Bonaventure Hotel & BonaVista Lounge

A Building From Tomorrow

When John C. Portman Jr. designed the Bonaventure in the mid-1970s, he wasn’t trying to blend in. Five glass cylinders rise from a massive concrete podium, each tower sheathed in reflective bronze glass that mirrors the city around it. The design drew critics who called it insular and disconnected from the street, but that fortress-like quality is precisely what made it perfect for science fiction films. Directors saw a ready-made future, a self-contained world where glass elevators shoot up the outside of towers and skywalks connect different levels high above the ground.

Walking into the six-story atrium feels like entering a different era’s idea of what the future would look like. Concrete forms curve upward from reflecting pools, escalators crisscross at odd angles, and the ceiling seems impossibly far away. The hotel famously confused visitors so much that color-coded elevator banks were added later—Red Circle, Yellow Diamond, Green Square, Blue Triangle. Plaques mark elevators that appeared in major films: the one where Arnold Schwarzenegger rode a horse in True Lies, another where Clint Eastwood chased an assassin in In the Line of Fire.

The Slow Spin

Take an elevator to the 34th floor and step into BonaVista Lounge. The rotation is imperceptible at first—you’ll sit down facing west and barely register the movement. Order a drink, and over the next hour you’ll realize the city has shifted. What started as a view toward the Pacific becomes a view of the towers of downtown, then shifts to the hills beyond. The lounge completes one full revolution every 60 minutes, which means staying for two drinks gives you the complete panorama.

The drink menu leans toward classic cocktails with a twist, served in souvenir glasses you can take home. Lychee martinis, mai tais, and variations on old fashioneds arrive in generous portions. The food menu covers the basics—caesar salad, pulled pork sandwiches, hummus platters, wings—designed more for grazing than serious dining. Prices reflect the location (cocktails run around $19), but you’re paying for the experience as much as the liquid in the glass.

Hollywood History

Film crews have used this building so relentlessly that the hotel installed a hallway gallery documenting its screen appearances. The cylindrical towers and glass elevators became shorthand for “the future” in everything from Buck Rogers in the 25th Century to Interstellar, where the atrium doubled as a NASA facility. The building gets destroyed in Escape from LA, serves as a location for tense chases in multiple action films, and appears in everything from music videos to soap operas.

That cinematic history is part of what draws visitors. Sitting in the lounge with a cocktail, you’re occupying the same space that’s appeared on screens worldwide for nearly 50 years. The architecture that seemed so radical in 1976—so controversial it sparked academic debates about postmodern space—now reads as retro-futurism, a snapshot of what people once imagined tomorrow might look like.

The best time to visit is late afternoon, when you can watch the sun set over the Pacific and then see the city lights come on as you continue your rotation through the night. The lounge attracts a mix of tourists making the pilgrimage, locals celebrating special occasions, and architecture enthusiasts who’ve read about the building in theory and want to experience it in person. Service is professional, the atmosphere leans upscale without being stuffy, and the rotation adds a dimension you won’t find at static rooftop bars elsewhere in the city.