Ambassador Cam, #34

Ambassador Hotel, 9:45 am, Sept. 13, 2006

The tractors are busy at the Ambassador site, clearing out the grassy field that was once in front of the building.

Finally, Action at the Ambassador?

The Ambassador Hotel site hasn't changed much in several months (it still looks the same as above, which was shot back in April).

But it looks like there's finally some activity on the site for the first time in several months.

Reader James writes in:

I've really enjoyed your Ambassador Hotel blog. I live about 10 feet from the hotel property, so I've been very interested in what's happening there, and your site has been a source of much useful info.

Thought you might be interested to know: after a couple months of silence, the bulldozers have been back to work there for the past three days (they showed up on Saturday morning, and continued on Monday and Tuesday). They're not doing anything to the building itself (what's left of it), but they're hard at work digging up portions of the property behind the building.

Does this renewed activity signal anything important? (for example, are they gearing up to start working on the school?) Useful intel has been hard to find.

Meanwhile, I just discovered that the fine folks at TheAmbassadorHotel.com have posted Diane Keaton's speech from the Ambassador Wake online at You Tube -- check it out here.

Ambassador Cam, #33

Ambassador Hotel site; April 18, 2006; 7:02 p.m.

Things have been relatively quiet over the last month at the Ambassador Hotel site. As you can see, the hollowed shell of the Cocoanut Grove still remains, some of it now covered up by siding. We'll continue to periodically check in on the impending school construction.

Ambassador Pantry in Limbo

The LAUSD still isn't sure what to do with artifacts collected from the Ambassador Hotel's now-demolished pantry, where Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in 1968. The Kennedy family wants the pieces to be destroyed. The pantry itself was supposed to be preserved -- but was too damaged, supposedly, to be saved. And for now, remnants of the crime scene sit in containers.

The LA Times picks up on the story:

The two unmarked metal bins sitting in a storage lot in Los Angeles' garment district hold artifacts from one of the most shocking events in modern American history: equipment and fixtures from the pantry where Robert F. Kennedy was fatally wounded June 5, 1968.

The 29 items from the now-demolished Ambassador Hotel, including chandelier lights, wainscoting and the ice machine behind which assassin Sirhan Sirhan may have hid, face an uncertain fate.

Are they really the stuff of history? Do they enhance national memory? And what is to be done with them as school officials prepare to build a campus on the former hotel site?

As with anything connected to assassinations and the Kennedys, answers do not come easily.

Some preservationists contend the collection should be used in a re-creation of the pantry at the school. Some historians want the artifacts given to a museum or library for permanent safekeeping. The Kennedy family wants all of them destroyed and kept out of the hands of ghoulish collectors.

By the way, if you haven't checked out Robert Peate's heartbreaking collection of shots from the Ambassador's last days, do so. It's at his site, www,nlphotos.com. 

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.

One Last RFK Tribute at the Ambassador

One of the cool things about launching The Ambassador's Last Stand has been hearing from people across the country who have fond or personal memories of the hotel -- even, for some, after it had already been shut down.

I recently received a letter and some pictures from Brent Lyons of Illinois, who visited L.A. in June 1998 upon the 30th anniversary of Bobby Kennedy's assassination.

He writes:

On the morning of June 5, 1998, I purchased two sets of white flowers. I decided to try to put the flowers on the property of the Ambassador Hotel. So from Wilshire Boulevard, I walked up the drive to the parking lot and asked the parking lot attendant, who was at his booth, if I could g on the Ambassador grounds and put my flowers down. To my amazement, the parking lot attendant said to me nicely, "Go ahead."

I walked from the parking lot area to the front of the Cocoanut Grove entrance. I then put one set of white flowers on the lawn and took pictures... I noticed that the front doors of the Cocoanut Grove were open, and I decided to go inside. (You will notice, in my pictures, that there were vans and people were unloading them for making films at the Ambassador. I laid down the second set of white flowers on the floor in the Cocoanut Grove.

I felt lucky enough for this experience, and left the Ambassador grounds without a hassle.

Thanks Brent -- and for everyone else, please keep sending in your memories.

Ambassador Hotel, 1936

Spotted on eBay, this cool ad promoting the late hotel. The text reads:

Unsolicited Tribute from a Great American Author
"The Ambassador, with its own gay streets of shops, a theatre and restaurants and the world-famous 'Cocoanut Grove" is believed by some to be only another magnificant hotel, but it's much more... it is a three-ring circus of indoor and outdoor amusements in a layout filled with happy conceptions."
-- Gouverneur Morris

Ambassador Cam #32

Turns out the original Ambassador Hotel sign, which graced the hotel's automobile entrance upon its 1921 opening, has been trapped inside the hotel's own hideous, 1970s-era concrete silo. Chipping away at that old exterior, workers found the long-buried original sign inside;

You can easily make out the letters that spell "Ambassador Hotel."

How the entrance sign looked in the Ambassador's early days. 
(Thanks to reader Kathy for the shots -- by the time I got to the Ambassador on Friday, it was too dark to get decent pics.)

"Don't Let This Happen to Your Historic Building"

Photographer Robert Peate, who submitted several shots to The Ambassador's Last Stand, has complied 17 of his favorite images (out of over 800) he took of the grand hotel's final days.

Check it out at nlphotos.com. Robert explains his mission:

For the past four years I have worked near the site of the famous Ambassador Hotel, beloved Los Angeles landmark. In 2001 the Los Angeles Unified School District bought the site to build a new school, with the plan to demolish the entire historic structure. This prompted a lawsuit by the Los Angeles Conservancy, which was settled in 2005, clearing the way for the demolition of most, but not all, of the structure.

When I learned of the settlement, I began photographing the demolition for posterity. These images will be donated to the Conservancy for use in future preservation efforts. “Don’t let this happen to your historic building,” will be the message. What follow are my favorite of hundreds of images I took for this project, The Death of the Ambassador.

I met Robert and his wife Robin at the Ambassador Wake earlier this month -- both really good people.

Ambassador Cam, #31: Cocoanut Grooves No More

(Pic by LAist's Carolyn Kellogg)

Like I mentioned in my previous Ambassador Cam post, the LAUSD sure has a funny way of "preserving" the Ambassador Hotel's Cocoanut Grove (which, we've mentioned before was bastardized so much in the 1970s that I'm not sure it's worth saving anyway). As you can see in this shot and the previous one, the Cocoanut Grove has been completely gutted and stripped. Not much left besides the four walls -- well, make that two walls, as the front and back sides have been torn off (yes, you can see right through).

LA Observed first reported on Friday that even the Cocoanut Grove's distinguishing characteristic -- its front entrance -- was demolished:

Staffers at the Archdiocese of Los Angeles—in the office building at 3424 Wilshire—just heard a loud crash outside. They ran to the window and saw that a crane had torn the front off the old Cocoanut Grove, the last part of the Ambassador Hotel still standing. An email concludes: "Gee, not much left to preserve now."

I decided to call the LAUSD Friday to ask them about it -- and they're still sticking to the company line, that the Cocoanut Grove (as well as the Paul Williams-designed coffee shop underneath) is being preseved.

LAUSD spokeswoman Shannon Johnson told me : "The entire structure is still standing. We're not tearing it down. It will be a part of the school's new auditorium."

Uh, Shannon, you might want to drive down Wilshire and take a look for yourself. Johnson tells us that the demolition will continue through mid-March.

(Another shot by Carolyn)


Mike's dark pic (sorry, it was nighttime) of the Ambassador Hotel remains, 2/10/06, 6:55 p.m.

Ambassador Cam, #30

The Ambassador Hotel, 2/6/06, 10 a.m.

C'mon, LAUSD, let's be honest here: The idea that the Cocoanut Grove has been spared the wrecking ball is an exaggeration. As you can see here, the insides of the Grove have been stripped clean. Actually, you can see right through the building. Not much left except the walls -- and even most of those are gone.

Granted, one wonders why they even bothered saving the Cocoanut Grove after knocking down most of the rest of the Ambassador. The once-glamorous ballroom had already been bastardized in the 1970s, when the so-called "Now Grove" took away the palm tree ambience and replaced it with a nightmare disco feel (in one last-ditch attempt to revive the aging venue).

The Ambassador Wake: The Aftermath

Thanks to all of you who made it out to the Gaylord Apartments and HMS Bounty last night! I got to meet several of you for the first time and reconnect with others of you. (Special thanks to Pat Saperstein for loaning me her camera -- can't believe I left mine at home!)

I arrived at the Gaylord/HMS Bounty at around 7:15, and the line was already down the red carpet. (Yes, red carpet -- indeed, this was a much more stylized event than what I had originally planned with my wake.) The crowd in the Gaylord lobby was thick but manageable -- most of the people were outside, near the open bar, natch.

Out on the patio I ran into Joseph Mailander and Lynn, as well as KFI's Justin Levine... and several other people who recognized me from Franklin Avenue and The Ambassador's Last Stand. Moving to the HMS, I met 5th and Spring's Celia for the first time, and Trained Monkey's Jim for the second time. I think they recently started dating -- guys, true? (Update: Yes!) Later popped in LAist's Carolyn, who recounted her terrible mugging experience a few weeks ago right around the corner. Also, met LARitz's Jessica Ritz -- whose father, I later found out, co-wrote Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing"!

Also, thanks to Blogging.la and Wildbell's Will Campbell for figuring out how to use the flash on Pat's camera; and his wife Susan, who took several pics for The Ambassador's Last Stand via her job's vantage point across the street. Also met Losanjealous' Ryan, and Josh from Curbed LA.

Can't forget Shannon from Sha in LA, and her pal Eric Lynxwiler, the co-author of the fantastic "Wilshire Boulevard: Grand Concourse of Los Angeles." The book's other co-author, LA Observed's Kevin Roderick, was there, as was Los Angeles mag's Mary Melton (who wrote about our Birthday Race in 2003, you may recall). And LAVoice's Mack Reed, who wrote up the best coverage of anyone. A tidbit:

The loveliest tribute came from Carlyn Frank Benjamin - daughter of one of the Ambassador's first caretakers, and a 16-year resident of the hotel from the time it opened in 1921: "I'd always hoped the old girl would put on some new clothes and some comfortable shoes and some rose-scented moisturizing lotion, and that she could have had a new lease on life. ..."

And then she conjured the image of the Ambassador's ghosts rising up, filtering up through the debris and inspiring the LAUSD students who will occupy the school soon to be built on the site.

If that can happen, the death of the Ambassador won't have been a huge waste.

Besides getting to speak before Diane Keaton (who I stood next to on the stage), the highlight was meeting Mrs. Benjamin (the subject of Thursday's LATimes cov

er 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. Here's a pic of me with her:


Me with Carlyn Frank Benjamin, who grew up at the Ambassador

Some other shots:

Diane Keaton speaks

Longtime Ambassador P.R. manager Margaret Burk, who wrote a fantastic history on the hotel, "Are The Stars Out Tonight?"


5th and Spring's Celia, her friend Kathy and Trained Monkey's Jim


LAist's Carolyn Kellogg


Martini Republic's Joseph with wife Lynn and KFI's Justin Levine


Sha in LA's Shannon, with "Wilshire Boulevard" co-author Eric Lynxwiler


LAVoice's Mack Reed, Los Angeles mag's Mary Melton and LAObserved's Kevin Roderick


Losanjealous' Ryan, with Will and Susan Campbell


Robert Peate, who also sent us a lot of great shots over the past few months, and his wife Robin


In the HMS Bounty

Crowd in the Gaylord lobby listen to speakers


More HMS Bounty crowd


Red carpet

Other recaps:

Caroline On Crack wishes it was more of a wake, less of a party but notes the impressive turnout.

Sha in LA hates to admit it, but perhaps Adaptive Reuse just wasn't possible with the Ambassador. She has a great rundown of who was there, and some cool pics here.

Joseph at Martini Republic doesn't quite get the hullabaloo surrounding the Ambassador's demise.

Jim at Trained Monkey also briefly checks in and lists some of the blogger attendees.

LA Observed also mentions a few highlights in its Friday roundup.

Carolyn at LAist has some last words for the Ambassador -- and is relieved that Hilary Duff didn't show up.

Jorge and Claudy took some great shots, and note that one-time "Melrose Place" and "Growing Pains" star Jamie Luner was there.

Celia from 5th and Spring tells a bittersweet story of meeting a onetime Cocoanut Grove musician with some great stories to tell -- but sadly, none of his former bandmates to reminisce with.

Thanks to the L.A. Conservancy and Ken Bernstein as well. Were you there? Did I meet you? Let me know!

Pay Your Last Respects Tonight

I'll see you at tonight's Ambassador Hotel Wake!

By the way, most of the festivities will actually take place at the Gaylord apartments lobby, with spillover heading to the HMS Bounty. Look for the tables that say "Bloggers Corner, sponsored by The Ambassador's Last Stand" to find some familiar faces -- or at least some familiar names from the L.A. blogsophere!

Meanwhile, the front page of today's L.A. Times has a nice story by Bob Pool on Carlyn Frank Benjamin, who grew up at the Ambassador:

Benjamin lived at the Ambassador between 1921, when it opened, and 1938. Her father, Ben Frank, managed the hotel and her grandfather, Abe Frank, was the hotel company's vice president and the person she credits with creating the palm-decorated Cocoanut Grove. She likes to point out that she and the hotel were born five months apart.

"The Ambassador and I are the same age. Except I'm still here," the 84-year-old Brentwood resident said Tuesday as she gazed sadly at the remains of what many consider the symbol of Los Angeles' golden era.

Tonight, Benjamin will be among hundreds who are expected to gather across Wilshire Boulevard from the hotel site for a wake that will commemorate its role in defining Los Angeles' popular culture.

But when the stories are swapped, none are likely to be as vivid as Benjamin's.

As a young child, she roamed the grounds, building castles in the hotel golf course's sand traps.

The pastry chefs whipped up a giant chocolate cake for her third birthday and Josephine, the hotel organ grinder's trained monkey, showed up to entertain her and her friends.

As she grew older, Benjamin learned to swim in the hotel's pool, practiced marksmanship on its rifle range and explored every nook and cranny of the 500-room resort.

She cajoled staff members into saving so many hotel newspapers for 3rd Street Elementary School's annual paper drive that her class won the collection contest every year. After school each day, she had snacks in the Ambassador's Fountain Room cafe. In the lobby, she regularly encountered royalty and celebrities.

She met pilot Charles Lindbergh there shortly after his pioneering 1927 transatlantic flight. She considered Hollywood movie impresario Sid Grauman, who was a hotel resident, an unofficial uncle.

Gossip columnist Walter Winchell lived next door and his young daughter was a friend of Benjamin and her younger sister, Jackie Schwartz, now a Santa Ana resident.

"The elevator operator would let me practice running it when no guests were in it. I'd go from the basement to the sixth floor — we'd bounce around until I got it level at each floor," Benjamin said.

Shameless self-promotion moment... Pool quotes me toward the end of the story:

Also involved is Michael Schneider, a 32-year-old Variety writer who chronicled the Ambassador's final days on a website that attracted worldwide attention. "The hotel symbolizes the glamorous old Hollywood and Los Angeles that my generation never got to experience firsthand," Schneider said.

Hope to see you all tonight!

Tomorrow's The Ambassador Hotel Wake!

An old postcard shows the Ambassador's Wilshire entrance, back when it included a statue and fountain. The postcard says, "Where the flying fishes play. Ornamental fountain at Wilshire Entrance to the Los Angeles AMBASSADOR." (Thanks to Mary Ellen!)

I've heard from many of you planning on attending Thursday's Ambassador Hotel send-off being thrown by the L.A. Conservancy, with some help by us here at Franklin Avenue/The Ambassador's Last Stand. Don't forget to RSVP, if you haven't already!

Some details: The festivities start at 7, with speeches, etc. at around 8:15. If you're looking for some fellow bloggers/blog readers/Franklin Avenue folk (well, that's me -- Blogger Baby and Maria can't make it, unfortunately), look for the specially marked tables. (It will say something like "Blogger's Corner, sponsored by The Ambassador's Last Stand). That way you can hang with some like-minded folk and we can toast the Ambassador together.

See you Thursday!

Ambassador Cam, #29

A belated (sorry, been busy) shot of the now fallen Ambassador Hotel sign:

(Thanks to reader Kathy.)

Ambassador Update: The Sign is Gone

Sure, it was cheesy. And a relic of the hotel's last-ditch effort to revive itself. Just check out that font -- how dated! But still, the Ambassador Hotel sign graced its Wilshire Blvd. entrance for decades... and its disappearance is another reminder that the historic building is gone.

From reader Kathy:

I drove down Wilshire this am (Thursday Jan. 26) and was shocked to see an empty cement pole in front by the sidewalk. I parked, took my camera, walked over and saw that beautiful Ambassador sign on the ground, in the drive way!

I felt so bad that I couldn't even take a photo of it. I'm glad I got lots of photos while it was still in place--at the top smiling out on Wilshire Blvd. where it belongs. Where do you suppose they'll store it? I think even CoCo (Coconut Grove) looks sad.:(

I know, second Ambassador post of the day. Meanwhile, have you RSVP'ed for the Ambassador Wake yet? See you next Thursday!

Ambassador Cam, #28

Some cool new shots from Franklin Avenue reader Wojtek, who took these on Tuesday:

Meanwhile, Thursday's LA Daily News reported on the uncertain future of the Ambassador pantry. The walls themselves are gone, but the equipment from the scene of RFK's assassination have been preserved, despitethe Kennedy family's objection. Now, what to do with it?

Against the wishes of the Kennedy family, the pantry equipment from the mostly demolished Ambassador Hotel is being packed up instead of destroyed. Now school officials, who bought the vacant hotel in 2001 to make way for new classrooms, are saddled with the question of what to do with the remnants of the tragic spot in American history.

The Kennedys fear that the fixtures - including a food-warming table, an ice machine, wainscoting and ceiling lights - could end for sale online as morbid souvenirs. Several pieces that are purported to be from the landmark hotel are already being offered over the Internet.

A Los Angeles Unified School District advisory panel concluded the pantry had no historical significance and urged the school system to get rid of it. But the district is legally bound to preserve the items under the demolition plan approved by the school board, said district spokeswoman Shannon Johnson-Haber.

According to Paul Schrade, a Kennedy family friend who was wounded in the June 1968 assassination, Superintendent Roy Romer promised one of the senator's sons that the district would dispose of the pantry.

"The agreement was to get rid of all of it," said Schrade, who said he attended a meeting where Romer gave that assurance to Maxwell Kennedy, the assassinated senator's son. Kennedy fears that if the items are not destroyed, "this winds up on eBay," Schrade added.

Glenn Gritzer, the former school official who worked most closely on the Ambassador project as a special assistant to Romer, said the superintendent was expressing a personal desire, not a guarantee.

Because of legal restrictions, "the superintendent can't just wake up one morning and say, 'Boom, it's gone,"' Gritzner said.

Memories of the Ambassador, Part One

Franklin Avenue reader Don Stewart sent us this shot of the Ambassador, which he took some time last year. Thanks to everyone who's sending us pics of the now-demolished building -- keep 'em coming! And don't forget to RSVP for the Feb. 2 Ambassador Hotel wake!

An update on the Wake: I've been informed that the majority of the party -- including, yes, the open bar -- will actually be at the Gaylord Apartments (which is the same location -- The HMS Bounty is connected to the Gaylord's lobby). The crowd will likely spill into the HMS Bounty. But drinks aren't free there -- so don't try to pull a fast one on my man Ramon!

In other Ambassador news, the LAUSD is looking for artists to depict the history of the once-grand hotel, according to the Downtown News:

With the demolition of the Ambassador Hotel wrapping up last week, the Los Angeles Unified School District has started the process of selecting artwork to grace the new schools complex that will occupy the site. The district wants original pieces that depict the history of the Ambassador Hotel within the context of Los Angeles from 1921 to 1968.

Corinne Weitzman, an art consultant hired by the school district, said plans are being worked out as to how many pieces will be on the new campus. "It really depends on the response we get and the proposals that come in," she said.

Ambassador Cam, #27

The Ambassador Hotel's remains, including the Cocoanut Grove, 1/18/06



Thanks to reader Robert Peate, who passed along these new shots. (Which are obviously facing east -- well, sort of southeast -- as you can see the downtown skyline in the background.)

Hope to see you at the Ambassador Hotel wake on Feb. 2 -- be sure to RSVP soon!