Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles)

Ambassador Hotel
Entrance gate of the Ambassador Hotel in 1959
Ambassador Hotel is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area
Ambassador Hotel
Ambassador Hotel
Location within the Los Angeles metropolitan area
Ambassador Hotel is located in California
Ambassador Hotel
Ambassador Hotel
Ambassador Hotel (California)
Ambassador Hotel is located in the United States
Ambassador Hotel
Ambassador Hotel
Ambassador Hotel (the United States)
General information
Location3400 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, California
United States
Coordinates34°03′35″N 118°17′50″W / 34.05972°N 118.29722°W / 34.05972; -118.29722
OpeningJanuary 1, 1921
Closed1989
Demolished2005–2006
Cost$5 million[1]
OwnerSchine family
ManagementAmbassador Hotel Corporation (1921)
Schine Family
Design and construction
Architect(s)Myron Hunt (1921)
Paul Williams (1949)
Other information
Number of rooms1,000

The Ambassador Hotel was a hotel in Los Angeles, California. Designed by architect Myron Hunt, the Ambassador Hotel formally opened to the public on January 1, 1921.[2] Later renovations by architect Paul Williams were made to the hotel in the late 1940s. It was also home to the Cocoanut Grove nightclub, a premier Los Angeles night spot for decades; host to six Oscar ceremonies and to every United States President from Herbert Hoover to Richard Nixon.[3]

Prominent figures such as Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Sammy Davis, Nat King Cole, Lena Horne, Barbra Streisand, Bing Crosby, John Wayne, Lucille Ball, Marilyn Monroe, Yma Sumac, Ray Charles, and The Supremes were some of the many entertainers who attended and performed at the Cocoanut Grove.

The hotel was the site of the assassination of United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy on June 5, 1968. Due to the decline of the hotel and the surrounding area, the Ambassador Hotel was closed to guests in 1989. In 2001, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) purchased the property with the intent of constructing three new schools within the area. After subsequent litigations to preserve the hotel as a historic site, a settlement allowed the Ambassador Hotel to be demolished in 2005, completed by early 2006.

  1. ^ "Nineteen-Twenty in Retrospect". The Hotel World: The Hotel and Travelers Journal. 92: 11. 1921.
  2. ^ "The Ambassador Hotel". seeing-stars.com. Gary Wayne. Retrieved September 4, 2019.
  3. ^ Not stated. "Ambassador Hotel (Demolished)". laconservancy.com. The Los Angeles Conservancy. Retrieved January 21, 2019.