In 1961, developer William Zeckendorf and Alcoa bought about 180 acres (0.73 km2) from 20th Century Fox after the studio had suffered a string of expensive film flops, culminating in the box-office disaster Cleopatra.

The hotel's ballrooms became the center for numerous high-profile events, including an opening charity gala in 1966 with Bob Hope as master of ceremonies, who with singer Andy Williams entertained Ronald and Nancy Reagan and Walt and Lillian Disney.

In 1967, 1,300 club-swinging police clashed with about 10,000 anti-Vietnam War demonstrators as President Johnson spoke at a Democratic fundraiser at the hotel.

On August 13, 1969, President Richard Nixon hosted a lavish state dinner in the Los Angeles Ballroom to celebrate the Apollo 11 Moon landing astronauts.

The Tower at Century Plaza was marketed as a luxury wing of the hotel and increased capacity to 1,072 rooms.

With its 1980s ceilings too low to meet modern residential demands, the relatively new building was razed to make way for The Century, a high-rise condominium completed in fall 2009.

[3] On December 18, 2008, the new owners announced plans to demolish the hotel and build a pair of fifty-story towers in its place.

[13] The Century Plaza has played host to various celebrities, foreign dignitaries, and presidents; among them, Marshal Josip Broz Tito, Moshe Dayan, Lyndon Johnson, Ronald Reagan, Prince Philip, and David Ben-Gurion.