Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles) facts for kids
| Ambassador Hotel | |
Quick facts for kids  Entrance gate of the Ambassador Hotel in 1959 |
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| Hotel facts and statistics | |
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| Location | 3400 Wilshire Boulevard Los Angeles, California United States |
| Coordinates | 34°03′35″N 118°17′50″W / 34.059646°N 118.297101°W |
| Opening date | January 1, 1921 |
| Closing date | 1989 |
| Architect | Myron Hunt (1921) Paul Williams (1949) |
| Management | Ambassador Hotel Corporation (1921) Schine Family |
| Owner | Schine Family |
| No. of rooms | 1,000 |
The Ambassador Hotel was a famous hotel in Los Angeles, California. It opened on January 1, 1921. The hotel was designed by architect Myron Hunt. It had a beautiful Mediterranean style with tile floors and Italian stone fireplaces.
Later, architect Paul Williams made some updates in the late 1940s. The Ambassador Hotel was also home to the Cocoanut Grove nightclub. This was a very popular spot in Los Angeles for many years. It hosted six Oscar ceremonies. Also, every U.S. President from Herbert Hoover to Richard Nixon visited the hotel.
Many famous entertainers performed or attended events at the Cocoanut Grove. These included Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Nat King Cole, Barbra Streisand, Bing Crosby, John Wayne, Lucille Ball, Marilyn Monroe, and The Supremes.
A very sad event happened at the hotel on June 5, 1968. U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy was shot there. The hotel closed to guests in 1989 because it was getting old and the area around it was changing. In 2001, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) bought the land. They wanted to build new schools there. After some legal discussions about saving the historic hotel, it was decided that the Ambassador Hotel would be taken down in 2005.
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About the Ambassador Hotel
The Ambassador Hotel was located at 3400 Wilshire Boulevard. This area is now known as Koreatown. It was part of a group of hotels called the Ambassador Hotels System. When it opened in 1921, the chain included hotels in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Atlantic City, and New York.
The Schine Family owned the Ambassador Hotel from 1921 until 1971. The hotel property was very large, covering 24 acres. It included the main hotel building, a garage, and several separate bungalows.
Many celebrities loved to visit the Ambassador Hotel. Some, like Pola Negri, even lived there. From 1930 to 1943, six Academy Awards ceremonies were held at the hotel. At least seven U.S. presidents stayed at the Ambassador. These included Hoover and Nixon. Leaders from other countries also visited.
For many years, the hotel's famous Cocoanut Grove nightclub hosted well-known entertainers. These included Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Judy Garland, Lena Horne, Nancy Wilson, Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Liza Minnelli, Martin and Lewis, The Supremes, and many more.
Hotel History
Early Days
The Ambassador Hotel was designed by American architect Myron Hunt. It opened its doors on January 1, 1921. It quickly became known for its luxury. Guests entered a grand lobby with a large Italian fireplace. Crystal chandeliers and beautiful carpets decorated the space. The hotel offered 1,000 guestrooms and bungalows.
The hotel covered about 23.7 acres. It was located between Wilshire Boulevard, 8th Street, Catalina Street, and Mariposa Avenue. The Cocoanut Grove nightclub opened on April 21, 1921. This made the hotel a very popular social spot.
Margaret Tante Burk, a former PR Director for the Ambassador, wrote about the Cocoanut Grove's opening night. She said the club had a Moroccan style. It had gold leaf and etched palm tree doors. The club was named Cocoanut Grove because it had fake coconut trees made of papier-mâché. These trees had coconuts and palm fronds. They were saved from the set of the 1921 movie, The Sheik. Stuffed monkeys with glowing eyes hung from the branches. Stars twinkled on the blue ceiling. A painted Hawaiian moon hung over a waterfall scene.
Many celebrities visited the Cocoanut Grove. These included Louis B. Mayer, Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Howard Hughes, Clara Bow, Rudolph Valentino, Gloria Swanson, Anna May Wong, and Norma Talmadge. Joan Crawford and Carole Lombard often competed in Charleston dance contests there. Carole Lombard was even discovered at the Grove. The famous fake palm trees came from Rudolph Valentino's 1921 silent movie The Sheik. The hotel and its nightclub quickly became symbols of glamour. Many other bars and clubs across the U.S. were later named "Cocoanut Grove."
Starting in 1928, Gus Arnheim led the Cocoanut Grove Orchestra. They played six to seven songs every night. At one point, their music was broadcast on the radio for two hours. By the 1930s, many movie stars visited the Cocoanut Grove. These included Norma Shearer, Irving Thalberg, Clark Gable, Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Cary Grant, John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Loretta Young, Lucille Ball, and Ginger Rogers. On February 29, 1940, the 1939 Academy Awards Ceremony was held in the Cocoanut Grove. Bob Hope hosted the awards.
During World War II, U.S. military members met movie stars at the hotel. They attended many parties and fundraising events to help with the war.
Loyce Whiteman, a singer for the Cocoanut Grove Orchestra, remembered the Grove fondly. She said, "the most beautiful thing about the Grove is that they stood in front of you when you sang and just swayed to the music." She also recalled Joan Crawford singing with the band.
Robert F. Kennedy Event
On June 5, 1968, U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy was at the Ambassador Hotel. He had just won the California Democratic presidential primary election. He gave a speech to a happy crowd in the Embassy Room. After his speech, Kennedy was shot in a pantry area of the hotel's main kitchen. Five other people were also injured.
Palestinian immigrant Sirhan Sirhan was arrested at the scene. He was later found guilty of the murder. Kennedy passed away the next day from his injuries. The other victims recovered from their wounds. The part of Wilshire Boulevard in front of the hotel is now called the "Robert F. Kennedy Parkway."
Hotel Decline and Closing
The sad event involving Robert F. Kennedy marked a turning point for the hotel. The area around the hotel also started to decline in the late 1960s and 1970s. In 1970, the classic Cocoanut Grove was changed to the "Now Grove." This was an effort to attract a more modern nightclub crowd.
However, people lost interest in both the hotel and its neighborhood. The Ambassador Hotel began to fall apart over the years. Because of this, the Ambassador Hotel closed to guests in 1989. But it still remained open for filming movies and private events. In 1991, Donald Trump, who had bought the hotel, sold off many items from inside. These included silver platters, tiki-style soup bowls from the Cocoanut Grove, and furniture from the rooms.
Efforts to Save the Hotel
From 2004 to 2005, the Ambassador Hotel was part of a legal battle. The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) wanted to tear down the hotel to build a school. But groups like the Los Angeles Conservancy wanted to save the hotel. They hoped to keep its historic parts and include them in the new school.
The Location Managers Guild and the Jefferson High School Academy of Film and Television held an event in March 2005. It was called Last Looks: The Ambassador Hotel. Students learned about finding film locations. They used the hotel as a practice site, documenting it one last time. The photos taken by students and professionals were shown together at Los Angeles City Hall.
After many legal discussions, an agreement was reached in August 2005. This allowed the demolition to begin. In return, a fund of $4.9 million was set up. This money was to be used to save other historic school buildings in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Demolition of the Hotel
On September 10, 2005, a final public sale was held for the hotel's remaining items. The demolition started soon after. On January 16, 2006, the last part of the Ambassador Hotel fell. Only a small part remained. This included the hotel's entrance, a shopping area, a coffee shop, and the Cocoanut Grove. These parts were promised to be saved and used in the new school.
A special gathering was held for the Ambassador Hotel on February 2, 2006. Hundreds of people attended it at the Gaylord Apartments. This building was across the street from the hotel. Diane Keaton, a famous actress who fought to save the hotel, spoke at the event.
The Cocoanut Grove had been changed many times before. This had damaged its original design. It was promised that it would be changed again to become the auditorium for the new school. The ground floor coffee shop, designed by Paul Williams, was also supposed to be saved. However, due to concerns about its structure, the LAUSD decided to tear down most of the Cocoanut Grove. Only the hotel entrance and the east wall of the Grove were kept.
New School on the Site
New schools were built on the site of the Ambassador Hotel. These include the Central Los Angeles New Learning Center #1 for K–3 grades, and another for 4–8 grades and high school. The Robert F. Kennedy Inspiration Park was also built there.
The six schools were named the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools. The K–3 school opened on September 9, 2009. The 4–8 and high school opened on September 14, 2010. The north side of the new school looks a bit like the original hotel. The north lawns also look similar to how they did from Wilshire Boulevard.
Filming at the Hotel
The Ambassador Hotel was a very popular place for filming movies and television programs. It started with Jean Harlow's 1933 film Bombshell. An early MGM color short film, Starlit Days at the Lido (1935), was filmed in the Lido Spa at the hotel.
Throughout the 1980s and early 2000s, the hotel was used in many movies and TV shows. These included Forrest Gump, Murder, She Wrote, Beverly Hills 90210, S.W.A.T., The Italian Job, and Blow. It was a great location because it had many different rooms. Also, filmmakers did not have to worry about disturbing hotel guests.
Because the hotel looked like a "time capsule," it was perfect for movies set in the 1950s through 1970s. Examples include Almost Famous, Apollo 13, Catch Me If You Can, Hoffa, and That Thing You Do.
The interactive movie/game based on the 1995 film "Johnny Mnemonic" was filmed here. It had a budget of $3 million.
The last project to film in the hotel's famous kitchen was "Spin the Bottle." This was a 2004 episode of the TV series Angel. The 2006 film Bobby was the last project to film on the hotel property. They filmed important scenes in late 2005, even while parts of the hotel were being torn down.
The Ambassador Hotel itself has been shown in films. The Cocoanut Grove was rebuilt for the 2004 movie The Aviator. The 1999 film The Thirteenth Floor recreated the hotel when characters visited 1937 Los Angeles.
The Cocoanut Grove hosted musician Roy Orbison and other performers in September 1988. The rock band Linkin Park took photos for their 2003 album Meteora at the hotel. Guns N' Roses filmed the music video for their song "Patience" at the hotel in 1989. R&B singer Chuckii Booker filmed his music video for "Games" there in 1992. The hotel was also used for the music video of the 1997 Marilyn Manson song "Long Hard Road Out of Hell". The rock band 311 used the hotel lobby for their 2003 album cover Evolver.
Images for kids
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Robert F. Kennedy addressed supporters in the Embassy Ballroom of the Ambassador Hotel
See also
In Spanish: Hotel Ambassador para niños
