Classic Ambassador
Reader and frequent The Ambassador's Last Stand contributor Tess has been researching the late, grand hotel at the library, where she's found more than 100 photos of the Ambassador through the years.
She shares a few:
A "Music Week Parade" takes place on the Ambassador's front lawn, in 1941. Tess notes: You can see that the facade of the Cocoanut Grove is quite different than the one you and I were used to..
Indeed, those arches in the front of the Cocoanut Grove have only become visible recently as the former hotspot as been almost completely gutted.
Aerial view of the Ambassador, credited to 1924.
She shares a few:
A "Music Week Parade" takes place on the Ambassador's front lawn, in 1941. Tess notes: You can see that the facade of the Cocoanut Grove is quite different than the one you and I were used to..
Indeed, those arches in the front of the Cocoanut Grove have only become visible recently as the former hotspot as been almost completely gutted.
Aerial view of the Ambassador, credited to 1924.
posted by Mike at 2:11 PM
6 Comments:
I came from San Diego to photograph the demolition of the Ambassador Hotel on Thanksgiving and Christmas, 2005, and on January 15, 2006, the day before the final demolition of the hotel took place. I photographed the hotel that day with Los Angeles photographer Robert Peate, whose excellent photos of the hotel's demolition have been featured elsewhere on this website.
When I arrived at the Catalina Street side of the hotel that Sunday, the view was shocking. Where before the massive south facade stood, there was now only a small fragment of the hotel that remained.
I was at a funeral in January of a prominent San Diego doctor, and overheard someone say: "I can't believe he's gone. It seems like a whole new world!" For the Ambassador Hotel, it is a whole new world, and I don't like it very much.
It seems that historic sites in Los Angeles are being torn down at an accelerating pace, and the destruction will continue. The Los Feliz Brown Derby and buildings at the intersection of Hollywood and Vine are threatened, along with other locations which are discussed on the websites of the Los Angeles Conservancy and the Art Deco Society of Los Angeles.
I don't know why the destruction of the Ambassador Hotel saddened me so much. It is said that Californians tear down historic sites as if they were movie sets. Often the only thing that remains is the photographic record...
Barbara Palmer/San Diego
According to this article, the pantry was mysteriously preserved. Hmmm. http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/columnists/bogert/articles/2419321.html. Wonder where they stashed it, and why?
The reason they stashed part of the RFK pantry was because of a legal agreement by LAUSD and LA Conservancy. It was part of a settlement just before the Ambassador was demolished.
From what I've read, they've only preserved certain items from the pantry (e.g., the ice machine) rather than the pantry itself. Since it was located on the hotel's 2nd floor, I imagine it would have been tough to simply cut it out of the building like they said they were going to.
On a related note, on March 15, 2006, RFK's convicted killer, Sirhan Sirhan, was denied parole for the 13th time. That's about as surprising as discovering that water's wet.
Ambassador remains as Ambassador hotel. Though now, this hotel is not a working hotel, the beauty and it's glamour still remains in the hearts of every guest who have a great experience in that hotel.
Experience is still experience and no one can remove that in one's mind. Though the glamour was lost..still the memory of Ambassador hotels remains..Cheap Tickets
Post a Comment
<< Home