The Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles has to be one of my most favorite sites for a wedding of all time. Its architecture is just gorgeous and ornate and hails back to a time when we paid attention to details on walls, doorways, arches and other things that just blend into the woodwork for us now. I’ve done a few weddings at the Biltmore, and also have attended a few non-wedding events there — mostly journalism conferences. The place never diminishes for me, though — I love it being in the middle of downtown, which I love to visit, and the hotel itself is just so ethereal. It truly feels like a hotel you would think you’d find in Italy or some Old World-type of locale.
It so happened that I was just across the street from the Biltmore recently, to go ice skating at Pershing Square, a real treat for us Southern Californians who barely see rain, much less temperatures cold enough to create a pond you can skate on. And it also happened that we needed to get cash, off we went across the street to the Biltmore to use the ATM. Yeah, I know. It was just an excuse.