The MacArthur

The MacArthur is a historic building and event venue overlooking MacArthur Park in the Westlake district of Los Angeles. The building opened in 1926 as Elks Lodge No. 99, a large private club for the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and was designed by Curlett and Beelman. It was built on a grand scale, with hotel rooms, social spaces, dining rooms, a gymnasium, a swimming pool, a bowling alley, a large lobby and several ornate event rooms. The interiors are especially known for their painted ceilings, murals and decorative work by Anthony Heinsbergen, while the exterior includes sculptural military figures and large guardian-like figures connected to the building’s memorial character after the First World War. The building later became known as the Park Plaza Hotel, but today it operates as The MacArthur, an event and filming location rather than a traditional hotel.

The MacArthur has been used in a large number of films, with its lobby, ballrooms, corridors, rooms, exterior and restrooms appearing in productions across several decades. Films connected to the building include New York, New York (1977), Stripes (1981), Young Doctors in Love (1982), Dr. Detroit (1983), Less Than Zero (1987), The Hidden (1987), The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988), Tango & Cash (1989), The Big Picture (1989), Wild at Heart (1990), The Hunt for Red October (1990), Hook (1991), Barton Fink (1991), Bugsy (1991), Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992), The Bodyguard (1992), Chaplin (1992), Final Analysis (1992), Reservoir Dogs (1992), What’s Love Got to Do with It (1993), Hocus Pocus (1993), The Mask (1994), Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult (1994), Stargate (1994), Nixon (1995), Primal Fear (1996), City of Angels (1998), Mystery Men (1999), Inspector Gadget (1999), Not Another Teen Movie (2001), Rock Star (2001), The Majestic (2001), Prom Night (2008), Drive (2011) and Gangster Squad (2013).

In New York, New York (1977), The MacArthur is used for ballroom material. The building’s grand period interiors fit the film’s post-war entertainment world, where clubs, dance halls and performance spaces form an important part of the story’s visual identity.

In The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988), The MacArthur appears as the office of Vincent Ludwig, the wealthy villain played by Ricardo Montalbán. The building’s ornate interior gives Ludwig’s office a grand and slightly absurd sense of power, which fits the film’s spoof version of Los Angeles crime, wealth and authority.

In Wild at Heart (1990), one of the restrooms inside The MacArthur appears in the scene where Marietta Fortune pulls Sailor Ripley into one of the toilet stalls. The same restroom also appears in Reservoir Dogs and Barton Fink, making it one of the most recognisable repeated interior spaces in the building’s film history.

In Hook (1991), The MacArthur’s ballroom is used for Wendy’s party. The large formal room gives the scene an old-fashioned grandeur, fitting the world of grown-up Peter Banning before the story pulls him back toward Wendy, Neverland and his forgotten identity as Peter Pan.

In Barton Fink (1991), The MacArthur appears in the USO dance sequence and also supplies the restroom used in the scene with W. P. Mayhew. The building’s older interiors fit the film’s uneasy 1940s Hollywood atmosphere, where grand public spaces and uncomfortable private rooms both become part of Barton’s increasingly strange experience in Los Angeles.

In The Bodyguard (1992), The MacArthur is used for the Academy Awards ceremony exterior. The building is dressed as a major awards venue, with Egyptian-style statues added outside for the film. The location appears during the film’s public climax, where the glamour of the ceremony is contrasted with the danger surrounding Rachel Marron.

In Reservoir Dogs (1992), The MacArthur appears in the famous bathroom anecdote sequence, where Mr. Orange, played by Tim Roth, performs a fabricated story about walking into a public restroom full of police officers while carrying drugs. The scene is part of Mr. Orange’s undercover preparation and becomes one of the film’s most memorable storytelling sequences. The restroom is the same distinctive space also used in Wild at Heart and Barton Fink.

In Hocus Pocus (1993), The MacArthur’s ballroom is used for the Halloween party where Winifred Sanderson performs “I Put a Spell on You”. The building’s large event room stands in for the party in Salem, even though the location itself is in Los Angeles. The scene is one of the film’s best-known musical moments and one of the most recognisable uses of The MacArthur on screen.

In Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult (1994), The MacArthur is used in Frank Drebin’s railway-station nightmare sequence. The building’s lobby stands in for a grand station interior, allowing the film to stage one of its exaggerated spoof sequences inside a dramatic architectural space rather than an actual train station.

In Not Another Teen Movie (2001), The MacArthur is used for prom scenes. The building’s ballroom gives the film the kind of oversized formal setting associated with classic American teen comedies, which the film then uses as part of its parody of high-school movie conventions.

In The Majestic (2001), The MacArthur is used for the HUAC hearing scenes. The building’s formal interior works as a government hearing room, showing how easily the former hotel and club can stand in for institutional spaces as well as hotels, ballrooms and private offices.

In Prom Night (2008), The MacArthur is used as part of the film’s prom setting. The building’s event spaces provide the kind of large, elegant interior needed for the high-school dance, which becomes the central location for the film’s thriller plot.

In Drive (2011), The MacArthur appears as the Driver’s apartment building. The film uses the building’s older residential spaces, corridors and views over MacArthur Park to place the Driver in a worn but atmospheric part of Los Angeles. The location helps define his isolated life before the violence around him begins to escalate.

In Gangster Squad (2013), The MacArthur is used for the film’s final shootout. The building’s historic interiors and old Los Angeles character fit the film’s period crime setting, making it a natural backdrop for the confrontation between the police and Mickey Cohen’s criminal organisation.

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