Riviera it’s a Golden Age design with the golden sheen of Hollywood around it. Walt Disney, Gregory Peck and Humphrey Bogart were members, too Larry DavidOwen Wilson and Mark Wahlberg are today.
Yet for all the public figures who have walked the grounds – and for all the high-profile tournaments it has staged – the club shields itself from prying eyes.
Beyond its gated entrance in Pacific Palisades, a circular drive leads to a sprawling Spanish Revival-style clubhouse that Riviera ownership holds sacred. Cameras are prohibited, with rare exceptions.
One of those times came on the eve of this week’s US Women’s Open. when the club gave GOLF.com permission to film inside.
The guided tour—led by longtime Riviera member Michael Robin, with input from director of golf Todd Yoshitake and other veteran staff—offered an intimate look at a grand space most golfers never get to see, steeped in history and filled with priceless memories. Arched doorways open into a grand hall, with high ceilings and windows that look out across the storied stream. An adjacent room glows with the glass screens that make up an exhibition newly installed to commemorate the centenary that the Riviera marks this year. From a patio outside, the view stretches over the 18th hole and its famous amphitheater green to take in the Pacific in the near distance. Ocean breezes are constant on the Riviera, swaying palm trees and complicating shots.
Downstairs, at ground level on the sloping property, is the terraced dining room and a corridor leading to the dressing room, its walls mounted with portraits of the greats who have won on the Riviera, by Hal Sutton and Couples Fred for Phil Mickelson and Sam Snead. However, no name looms larger on the Riviera than Ben Hoganwho won three titles (two LA Opens and the 1948 US Open) in the span of 18 months—a feat that inspired Los Angeles Times columnist and Riviera member Jim Murray to nickname the course “Hogan’s Alley.”
“If you listen carefully and dream a little, you can feel the great galas from the Roaring Twenties and you can feel the giant events of the last 100 years here,” Robin told us.
However, the stories are best heard in person. Watch the video above or below and get them straight from the source.
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