Ca. 1959. Postcard image by Colourphoto, Boston
Located at 3400 Wilshire Boulevard in the Los Angeles Mid-Wilshire District, the hotel opened in 1921 and hosted the ceremonies of the Academy Awards six times between 1930 and 1943. Guests included U.S. presidents, foreign heads of state. For decades, the frequent appearance of entertainments and Hollywood stars at the hotel’s Cocoanut Grove nightclub made it one of the most glamourous nightspots in the nation. Just after midnight on June 5, 1968, after giving his California primary victory speech in the hotel ballroom, U.S. Attorney General and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was shot while leaving through the hotel pantry. He died the following day.
From that time forward, the hotel went into decline and finally stopped taking guests in 1989. The hotel and nightclub, however, as it had before, continued to serve as a popular location for filmmaking.
The Los Angeles Unified School District ultimately came into possession of the property and, in 2006, after auctioning off the hotel’s remaining fixtures, completed demolition of all but the hotel entrance and one wall of the Cocoanut Grove. Two learning centers and a park now exist on the site.
Also see other postcard images of the hotel at Greetings from Los Angeles - Wilshire Boulevard.
