Midcentury Dreamscapes

During a multiyear transformation in the 1940s, Williams amplified the allure of architect Elmer Grey’s Beverly Hills Hotel, originally built in 1912, for a new era. He painted the exterior pink, created a dramatic red carpet entrance with a bold green-striped ceiling, and, along with decorator Don Loper, selected the now-iconic Martinique wallpaper, produced by the Los Angeles–based fabric and wallpaper company, CW Stockwell. He introduced the Fountain Coffee Shop and expanded the Polo Lounge, while his 1949 Crescent Wing addition featured his handwritten logo on the south facade. Overall, his work on the property spanned from 1941 to 1959, from early Sand and Pool Club alterations to later additions, like the Polo Lounge’s sculpted concrete sunshades. Over the multiple phases, Williams collaborated with several notable decorators, including Loper, Paul László, John Luccareni, and Harriet Shellenberger.

Perino’s restaurant was the site of one of Williams’s most drastic reinventions: the transformation of Morgan, Walls & Clements’s 1930s grocery store building into an expanded new location for the chic dining destination. Favored by Hollywood stalwarts, including Williams’s client Frank Sinatra, Perino’s was replete with the architect’s signature design features to create a New Orleans–inspired dining experience. The exterior was painted green, with striped awnings and ornate ironwork that was echoed inside. The success of his design led the business to commission him for updates in the 1950s and 1960s.

A quarter century after the Myron Hunt–designed Ambassador Hotel debuted on Wilshire Boulevard, a postwar revitalization by Williams and celebrated industrial designer Norman Bel Geddes revived its international appeal. The master plan for the “city within a city” proposed a major expansion on the 22-acre property. Though the eleven-story tower Williams designed was never built, he completed “luxuriously furnished garden studios,” nestled within the lush landscape alongside the original bungalows. Don Loper assisted with a fresh look for the interiors of the main building, infusing Williams’s distinctive curves and jewel-toned palette into the Embassy Room, Cocoanut Grove, and Café Ambassador.

In 1954, Williams stood alongside executives from the Hollywood Knickerbocker to unveil plans for the hotel’s redesigned entrance. A cantilevered canopy paired with sleek travertine walls modernized the 1929 facade, while a new restaurant and coffee shop further elevated its street presence. The comprehensive revitalization included the Sun and Cabana Club, a rooftop swimming pool addition with a curved overhang pierced by palm trees—a feature that echoed across Williams’s postwar work. He also implemented his signature black-and-white floors and a striped ceiling in the Hollywood Regency–style “lanai room.”

In 1946, the future of the once-magical El Mirador resort was uncertain. While its iconic tower remained a visual link to its refined past, much of the original design by Los Angeles architects Walker & Eisen had been compromised in 1943, when the U.S. military converted the property into Torney General Hospital during World War II. In 1952, local developers invested $5 million to revive the 21-acre resort. Restored to a tropical paradise, it featured over two hundred luxurious guest rooms and seven dining rooms. By day, visitors lounged beside the Olympic-size swimming pool, while at night, the heated terrazzo floors of the Starlight Patio offered the “thrill of dancing under the winter stars.” Williams delighted in bringing the property back to its former glory: “I am indeed happy that once again it is considered both the proud showplace of the desert and one of the outstandingly beautiful resort hotels in the world.”