Retro Friday: The Ambassador Hotel in Its Glory Edition

From 1961: A silent newsreel of Robert Wagner, Natalie Wood, Jerry Lewis and others at a party being held at the late, great Ambassador Hotel. Below, a special treat: In 2003, a few years before the Ambassador was torn down, the Collage Dance Theatre held a performance throughout the hotel. We attended one of the performances, and it was a stunning event, made all the more interesting because it gave us a chance to tour the building. You can read the New York Times article about the event here. And below, here is someone's video highlights of the show:



Here's what Maria wrote about "Sleeping With the Ambassador" for Franklin Avenue in June 2003:

Last night, we attended Collage Dance Theatre's performance at the Ambassador Hotel. When Mike first told me about this event, I thought he said there was a dance at the Ambassador Hotel. He said we should try to go to it since this may be the only chance we could see the interior of this historic hotel (which shut down in 1989).

We weren't expecting much from the evening save for the chance to check out the hotel and maybe take a few pictures. Turns out, the performance was entertaining. A combination of haunting music, athletic dancing and circus-like performances filled the whole night. Everything seemed nostalgic and I was constantly reminded of how grand the Ambassador was in its heyday.

Part of the performance (which took place throughout the hotel) was held at the famed Cocoanut Grove, but it looked nothing like the old glamorous place it once was. The interior is black, much like any stage you would see if you were seeing a small play. It was a little spooky thinking that RFK was shot just next door from that room, as someone from the show told us later.

The evening concluded in the great lobby where the elegance was still evident. This was where Mike turned loco.

I stood, amused, as he turned into a photo maniac trying to get all he can into our little digital camera. The same digital camera that was full of pictures, which we weren't quite sure if we downloaded them yet or not. We quickly deleted photos to make room for some cool Ambassador shots.

As we were leaving the hotel, we followed a group of people going towards the bungalows. Alas, we were quickly turned away by some guy who said that those areas are hazardous. Upon further probing, he said that whoever goes in will get something worse than SARS.

"Asbestos," I said to Mike. Sure enough, the hazard-nazi did admit that there was asbestos in those buildings -- to which we laughed over his dramatics.

Amabassador Cam: Robert F. Kennedy Schools and Pocket Park Finally Open

The LAUSD is finally taking down that ugly chain link fence in front of the Ambassador Hotel site -- making the new street-level "Robert F. Kennedy Inspiration Park" open to the public.

The new park is unveiled just as the long-in-the-making Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools complex officially opens its doors today.



The new schools, which sit on the land where the Ambassador Hotel once stood -- have been controversial, and not just because of how the hotel was razed. The Wall Street Journal just wrote a scathing editorial on the complex's price tag, including the park (pegged at $4.9 million).



Here's how LAUSD describes the park, via the Wilshire Center Business Improvement District:

The Kennedy Inspiration Park occupies a 19,000-square-foot section of the site fronting Wilshire Boulevard. The park slopes downward from the busy street, preserving views of the school buildings from the street, terminating in a focal stainless steel wall designed by artists May Sun and Richard Wyatt. The rectangular sheet is etched with an image of Robert F. Kennedy in sandstone and displays an array of inspiring quotes from champions of social justice. The idea is to create a space that encourages contemplation of Kennedy's legacy of social justice. The park also provides spaces for eating lunch, playing chess and quiet contemplation.

Read our coverage of the Ambassador Hotel's demise here.

Hawthorne on the Ambassador School: "Worst of Both Worlds"

(Photo by Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

L.A. Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne has gotten his first lengthy glimpse of the new school on the old Ambassador site -- and color him unimpressed.

Ultimately, the school is a double tragedy, he notes: Not only did the LAUSD destroy the historic 1921 Ambassador Hotel on the site.. but then it turned around and built its most expensive school ever ($578 million) -- in a misguided attempt to emulate the look of the original.

That's a lot of money spent just to copy the original -- without preserving much of the original at all.

Double fail, he writes:

L.A. and its cultural guardians, in other words, had the decisiveness neither to save the original hotel complex as a school nor to make a clean break with the past by building an ensemble of entirely new buildings. Instead the LAUSD settled on an architectural path — confused, expensive and a little macabre all at the same time — that suggests that the city has now entered a kind of limbo when it comes to cultural maturity. It is neither young enough to energetically (if blithely) embrace the future nor self-aware enough to fully protect its architectural heritage, particularly when that protection requires significant investment from cash-strapped public agencies.

What other city would knock down a major cultural landmark — a hotel where half a dozen early Academy Award ceremonies were held, to say nothing of the site's architectural and political significance — but then insist that the school replacing it squeeze into the same shape, so that anybody who remembers what used to be there is confronted not with tangible history but a ghostly shell of the original?

I kinda agree with Hawthorne, yet there is that macabre part of me that likes the idea of looking at Fake Ambassador, and pretending that it's still the real thing. But I suppose that's akin to the horrific attempt at preservation right across the street, where the shell of the old Brown Derby restaurant derby sits atop a strip mall.

Check out our coverage of the Ambassador Hotel's last days here.

Ambassador, the Early Years

Our Ambassador chronicler friend Tess just found this classic 1920 image of the old hotel. She writes:

I found this photo at the Vintage Paper Fair this past weekend. It is the oldest photo I have of the Ambassador, to date. Do you know any car experts out there who can help date the photo by the types of the automobiles that are parked on Wilshire Blvd.?

Can anyone help Tess out?

More Before and After Shots of the Ambassador Site

Theresa Inman has been chronicling the fall of the old Ambassador Hotel and the rise of the new school on the site, and periodically sending us some of her great documentation. (She also last year kindly purchased our Ambassador Hotel table, which we ultimately didn't have room for.)

Tess just sent us some great new pics she took of the school -- along with "before" shots of the old hotel's ruins. ABOVE, a pic of the hotel from the early 1950s, along with a shot of the hotel (taken from the same spot) on April 24, 2010.

What's cool: The fact that the original "Ambassador" pylon has been uncovered and restored. The pylon was hidden in the 1970s, when an attempt to modernize the Ambassador included burying it inside a new concrete mega sign.




A relief seen on Wilshire Blvd. -- on March 26, 2006 and then after restoration work, on April 23, 2010.





East side of the Ambassador Hotel in an undated photo; the building, in mid-demolition, in November 2005; and the East side of the new school, on April 24, 2010.




Base of the fountain, on March 26, 2006; and then, restored, on April 24, 2010.

Thanks to Tess Inman for the pics!

Ambassador Cam, #45 in a series

It's been a while since we last checked in with the old Ambassador Hotel site -- and wow, has a lot changed.

The Wilshire-adjacent sidewalk park is shaping up, the building's outer shell is nearly done, and (below) the original driveway entrance way is nearly done with its restoration.



If we're looking for a silver lining in the sad destruction of the Ambassador, we can at least look to this. Having been covered up in the 1970s by a hideous new sign (touting the hotel and the "Now Grove" concept), it's nice to have this back.

Now, of course, I wonder how long it's going to take until that statue is vandalized or stolen. So let's appreciate it while it lasts.

Meanwhile, occupancy for the new "Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools" is still set for this fall.

(Check out our Ambassador Hotel site for full coverage of the hotel's demise.)

It's Official: The Ambassador Hotel School Will Be Named After Robert Kennedy

It obviously makes sense that the high school rising from the ashes of the late, great Ambassador Hotel be named after Robert F. Kennedy. Kennedy, of course, was assassinated at the hotel in 1968, moments after giving a victory speech for winning California's presidential primary.

The historic value of the Ambassador was one of the arguments used in the attempt to save the hotel from destruction. Students might have once been able to go down to the actual pantry where RFK was shot; instead, they'll have to make do with knowing they're on the same grounds.

The Kennedy family weren't so nostalgic about the site, having put their weight behind tearing the hotel down in order to more quickly build a school.

On the bright side, there does seem to be an effort to at least pay tribute to history. The school itself has been built over the exact same footprint as the hotel -- which means it takes the same shape as seen from the street. And the LAUSD has restored the old entryway to how it once looked.



Here's the details from the L.A. Times:

he education complex at the site of the once-grand Ambassador Hotel will be named in honor of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, who was killed there by an assassin in 1968. The long-expected honor, approved by the Los Angeles Unified school board this afternoon, faced no opposition. The discussion quickly evolved into a tribute to the senator, who was cut down as he celebrated his win in the Democratic presidential primary at the storied Wilshire Boulevard hotel.

“We can now continue the legacy of Robert F. Kennedy,” said Kennedy friend Paul Schrade, who has worked with local allies for years to create a school as a fitting memorial for the senator.

The Ambassador school project has become “a symbol of hope for so many of us,” said board member Nury Martinez, who like others struggled to keep her composure.

The effort that resulted in the Kennedy complex began in the 1980s, when the school district battled over the decaying Ambassador Hotel with developer Donald Trump, who wanted to build the world’s tallest building on the site. That tug-of-war persisted for more than a decade, even after Trump ceded his interest to other developers.

I guess that's one other bright spot -- thank goodness Trump's nutty idea of building the world's tallest building on the site never got anywhere.

Dining with the Ambassador: Rare Look at an Old Cocoanut Grove Menu

Thanks to regular Franklin Avenue reader Tess -- who's a huge Ambassador Hotel buff (she even bought an Ambassador table I had to unload) -- we get these cool images of an old Cocoanut Grove menu.

The menu dates all the way back to March 4, 1945. It's pretty fascinating to see just how differently restaurant goers ate back then -- bleech. Lucky we live in modern times.

Curbed L.A.'s Round Up of What We Lost In the Aughts

Lost in the Aughts from curbed los angeles on Vimeo.

Of course, as you know, we lost the Ambassador Hotel in the 2000s. This video, produced by Curbed L.A., runs down a several more landmarks that disappeared over the past decade, including the Gilmore Bank, RAND Headquarters, Mullen and Bluett, Mann National Theater, Lou Ehlers Cadillac and more.

Missing from the list, however, are Perino's and the 1936 KFI studios on Vermont, for starters. I'm trying to think of any more demolished landmarks from the decade -- add any that come to mind below.

Ambassador Cam, #44 in a series

One final look this year at the new high school on the Ambassador Hotel site -- still without a name -- as it moves closer to completion. (The school is set to open in fall 2010.)

Here's the updated info on the site, from the LAUSD:

This project is the second phase of improvements for a comprehensive K-12 learning center being constructed at the site of the former Ambassador Hotel in the Mid-Wilshire District of Los Angeles. This project will provide 1,000 new middle school seats, 2,440 new high school seats, construction of a public park, restoration of the Cocoanut Grove and pylon structures, athletic facilities, and two-thirds of the site-wide methane mitigation system. Ultimate improvement of the Cocoanut Grove will include a 500-seat auditorium, and the restored Paul R. Williams Coffee Shop to be used as the staff/teacher lounge. This phase also provides four of the six commissioned art pieces for the site-wide public art program, commemorating the Ambassador Hotel's cultural and social history. The budget for the K-3 facility is included in the total budget for this project.

The school district cut the ribbon on the site's K-5 school back in October. The official press release:

CLALC#1 K-5 opened to more than 800 students on September 9, 2009.

"My father was a champion of those who suffered disadvantages in America. He was actively engaged in helping people help themselves through community action," said Maxwell Kennedy, son of Robert and Ethel Kennedy. "This new K-12 learning center will educate and empower our young people and their parents to fight for economic and social justice. I know of no better way to advance the living legacy of Robert Kennedy."

"The messages Robert F. Kennedy worked to deliver to us decades ago - that we can all be part of a change for a better world, a greater world - are alive with us as we celebrate the opening of not one, but two exciting new pilot schools here at Central Los Angeles Learning Center #1 K-5," Board President García said. "Years of commitment and struggle led by parents and the community come to fruition today as we mark profound change for students that now have two unique small schools dedicated to incorporating new and innovative methods of teaching."

The new elementary school site features two pilot schools (schools within the LAUSD given charter-like autonomy over curriculum): University California Los Angeles (UCLA) Community School (UCS) and New Open World (NOW) Academy. Both schools provide students with an opportunity to continue their education on the same school site once the middle and high school portions of the larger campus are completed.

The Ambassador Hotel's Recent Evolution to High School

Regular Franklin Avenue reader Tess -- who recently took that Ambassador Hotel table off my hands (it was just too big for our house) -- has put together a quick set of shots that lead up to the current structure being built.

She notes: "The High School will look like the North Facade of the old hotel, and their new Auditorium will be in the part that looks like the Cocoanut Grove."

Here's her chronological capture of the hotel's sad demise and now rebirth, starting with the shot above:


October 8, 2005


June 24, 2007


February 13, 2008


July 15, 2009

One More Chance to Own a Piece of the Ambassador

So two years ago I wrote a post putting this up for sale... and then dropped the ball (and perhaps, more honestly, had second thoughts about parting with it).

But now, with Baby Blogger 2.0 on the way, it's time to make some room in our tiny Franklin Avenue HQ. And that means I gotta truly get rid of the large table I bought at the Ambassador Hotel auction in September 2005.

I also don't have the time to restore the marble, which is pretty badly scratched up in places. (Above, that's the table top, resting on its side. Not shown: The table's wooden legs, which I have stored elsewhere in my garage.)

Therefore, as much as I hate to give up a little slice of history, I'm offering the table up for sale -- for the same price I bought it for at the auction ($50). The table comes with a certificate of authentication as well.

The catch: The damn thing's heavy. (It's marble, after all.) So you've got to be here in Southern California and willing to come pick it up.

Interested? Email us at franklin_avenue@yahoo.com.

An Early Look at the New School on the Ambassador Hotel Site

They destroyed Los Angeles' landmark Ambassador Hotel. Now, if there's any consolation, the LAUSD is at least making an effort to pay tribute to the legendary hotel by re-creating the famed Paul Williams coffee shop, as well as modeling the school's auditorium after the Cocoanut Grove.

I guess it's something. LA Mag's Chris Nichols was contacted (he has a rare color photo of what the coffee shop looked like) and filed this report (at the LAMag site) on his visit to the Ambassador site:

The main building was demolished in 2006, but vestigal remains (very vestigal) were retained and are being restored. Other elements are being recreated, and that’s why I got a call.

Being a collector of vintage Los Angeles ephemera, I had what turned out to be the only color photograph of the Paul R. Williams-designed coffee shop at the hotel in its prime. South Pasadena-based restoration architect Mark Stankard is rebuilding this lost dining area as a teacher’s lounge in the new school and planned to match its 1940s colors and finishes.

During our visit Mark showed off the west wall of the Cocoanut Grove, the entrance canopy, and the original driveway pylons that have been retained and are being restored. The main auditorium, modeled after the Cocoanut Grove nightclub, will be on the same site as the original. Along Wilshire, workers swarmed all over the sign tower, which will once again feature elaborate water jets and a replica of the classical nude sculpture that welcomed visitors. This time she’ll be draped in a “negligee” added by the Denver-area sculptor. Much of the Wilshire frontage, including the driveway, will become a pocket park complete with art installations of tile and benches inspired by the hotel that feature a repeating soundtrack of music from the Grove and ghostly, disembodied memorials from long ago visitors.

Go to the site (scroll down) to read more -- including a bizarre-o Sharon Stone story.

Ambassador Cam, #43

Construction on the LAUSD's $572 million new high school on the site of the old Ambassador Hotel continues. The district says the new school (still unnamed) is on tap to open in fall 2010. Here's the fact sheet for the construction, which will encompass 391,840 square feet.



And here's the latest LAUSD monthly program status report on the project:

-- The Phase I K-3 project is currently 83% complete and is on schedule for occupancy in fall 2009. The methane mitigation system and underground utility rough-ins are complete. Classroom framing is complete; utility rough-ins are complete and interior fixtures and finishes are nearly complete. The structures for the central plant and parking facility are complete and finishes are nearly complete.

-- Delivery and installation of central plant equipment is complete and initial commissioning steps are underway. Site retaining walls and other structures are nearly complete. Permanent power is expected by the first week in March.

The school promises to deliver 1,000 new middle school seats and 2,440 new high school seats.

Ambassador Cam, #42

A year after the destruction of the final piece of the Ambassador Hotel (the Cocoanut Grove, which had survived the initial tear-down), here's what's now on the site. So far, the frame looks a lot like the old hotel, as if it had been stripped to its studs.

According to the LAUSD's December "Monthly Program Status Report" for new construction, here's the latest news from the site:

• The Phase I K-3 project is currently 70% complete and is scheduled for occupancy in fall 2009. The methane mitigation system and underground utility rough-ins are complete. Classroom framing is complete, utility rough-ins are complete, and interior finishes are well under way. The structures for the central plant and parking facility are complete and finishes have commenced. Delivery and installation of central plant equipment is well under way. Site retaining walls and other structures are well under way.

• The MS/HS project is 38% complete, with school occupancy scheduled for fall 2010. Underground utilities, methane mitigation system and building foundations are nearly complete. Structural steel framing is complete, with a traditional "topping out" ceremony scheduled for November 21, 2008. Fireproofing, utility rough-ins and interior framing are well under way. Site retaining walls are well under way. Off-site work is well under way.

Meanwhile, here's the view from Catalina Street.

Ambassador Cam, #41: The Skeleton Rises

So far, the new building mimics the footprint of the old Ambassador (but what a sad sight). They continue to move fast on the construction.




The Ambassador entryway pillar, now under wraps.

(For full coverage of the Ambassador's final days, check out our companion site, The Ambassador's Last Stand.)

Lamenting the Ambassador

Actress and preservationist Diane Keaton wishes now that an environmental argument had been used in the battle to Ambassador Hotel. She writes in an LAT op-ed:

Preservation has always been a hard sell in Los Angeles. But maybe in the years ahead it won't be as hard as it used to be, considering several new facts. No. 1, as my Dad would have said, a building represents an enormous investment of energy -- much bigger than we thought when we were fighting to save the Ambassador. No. 2, we now know that construction of new structures alone consumes 40% of the raw materials that enter our economy every year. No. 3, according to the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, the resources required to manufacture these materials and transport them to a site and assemble them into a structure is the equivalent of consuming 5 to 15 gallons of oil per square foot. No. 4, a Brookings Institution study indicates that the construction of new buildings alone will destroy one-third of our existing building stock by 2030. And finally, No. 5, the energy used to destroy older buildings in addition to the energy used to build new ones could power the entire state of California for 10 years, according to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

We've treated old buildings like we once treated plastic shopping bags -- we haven't reused them, and when we've finished with them, we've tossed them out. This has to stop. Preservation must stand alongside conservation as an equal force in the sustainability game. More older and historic buildings have to be protected from demolition, not only because it affects our pocketbooks but more important because it threatens our environment.

Of course, as Keaton notes, every other argument failed to sway the LAUSD, and I'm doubtful these assertions would have changed anything.

Auctioning Off A Final Look at the Ambassador

(Photo by Nancy Duron.)

The Los Angeles Conservancy tipped us off to a silent auction for photos that were taken a few years ago by high school photography students as part of an effort to document the Ambassador Hotel pre-demolition.

The Location Managers Guild, which sponsored the project, is now auctioning off the images from the exhibition. Half of the proceeds will go to Animo Film and Theater Arts High School, a new Green Dot charter school.

The auction takes place at downtown's Wilshire Grand Hotel. Check out the evite here and the gallery of photos here.

Ambassador Cam, #40: Construction Pace Quickens

After months of waiting, the skeleton of the new school complex is really rising fast at the Ambassador site. Curbed LA has more on the new Robert F. Kennedy pocket park (which will take up just 1/3 acre off Wilshire) here.

Ambassador Cam, #39: The Skeleton Rises

As the LAUSD prepares to break ground on a new, tiny pocket park and Bobby Kennedy memorial at the Ambassador site (see Curbed LA for full details), construction has already begun on what appears to be the high school portion of the site's three-school complex.

Curbed L.A. had more details last month:

The scope of the project includes a K-3 School, a 4-8 Middle School, and a High School, for a total of 4,624 students. The 92,000-square-foot K-3 building will accommodate 1,150 seats within 46 classrooms on three floors. The school will be located on the Ambassador Hotel site. The 4-8/High School building will accommodate 3,474 seats within 130 classrooms on six floors. The area is 382,000 square feet, and the rehabilitated Cocoanut Grove building is an additional 48,410 square feet of enclosed and covered areas.

The proposed subterranean parking structure will accommodate a total of 442 parking spaces on two levels for faculty and administrative staff. Playfields for the proposed 4-8/HS will be constructed above the parking structure. The scope also includes construction of a gymnasium building. This structure will accommodate the gymnasium court for grades 6-8 and Central Plant equipment on the first floor, and a gymnasium court for grades 9-12 on the upper level. This is one of the first LAUSD schools with an extensive public art program.

Yes, you'll notice that the main, high school building has been designed to emulate the old Ambassador. But it's pretty much a token gesture.