchants are snooty.

His red-coated image was soon popping up in magazines and on TV in places like Tokyo. When the tourist slump hit after September’s terrorist attacks, the Beverly Hills Conference and Visitors Bureau recruited him to help roll out the welcome mat for the whole business district.

“The high-end merchants love him. They appreciate how he draws visitors out and makes them feel comfortable,” said Jeb Baird, director of the bureau. “Visitors appreciate his enthusiasm. And he strikes the right balance with residents: He doesn’t throw himself in front of them.”

His new job pays about $30,000 a year. But shops such as Brioni and restaurants such as the Grill on the Alley give him uniforms and free lunches. Stylists at Jose Eber give him complimentary haircuts and Donovan is free to take outside jobs--like a planned August promotional trip to Japan.

Donovan had been making the rounds of Rodeo Drive and neighboring streets for about two weeks last month when he spied the first big sign of an economic upturn. Traveling down Rodeo Drive was the first busload of Japanese tourists he had seen since Sept. 11.

“Gregg’s been saying things were going to bounce back and he’s right,” said Ryan Gillette, a 24-year-old waiter who was on his way to his lunchtime shift at McCormick & Schmick’s.

Tour guide Robin Weiner agreed. “People are traveling again,” Weiner told Donovan as she shepherded several dozen British students back aboard a bus after a short stop for shopping.

Tourist Melanie Crosweller, 16, told of the stopover’s high point. “We went over to the Beverly Wilshire Hotel and asked if we could take a picture and the doorman said, ‘Come on in! Welcome to Beverly Hills!’ and held the door open for us,” she excitedly told Weiner.

Donovan decided to walk over to the hotel to thank the Beverly Wilshire’s chief doorman, 31-year veteran Hans Rosenberg. “He’s Beverly Hills’ real ambassador if you ask me,” Donovan said.

On his way, he passed the David Orgell jewelry store and introduced himself to shopper Vicki London of Brentwood. “That was very cute--it was darling. I like it,” she said.

Near Wilshire Boulevard, several Australian visitors asked him to point out celebrity hangouts. Donovan was happy to oblige--although he never fingers actual celebrities he often sees shopping in Beverly Hills.

He doesn’t want to be perceived as snooty, Donovan said. But he doesn’t want to invade anyone’s privacy.