The pool made history in the 1960s. Raquel Welch was “discovered” by the pool, and The Beatles were snuck in through the back way for a swim. A 1963 photo shows Barbra Streisand with then-husband Elliott Gould frolicking in the pool.

In the 1970s, John Lennon and Yoko Ono hid out in a bungalow for a week, and Charlie Chaplin, who frequented the Hotel in the 1920s, returned in 1972 to accept a special Oscar. Faye Dunaway stayed there in 1977, after receiving her Oscar for Network. The Hotel made another film appearance in 1978 when Broadway playwright Neil Simon, a frequent guest, filmed California Suite at the property.

With Ben Silberstein’s death in 1979, ownership passed to his two daughters, Muriel Slatkin and Seema Boesky, wife of Ivan Boesky, Wall Street arbitrageur.