Waldorf Astoria Hotel

The Beverly Hills City Council has taken a key step toward approving the Beverly Hilton's controversial plan to build the West Coast's first Waldorf-Astoria Hotel along with 110 luxury condos at the busy corner of Wilshire and Santa Monica boulevards.

Beverly Hills, a former cattle range turned city of $200 steaks, is mired in a controversy that highlights anew the crosscurrents buffeting the famed citadel of luxury. The battle pits those who hope to import one of New York's most famous hotels -- the Waldorf-Astoria -- and build a batch of new luxury condos against residents who say enough is enough, the streets are already clogged to the point of gridlock.

It's the height of ritziness: Waldorf-Astoria meets 90210. The storied New York hotel -- an Art Deco landmark that inspired Cole Porter songs and even a salad -- is lending its name to a Beverly Hills project that is stirring up nightmares among traffic-weary residents. Property owner Beny Alagem and Hilton Hotels Corp.

It takes someone like Marina Jiang to answer this one: When there are 16 presidents staying at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, which one gets the presidential suite? With trademark tact, Jiang, the Waldorf-Astoria's director of diplomatic affairs, says: all of them and none of them, because there is no presidential suite. President, prime minister or potentate -- they all stay in three-bedroom apartment-sized spaces known as empire suites.