The Ambassador Hotel

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The Ambassador Hotel's nightclub, the Cocoanut Grove, circa the late 1950s. It should be possible to replace this fair use image with a freely licensed one. If you can, please do so as soon as is practical.

The Ambassador Hotel was a landmark hotel in Los Angeles, California.

1 Background
2 The Ambassador Hotel Kitchen
3 After The Death of RFK
4 Until 2004
5 2004-2005
6 The Ambassador Hotel Auction
7 The Cocoanut Grove
8 See Also
9 External links

[edit] Background

The Ambassador Hotel formally opened on January 1, 1921 and was located at 3400 Wilshire Boulevard, between Catalina Street and Mariposa Avenue, in the center of Los Angles mid-Wilshire District. The Ambassador Hotel was known in the early 1920s until the late 1960s as the winter residence of numerous prominent Hollywood actors and as the site of several Academy Awards ceremonies. Perhaps as many as seven U.S. Presidents stayed at The Ambassador Hotel, from Hoover to Nixon, along with heads of state from around the world. For decades, the hotel's famed The Cocoanut Grove nightclub hosted the biggest names in entertainment, serving as the launching point of such performers as Barbra Streisand, Bing Crosby and Richard Pryor.

[edit] The Ambassador Hotel Kitchen

In The Ambassador Hotel kitchen, shortly after midnight on June 5, 1968, following a short victory speech in the ballroom of The Ambassador Hotel, the winner of the California Democratic presidential primary, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, was assassinated. As the perpetrator, the Palestinian immigrant Sirhan Bishara Sirhan was arrested at the scene. Robert F. Kennedy died one day later from his injuries.

[edit] After The Death of RFK

The death of Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) coincided with the beginning of the hotel's demise, hastened by the decline of the surrounding neighborhood. By the 1970s, the gang and drug problems in the area near the hotel were already becoming severe, and worsened as time went on. Despite a renovation of the Cocoanut Grove in the mid 1970s, under the creative control of Sammy Davis, Jr., the hotel was not able to return to its former splendor, and closed in 1989.

[edit] Until 2004

Until 2004 it was a frequent site of movie, music video and television filming, having served as a location for such films as The Graduate, Beaches, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Emilio Estevez's movie Bobby managed to film there in late 2005, even as the adjoining wing was being demolished. The Ambassador Hotel's Cocoanut Grove also played host to rock legend Roy Orbison and several rock preformers in the 1987 TV special Roy Orbison and Friends, A Black and White Night

[edit] 2004-2005

From 2004 to 2005, it was totally closed and was the focus of a battle between the Los Angeles Unified School District, who wanted to clear the site and build a school; Sirhan Sirhan, who, through his lawyer the late Lawrence Teeter, wanted to conduct more testing in the pantry where Robert F. Kennedy was shot; and preservationists (L.A. Conservancy and the Art Deco Society), who wanted the hotel and its various elements saved and integrated into the future school.

Following much litigation, a settlement was reached at the end of August 2005, allowing the The Ambassador Hotel demolition to go forward in exchange for the establishment of a $4.9 million fund, earmarked for saving historic school buildings in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

[edit] The Ambassador Hotel Auction

On September 10, 2005, a final public auction was held for the remaining hotel fittings and work soon began on demolition of The Ambassador Hotel. On January 16, 2006, the last section of The Ambassador Hotel fell, with most of the demolition taking place in 2005, leaving only the annex that housed the hotel entrance, a shopping arcade, the coffee shop, and the Cocoanut Grove, all of which will be reused for the school. A wake attended by hundreds was held for The Ambassador Hotel on February 2, 2006 at the Gaylord Apartments and adjoining restaurant H.M.S. Bounty [1], both part of a historic building built in 1924, directly across the street from the Ambassador; Diane Keaton, who was one of many who fought for the preservation of the hotel, was among the speakers at the ceremony.

[edit] The Cocoanut Grove

The Cocoanut Grove nightclub has been renovated a number of times before, destroying much of its architectural integrity, and will undergo yet another major transformation before emerging as the auditorium for the new school. Also being kept is the coffee shop, designed by one of the earliest noted African-American architects, Paul Williams. The coffee shop shares the ground floor corner of the same building as the Cocoanut Grove. Portions of the area where Robert F. Kennedy was shot have been set aside, but those remnants have been removed from the site. The north side of the new school will reflect the original facade of the hotel and north lawns will remain much the same, as seen from Wilshire Boulevard.