Bonaventure Hotel

 

In May 2005, Janet and I stayed overnight at the Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles.   It was kind of a weekend getaway, but also a chance to visit a filming location.   

You might have seen this unique glass building in the helicopter movie "Blue Thunder" , the suspense film "Strange Days", the Oscar award-winning drama "Rain Man," or the 1995 romantic comedy "Forget Paris."  It was also featured in 1993's "Line of Fire" and the action flick "True Lies."

But, from my perspective, the most memorable appearance of the Bonaventure was in the 1979 TV movie Buck Rogers in the Twentieth Century, which of course set up the series which showed stock footage of the hotel almost every episode.

In the movie, the Bonaventure poses as one of the futuristic buildings in New Chicago in the year 2491.

Here's some pictures we took, and some screen caps from Buck Rogers.

 

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 Here's Janet in a small park, with the Bonaventure looming in the background.

 

 And another picture with the two of us.   Yes, I used the automatic shutter.

In this screen cap below taken from the Buck Rogers TV movie, you can see the Bonaventure on the left.  Parts of the shot are real, and others are matte painting.   

The use of the futuristic Bonaventure makes from a less easily made distinction between the special effects and the real elements.  I can't quite figure out if the reflections in the Bonaventure's windows are of the rest of New Chicago, or if that's the Los Angeles skyline..

Below:  Another still from that same scene.   No special effects at all in this shot.

 

 

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 Inside the hotel, on the left, here's Janet seated at one the couches which are located in pods in some of the open areas. And on the right that's me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, again from the Buck Rogers movie, some pictures of Buck and Wilma sitting in similar pods.

The interior of the hotel was not dressed at all for these shots, save for a couple of banners and some extras walking around in futuristic clothes.   In the below picture you can even see the exit sign on the upper level.  

Good to know they still have those things around in the 25th century - I found the exit signs very useful when staying at the Bonaventure - although interesting architecturally, I found it a bit of a maze when looking for a place to eat.   You would see the place you wanted to get to on one level, but then would find you couldn't quite get there the way you thought...

And, to compare, a shot I took of the interior of the hotel during our trip.

Not much has changed!  New carpet was laid and the seats were reupholstered at some point, but the building is still essentially the same as it was in its 1970's heyday.

Finally, here is the ubiquitous New Chicago establishing shot which was featured in many episodes of the series.  In this episode, Planet of the Slaves Girls, the Bonaventure stands in as the location of the lab where Directorate scientists are studying the contaminated food discs.  At other times, the Bonaventure seems to be where Buck's apartment is located.  In any case, a Directorate building which I imagine is just down New Wacker in New Chicago.

 

Links:

   The Westin Bonaventure on the Starwood Hotels website

Bonaventure Hotel entry on the Seeing Stars Website

 

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