These days, it’s unlikely that you’d find a big-city hotel with so much lawn around it—land is too valuable! But back in the early 1920s, when the Ambassador Hotel was being built on Wilshire Blvd (between Mariposa and Catalina, it officially opened on January 1, 1921) empty land so far away from downtown .LA was plentiful. So why not set it back from the boulevard and give it a vast lawns around it? All this grass gave the hotel a sense of space and a resort type feel, which contrasted with the other luxury hotel, the Biltmore, which was smack-dab in the heart of downtown.
**UPDATE** – Someone on my Facebook page suggested the bottom sign says “SALUTE TO GEORGE GERSHWIN” which might date the photo to circa 1937, the year Gershwin died (on July 11, after surgery for his brain tumor.)
The structures on the front appear to be the frameworks for signs that lit up at night. The top one looks to be for the Coconut Grove. The bottom line on the lower sign appears to say George Gershwin, but can’t make out the top line. This is interesting since I can find no mention of Gershwin ever appearing at the hotel. Michael Feinstein tells a story about George and Ira Gershwin going to a talent contest at the Grove in 1937, a year after George moved to Los Angeles. They saw a young woman sing there who was totally unknown to them, by the name of Judy Garland. Two months later George died. So I’m wondering if this sign was some sort of memoriam or advertising some sort of memorial show for Gershwin, which might date the photo to sometime around late 1937-38. But that is just conjecture in my part.
Maybe “SALUTE TO GEORGE GERSHWIN”?
I was trying to figure it out but couldn’t. You would probably be good on the Wheel of Fortune.
Ah! Thank you!
It truly must have been a wonderful hotel and wow what I wouldn’t give to go back in time and go into the Coconut Grove. Class all the way around!!!