Thursday, January 17, 2008

Ambassador Hotel and Cocoanut Grove in Los Angeles

Historic Cocoanut Grove and the Hotel's Coffee Shop are slated for Demolition by LAUSD. We lost the Ambassador Hotel; now the Grove and the Coffee Shop are lost.


It was announced Tuesday, after a settlement was reached between the School District and LA Conservancy. The Conservancy and the Art Deco Society have been fighting to save the Ambassador Hotel and Cocoanut Grove from this egregious demolition.

It has been one year since the last portion of the Ambassador was demolished on Jan. 16, 2006. The Hotel's Coffee Shop was designed by renowned Architect Paul R. Williams. The 1921 hotel was a glamorous intersection of celebrity and politics in its heyday and the site of six Academy Awards presentations. Movie stars, royalty and every president from Herbert Hoover to Richard Nixon lodged there during visits to Los Angeles. It was also the scene of Robert Kennedy's assassination in 1968.

It is a sad day for Preservationists for yet another Landmark bites the dust.
Now the site is the new home for a 4,200 student K-12 school campus.

R I P.

Demolition is scheduled for Jan. 22.


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