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Supt. Roy Romer's plan for razing nearly all of the historic Ambassador Hotel on Wilshire Boulevard squeaked through the school board on a 4-3 vote. In its place will be built a high school and elementary school for 4,200 students. Romer has warned that the crash program of school construction coming in the next few years will alter the face of Los Angeles, but this will be one of the most painful losses. In the Times story, Ken Bernstein of the L.A. Conservancy told the board that residents "would surely never forget the demolition of the Ambassador" nor "the elected officials who sent in the wrecking ball." Actually a lot of residents probably never knew the Ambassador, but it is hard to picture Wilshire Boulevard without the hotel's expansive grounds and looming memories. (And you have to wonder how office tenants and traffic in mid-Wilshire will coexist with a few thousand kids milling on the sidewalk every afternoon around 3.)
After the jump: A rare photo (found on the Los Angeles Public Library site) of the long-vanished Los Angeles Horse Show Auditorium originally on the Ambassador's grounds.
Movies filmed at the Ambassador
Previously:
Some observations on the Ambassador
RFK kids: Level the Ambassador
Clock ticking on the Ambassador
Hotel California: More true than they know
Larry Mantle meets Eloise at the Ambassador
