Can George Clooney persuade Hollywood to boycott hotels over Brunei's antigay laws?
LOS ANGELES - The Beverly Hills Hotel has long been a refuge where Hollywood could both hide and show its true self. Where actors could retreat from scandal, divorce, a botched plastic surgery.
Where Humphrey Bogart and Frank Sinatra - and many, many others - got elegantly trashed at the Polo Lounge. Where waiters catered to Howard Hughes' idiosyncrasies by having his roast beef sandwiches delivered to a tree nook.
From Elizabeth Taylor celebrating six of her eight honeymoons there to Donald Trump holing up with Stormy Daniels in one of its famous curbside bungalows, the Pink Palace on Sunset Boulevard has remained at the heart of Hollywood since the beginning.
No one much noticed when the Sultan of Brunei bought the hotel in 1996. Even fewer would have connected that meal at the Polo Lounge with the tiny, oil-rich autocracy halfway around the world.
But a recent announcement by the sultanate might turn that sip of
