Last night Fox Searchlight publicists invited Grand Budapest Hotel junketeers to a bar lobby reception at Berlin’s Hotel Adlon Kempinski. Soothing vibe, pretty waitresses, pleasant surroundings. The Adlon was one of the great world-class luxury hotels in the early to mid 20th Century, but most of it was destroyed by Allied bombings near the end of World War II. A plush nouveau-riche imitation was built in the mid ’90s — nice but the architectural signature is 21st Century ersatz. Around 9 pm I noticed Wes Anderson, Tilda Swinton, Willem Dafoe and other Grand Budapest Hotel creatives exiting the Adlon elevator. They didn’t wave or stop to chat, but no worries. Thelma Adams and I walked back to our hotel — a nice 25-minute stroll. Grand Budapest Hotel will press-screen today around noon and open the Berlin Film Festival this evening. I lost my ticket due to changing my hotel room inside Berlin’s Grand Wyndham Hotel twice since late last night — insufficient heat, spotty wifi, a light that wouldn’t turn off, a tub/shower that drove me crazy. I’m now in a nice spacious suite. The squeaky wheel always gets the grease.

The current Adlon Kempinsky Hotel bears only a superficial resemblance to the old classic Hotel Adlon (pictured here in 1928).

The present-tense, nouveau-riche version of the Hotel Adlon.

The Brandenburg Gate is only a block or so from the Hotel Adlon.

Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford at the Hotel Adlon in 1926.

Russell Brand is performing here Monday night — if it’s not too much grief I’m going to try and snag a ticket.