Once upon a time, there was a hallowed and legendary hotel known as the Garden of Allah. In its heyday, it played host to a who’s who of Hollywood luminaries, but by the 1950s, it had fallen into disrepair. Financier, Bart Lytton, bought it and promptly tore it down to construct the building we see in this 1960 photo. We’re looking east along Sunset Blvd toward the zigzag-roofed Lytton Savings and Loan building at the intersection of Havenhurst Dr. That building was home to several banking companies until it was torn down in April 2021. I do like how the roof line of neighboring Plush Pup hotdog stand mirrors Lytton’s zigzag.
This is roughly that same angle in November 2023.
OHH! Pinches Taco is in the original building. They just changed the roofline.
I visited LA with parents as a kid in the 70’s and then in 1992. We ate at the McDonalds that used to be in that mall. I lived really close to this area in 2007. Never knew about that hotel until I found your work. Sad it was torn down, it looks like it was incredible.
I look forward to your newsletter every day. Thank you!
And thank YOU, Gina!
Martin, since the building that was fought over for years and years to be constructed there is now kaput and it’s currently just a vacant lot, why don’t you start a Go Fund Me page to rebuild the Garden of Allah?
You’re right! Now’s the time!!!
Pandora’s Box, still a jazz venue at this time, is visible to the left of Lytton at 8118 Sunset Blvd. in that island triangle.
Thanks for pointing that out.
From 1971 to 2005 the building that was the “Plush Pup” became the Dudley Do-Right Emporium operated by Jay Ward, creator of the “Rocky & Bullwinkle Show.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dudley_Do-Right_Emporium