Almira Hershey, owner of the Hollywood Hotel which used to stand on the corner of Hollywood and Highland, also built the first hotel on Wilshire Boulevard, the Hershey Arms Hotel, which opened in 1902. It stook at 2600 Wilshire which put it two blocks west of MacArthur Park. It was a huge place covering the whole block from Rampart Blvd to Coronado St and stood until 1956 when it was demolished for an—ugh!—insurance building.
I’ve driven by the insurance building so many times to visit my good friends Bob and Frieda who lived on Coronado and had no idea a big hotel once sat there. I wish I could ask them about it. Bob was a waiter in Beverly Hills and had a million stories. Still miss them both.
Thanks for posting this, Martin.
Jean
Why was this beautiful historic building demolished? Did it go downhill? An earthquake? How was this even allowed? Equally as bad, why was the present building allowed to be built? It was ugly even by the standards back then. How horrible.
Like a lot of buildings of this era, it fell into neglect and decrepitude. Those Victorians required a lot of upkeep, which most people aren’t prepared to do. Also, I’m sure the Northridge earthquake did it no favors.