Park Plaza Hotel, California

The Park Plaza Hotel, overlooking MacArthur Park near downtown Los Angeles, has been mostly vacant for the past several years, but is used frequently as a film location. It was built in 1925 as an Elks Club, and is an elegant structure with Anthony Heinsbergen murals and vaulted ceilings in the lobby, three ballroom-type halls, and other recently restored grand spaces. Upstairs, however, the nine-story building was filled with residential hotel rooms (the tenants have recently been evicted, as the restoration of the building is continuing on the upper floors). These were the hotel rooms for the film Barton Fink. Other films that have used the Park Plaza include The Mask, Chaplin, Nixon, Fisher King, Wild at Heart, Bugsy, The Bodyguard, and countless TV shows and ads.