Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles)

The Ambassador Hotel was a hotel in Los Angeles, California. Designed by architect Myron Hunt, the hotel formally opened to the public on January 1, 1921. 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; and host to six Oscar ceremonies and to every United States president from Herbert Hoover to Richard Nixon. Prominent figures in the entertainment community visited and/or 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 Ambassador Hotel and the surrounding area, the 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 litigation to preserve the hotel as a historic site, a settlement allowed demolition of the Ambassador Hotel to begin in 2005; it was completed in early 2006.





== Background ==



Located at 3400 Wilshire Boulevard, between Catalina Street and Mariposa Avenue in present-day Koreatown, The Ambassador was set back from Wilshire Boulevard on 24 acres, which included the main hotel structure, a garage and numerous detached bungalows.