You know the Hollywood Roosevelt.

It sits right there on Hollywood Boulevard, across from the Chinese Theatre, looking as if it has been watching the neighborhood for so long that very little surprises it anymore.

And honestly, after nearly a century, maybe very little does.

But here is the part I love: millions of people know the Oscars. Far fewer realize that the whole thing began inside this hotel.

Before the red carpet. Before the television audience. Before the suspenseful envelope opening. There was dinner.

Hollywood Builds Itself a Hotel

The Hollywood Roosevelt opened in 1927 at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard, at a moment when the movie business was turning Hollywood into something much bigger than a neighborhood.

The names behind the project sound like the opening credits of early Hollywood: Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Louis B. Mayer, Sid Grauman and Marcus Loew were among the investors associated with the hotel.

At twelve stories, the Spanish Colonial Revival building quickly became one of Hollywood's social headquarters—a place where movie people could meet, celebrate, make deals and, occasionally, make history without realizing quite how large that history would become.

And then came May 16, 1929.

The Night Oscar Was Born

Inside the Roosevelt's Blossom Room, 270 guests gathered for the first Academy Awards banquet.

A guest ticket cost $5. Douglas Fairbanks, then president of the Academy, presented the awards. Wings received the award for Best Picture.

And the ceremony itself?

About 15 minutes.

If you've ever settled in for a modern Oscars telecast with snacks, predictions and enough time to reconsider your life choices by hour three, that number is almost adorable.

There was another major difference: the winners were not exactly a nail-biting secret. The Academy has documented that the recipients had been announced to the public months before the ceremony.

The Academy's offices were even located on the Roosevelt's mezzanine at the time. This wasn't simply a ballroom rented for one glamorous evening. The early Academy was literally operating inside the building.

The biggest awards show in Hollywood started small enough to fit into one hotel ballroom.

Look Up Before You Walk Through

The Roosevelt is one of those places where it is very easy to walk in focused on where you're going and miss what is around you.

Don't.

The lobby still carries the Spanish Colonial atmosphere that made the hotel distinctive in the first place: arched openings, tile, painted details, a dramatic ceiling and the kind of warm, shadowy corners that seem to collect stories.

The hotel has been renovated many times, and some chapters were kinder to the building than others. But much of its historic character has been restored rather than erased.

That matters because the Roosevelt isn't interesting simply because famous people once passed through it.

The building itself is part of the story.

Marilyn, Shirley—and a Staircase

Hollywood history has a way of piling up in places like this.

Marilyn Monroe stayed at the Roosevelt early in her career and was photographed around its pool before she became the Marilyn Monroe the world would come to know.

And one of the hotel's staircases carries another wonderful bit of Hollywood lore: Bill “Bojangles” Robinson taught a young Shirley Temple his famous stair-step routine there.

Think about that the next time you take a staircase without looking at it.

At the Roosevelt, even getting from one floor to another can come with a footnote.

Then There’s the Pool

Eventually, history at the Roosevelt moved outside.

The Tropicana Pool is already one of those very Hollywood settings—palm trees, cabanas, blue water and the hotel rising behind it.

But look down.

In the late 1980s, artist David Hockney painted the bottom of the pool with loose, curling blue marks that seem to move with the water.

So yes, at the Hollywood Roosevelt, you can quite literally swim over a Hockney.

There are not many hotels where the swimming pool belongs in the art conversation.

The Past Is Still Taking Reservations

What I like most about the Roosevelt is that it never became a museum piece.

The hotel is still a hotel. People still check in. They still meet for drinks, celebrate weddings, attend performances, sit by the pool and walk through the same building where Hollywood was figuring out what Hollywood wanted to become.

The Blossom Ballroom is still used for events. The pool is still there. The lobby still receives guests. The Cinegrill still hosts live entertainment.

If you want to see what is happening there now, the official Hollywood Roosevelt website lists current rooms, dining, performances and events.

Nearly a century later, history hasn't been roped off.

It's still taking reservations.

The Next Time You Pass It…

The Roosevelt is easy to treat as part of the scenery because it has been standing on Hollywood Boulevard for so long.

But the next time you're nearby, remember what happened inside.

A room full of 270 people.

Five-dollar tickets.

Fifteen minutes of awards.

And the beginning of a ceremony that would eventually be watched around the world.

Hollywood has always had a talent for turning small beginnings into very big stories.

And if you enjoy finding the Hollywood hiding behind the Hollywood everyone already knows, stay close. I have plenty more doors I want to open with you. Subscribe to Hollywood Local Pulse and we’ll keep exploring.

— Ms. V