RIP Carlyn Frank Benjamin, Who Grew Up at the Ambassador Hotel and Became Its Chief Protector

Carlyn Frank Benjamin was one of the true heroes and icons from the Ambassador Hotel. Benjamin, who died Jan. 9, 2017 at 95, grew up at the hotel (having been born in 1921). Above, she spoke at the Ambassador wake in 2006. Here's more on her from her obituary:

She grew up and lived in the iconic Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Her father and grandfather managed this first-class resort and together created the world famous Cocoanut Grove nightclub. The inquisitive young Carlyn became the "horizontal Eloise" of The Ambassador, as she often nostalgically called herself, where she witnessed many notable events, including: The gala celebration of Charles Lindberg's 1927 Paris return flight to several of the early Academy Award ceremonies to the flourishing Cocoanut Grove music scene where Bing Crosby was discovered. She met William Randolph Hearst, who lived with Marion Davies at the Ambassador for a year in the 1930's and she learned to swim from the swim coach who trained the 1932 Olympic hopefuls in the Ambassador's Olympic sized swimming pool. Like Eloise at the Plaza Hotel, Carlyn had the run of the Ambassador, spying on Charlie Chaplin, who played numerous practical jokes on her father and grandfather, alongside Tom Mix and other early Hollywood pranksters. In later years, Carlyn provided invaluable information for a number of historians who wrote about the Ambassador Hotel and Old Hollywood's vivid past, in addition to being a precious resource to the preservationists that attempted to save the Ambassador Hotel from the wrecking ball.

I had a chance to meet Benjamin at the wake, and it was perhaps the best part of the whole event. As I wrote at the time:

The highlight was meeting Mrs. Benjamin (the subject of Thursday's LATimes cover story about the Ambassador). Don't let her age fool you -- she was one of the liveliest attendees at the event. Not only did she give the best speech, but she and her sister (who also lived at the Ambassador in her youth) remember the hotel like it was yesterday. (Her husband was also an agent back in the day, and she told me she got to know Army Archerd very well. I told her Army was now blogging as well!) Most amazingly, Mrs. Benjamin reads the blog! And knows all about me and Maria! I can't even get some of my friends to check it out, yet here's a woman who not only outlived the Ambassador but is still going strong! She was an inspiration.