Hotels

6160-6162 Hollywood Boulevard: Hotel Regent

jhgraham Eating and Drinking, Hollywood Boulevard Tags: , , ,

LA Times 9/14/1924.

Many hotel projects proposed for Hollywood Boulevard in the 1920s were much hyped but never built- for example the Brokaw property, the Bartlett property, and the Shippee property. The Regent Hotel, on the south side of Hollywood Boulevard in the midst of Auto Row between El Centro and Argyle, did get built. It came along without fanfare, announced in the LA Times in September 1924.

Designed by architects Meyer and Holler, the 85-room, 4-story plus penthouse structure was built for the Christie brothers, who had a realty business as well as a film studio. the hotel rose on the site of a former orange orchard where the Nestor Film Company– with Al Christie, manager, had made some of the earliest motion pictures in Hollywood.

The Regent had its gala grand opening on April 29, 1925. A notable feature was that each room had a radio; connected to a central operating system at the room clerk’s desk, they could pick up local programs.

Hollywood Daily Citizen 4/29/1925.

Hollywood Daily Citizen 4/29/1925.

Photograph of Hollywood Boulevard featuring the Hotel Regent c.1932. LAPL photo.

Hollywood Daily Citizen 6/25/1925.

With its proximity to the early Hollywood movie studios, the Regent Hotel became popular with theatrical folk- as local papers would later put it- either on their way up or on their way down. It had become rather shabby by  November 1949, when it was purchased by Ethel McCord Nelson and her son John McCord. McCord remodeled the hotel and renamed it the Hotel Gentry.

Ethel McCord owned the Hastings Hotel in Minneapolis at this time. As she was taking on the former Hotel Regent in Hollywood, Ethel also faced federal tax evasion charges back in Minnesota for the years 1940-1945. She was convicted in 1950 and was to have done a prison term but in December 1950, the sentence was changed to a fine and 5 years probation. She married Paul A. Nelson in Minneapolis in June 1950.

While cleaning, Ethel found an Oscar in a closet; the statuette had no identifying information on it, nor could McCord trace the owner through the hotel records, as she could not later recall which room she had found it in.

Hollywood Citizen News 2/25/1950.

The hotel remained the Hotel Gentry into September 1954. In October 1954, it was taken over by Irene Vermillion Dart and her husband Kermit Dart and renamed the Hotel Vermillion.

Hollywood Citizen News 10/5/1954.

Hollywood Citizen News 9/26/1958.

The Darts were something of a real life Fred and Ethel Mertz, retired Vaudevillians managing an apartment house. Irene, as Irene Vermillion, was a stage dancer; Kermit was a musician. The two continued to perform occasionally even after becoming landlords.

Irene Vermillion (center). The LA Record 2/28/1932.

Irene Vermillion and Kermit Dart appearing in a nightclub act. San Pedro News Pilot 11/11/1949.

The hotel remained the Hotel Vermillion until August 1959, when Ethel McCord Nelson took it over again, renaming it the Hotel Hastings.

Now offering TV and radio. Hollywood Citizen News 8/12/1959.

The Hotel Hastings was the name of the hotel in Minneapolis that Ethel had managed from 1936 to 1943, when she purchased it from the Arthur Roberts Hotel Company. She sold the Minneapolis Hastings in late May-early June 1959.

Postcard view of the Hotel Hastings in Minneapolis.

Ethel McCord managed the Hotel Hastings and The Parkway in Minneapolis. She married Edward R. Johnson in 1937; they divorced in May 1940. Minneapolis Star Journal 6/23/1940.

Eating and Drinking here

The hotel’s first restaurant opened shortly after the hotel itself, in June 1925 as the Hotel Regent Restaurant.

Hollywood Daily Citizen 6/19/1925.

On March 24, 1927, ex-boxer / dentist Leach Cross opened a namesake cafe, the “Leach Cross Cafe” in the hotel’s ground floor retain space, addressed as 6160 Hollywood Boulevard.

Hollywood Daily Citizens 3/24/1927.

Like most such Leach Cross ventures, the cafe was short lived.

On March 9, 1928, 616o Hollywood Boulevard opened as McHuron’s Grill with almost as much fanfare as the opening of the hotel itself.

Hollywood Citizen News 3/8/1929.

Hollywood Daily Citizen 3/8/1928.

Hollywood Daily Citizen 3/8/1928.

Hollywood Daily Citizen 3/8/1928.

McHuron’s Grill was founded by Loren A. McHuron and Charles Eaton. Both had been previously affiliated with the Paulais Cafe at Hollywood Boulevard and Las Palmas. The grill featured a German chef. The specialty of the house became a dish called “Toad in the Hole,” which McHuron’s claimed had originated there, and that it had a copyright. It was an old English specialty, so this is questionable. There are many varied recipes for Toad in the Hole- typically it involves a clump of sausages grilled with an egg in the center. So famed was the cafe for this dish that by the early 1930s, “Toad in the Hole” featured prominently in the grill’s print advertising as well as a neon vertical sign on the outside of the building.

Hollywood Daily Citizen 6/30/1928.

Hollywood Citizen News 4/21/1932.

Hollywood Citizen News 8/3/1932.

Hollywood Citizen News 2/11/1933.

Hollywood Citizen News 10/27/1934.

Charles Eaton left the partnership in 1935 to found his own namesake Easton’s chain of restaurants. L. A. McHuron carried on with the grill until 1940. The equipment and fixtures were sold at auction in July 1940. McHuron died in 1941.

LA Times 6/30/1940.

In 1952, Joe’s Cuba Club operated in the former grill space, serving Italian dinners in addition to American fare.

Hollywood Citizen News 4/24/1952.

The Hotel Gentry also still had a hotel dining room.

Hollywood Citizen News 8/17/1954.

During its time as the Hotel Vermillion, the hotel dining room became the Dart-Inn Room, with a twin organ bar. Kermit Dart was a talented organist.

Hollywood Citizen News 12/4/1954.

In 1959, the grill space became the Cart Inn, offering German, Irish and Italian fare. The chef had been there during McHuron’s time, so likely Toad in the Hole could be ordered off-menu.

Hollywood Citizen News 11/7/1959.

In 1962, it was a wine bar called The Tender Grape.

Hollywood Citizen News 6/12/1962.

In 1964, the Hollywood USO moved into 6160 fro mthe Pantages Theater building, on what was supposed to be a “temporary” basis that lasted into the 1970s.

The hotel remained the Hotel Hastings into 1993. The building was demolished in 1994.

Toad in the Hole

5956 Hollywood Boulevard: Mountain View Inn

jhgraham Hollywood Boulevard, Hotels Tags: , 4 Comments

 

The Mountain View inn was a three-story wood-framed Shingle style hotel located on Hollywood Boulevard for 25 years. It was built on land acquired from John B. and Ida Brokaw, whose ranch home was across the street, on what was called the Brokaw Tract No. 2.

Investor Leon P. Bishop of Utica New York owned the land and had the 25-room hotel built in 1906.

Hollywood Boulevard was then known as Prospect Avenue. Brokaw Place was an alley just west of the Mountain View Inn that connected Hollywood Boulevard and Carlton Way. LA Times 9/5/1906

Originally addressed as 620 E. Prospect Avenue,  the hotel was leased to Benjamin Fowler and his wife Louise, formerly of Redlands. It opened in 1907.

LA Times 5/31/1907.

 

The Mountain View Inn. California State Library image.

 

Rates started at $10 a week in 1908. It had steam heat, a telephone and croquet grounds. LA Times 2/2/1908

Benjamin Fowler died in October 1911 at age 69. His wife, Louise Ely Fowler continued to run the hotel with the assistance of the couple’s married daughter, Mabel Foster, through April 1925.

A fire in March 1912 destroyed the second and third floors; no one was injured. The Mountain View Inn was quickly rebuilt and reopened for business in May 1912.

Fire. LA Express 3/14/1912.

 

“Recently opened” here meant re-opened after the fire. Hollywood Citizen 5/24/1912

 

The Mountain View Inn parcel in 1913. Detail from a Sanborn Fire Insurance map. Library of Congress.

 

LA Times 2/21/1915

Some of the earliest residents were actors from David Horsley’s Nestor Studios, established in 1911 at Sunset and Gower; it would also be convenient to the old Warner studio at Sunset and Bronson.

Hollywood Citizen 6/11/1920

 

Hollywood Citizen 4/29/1921

 

Hollywood Daily Citizen 11/22/1921

 

The Mountain View Inn can be seen c. 1937 across the street from the Palms Grill at 5831 Hollywood Boulevard. LAPL photo.

The Mountain View Inn remained a residence up until the end. Veteran actress Augustine B. Mudge was still living here at the time of her death, in April 1952, at age 79.

The building was demolished on July 10, 1952. The adjacent Gordon Warren Chevrolet dealership at 5950 used the space to expand their car lot.

Hollywood Citizen News 7/10/1952

Hollywood Citizen News 7/10/1952

 

5533 Hollywood Boulevard: The St. Francis Apartment Hotel

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The St. Francis Apartment Hotel opened at 5533 Hollywood Boulevard at the northeast corner of Hollywood Boulevard, a little ways west of Western Avenue, on August 15, 1928.

LA Times 8/22/1926.

LA Times 8/8/1926.

The owner, Hollywood Income Properties, represented by George Marcell, applied for a permit to construct the hotel in July 1926. In August 1926, the Times reported that the foundation had been completed, and that work on the structural steel frame was to begin. It was to be known as the Weston Apartments for owner of the parcels it stood on, Harold Weston, and would be completed about February 1, 1927. February came and went, however. In April 1927, the Weston was said to be nearing completion and set to open around May 1, 1927. That date, too, passed. In July 1927, the Times reported that the property was now the property of the Hollywood-Roosevelt Properties Corp (George Marcell, Secretary-Treasurer). Now known as the “Hollywood Apartment Hotel,” it would reportedly be ready about August 15.

It did open on August 15- but it was August 15, 1928 not August 15, 1927. In the meantime, in July 1928 the Times reported that the recently completed apartment hotel, now renamed the St. Francis, as well as the underlying land it stood on, had recently been sold to the Hollywood Securities Corp., James Long Wright, president, for $850,000.

LA Times 7/29/1928.

Finally, the 5-story, brick-veneer apartment-hotel, designed by architect William Allen, did hold its grand opening, with an open house and the now-usual light display by Otto K. Olesen.

Hollywood Daily Citizen 8/14/1928

Hollywood Citizen News 8/14/1928.

Hollywood Citizen News 8/14/1928

The hotel’s official garage was located across the street at 5502 Hollywood Boulevard. Hollywood Daily News 8/14/1928

Map of recent development in the Hollywood & Western area, including the Rector Hotel (1924, owned by United Cigar Stores Corp) and the Hollywood-Western Building (1928). Hollywood Daily News 8/14/1928.

Hollywood Daily Citizen 12/7/1928

The hotel restaurant, the St. Francis Cafe, was addressed as 5535 Hollywood Boulevard. It has its own entrance from the street, as well as one from the lobby.

LA Daily News 4/19/1938

Hollywood Citizen News 5/13/1939

Hollywood Citizen New 4/17/1948

On May 15, 1951, it became the short-lived Hagen’s Restaurant. The cafe space was converted to other uses not long after this.

Hollywood Citizen News 5/14/1951

 

The St. Francis in the 1960s. LAPL photo.

The apartment-hotel is still extant. It is now known as the Gershwin.

5447 Hollywood Boulevard: Hotel Rector

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Located on the northeast corner of Hollywood and Western, the Hotel Rector held its gala grand opening on the night of October 4, 1924, at the same time as the Hollywood Guaranty Building down the street at 6331. An electrical display, “the Aurora Borealis,” supplied by Otto K. Olsen for both buildings lit the Hollywood sky to mark the occasion.

Hollywood Citizen News 10/6/1924

The new Hotel Rector. Hollywood Citizen News 10/3/1924

The 4-story brick structure was designed by architects Walker & Eisen for the leaseholder: the realty development department of the United Cigar Stores corporation. The ground it stood on was owned by a wealth widow, Delia Nadeau of Butte, Montana (who died in 1927). When people got hold of land in Los Angeles, they almost never sold it. Rather, they would issue long term leases on the property. If the leaseholder ever defaulted, any improvements made to the property reverted to the owner of the underlying ground. When the term “sold” was used in relation to real estate transactions, it usually really meant that the building itself, with its attendant lease, changed hands, not the underlying land. Heirs whose relatives didn’t sell off their land to pay for their gambling habits (thanks a lot, Grandpa Bob) lived off the profits of these long-ago leases for decades.

Like most large hotels of the era, it had retail shops on the ground floor. Some of the original tenants were the Rector Pharmacy, the Rector Bootery shoe store at 5461 and the Rector Master Tailor at 5459. The hotel itself was usually addressed as 5447; it was sometimes known as 5455.

 

Announcing new management of the Hotel Rector five months after it opened. Hollywood Citizen News 3/7/1925.

 

The 5400 block of Hollywood Boulevard looking west. The LA Public Library dates this photo to c. 1935.

The Hotel Rector saw Hollywood’s rise and its subsequent decline beginning in the late 1960s. Never a luxury accommodation but was a decent mid-level tourist hotel for most of that time, the Rector became a single-room occupancy (SRO) residence. It closed in the late 1980s, supposedly due to damage from the Whittier Earthquake (1987). With vacant or boarded-up structures, the corner of Hollywood and Western was increasingly known for rampant crime- mostly drugs and prostitution.

LA Times 9/6/1990

In September 1990, the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) gave developer Ira Smedra $5.1 million in loans and other funding to redevelop the 3-plus acre Hotel Rector property as mixed-use retail and low-income senior housing complex to be known as the Hollywest Promenade and the Hollyview Apartments. Smedra was supposed to secure the remaining funds needed by 1992 or begin paying 10% interest. Most of the money went toward acquiring the property. In September 1992, with the funding to build the project still unsecured, the CRA, which had extended Smedra’s funding deadline (without charging interest), approved Smedra’s request to demolish the Hotel Rector, on the basis that he would have a better chance of getting bank loans if the parcel was vacant. Some CRA board members questioned whether the senior housing was even a good idea- would seniors even want to live in such a crime-ridden area? They seem to have forgotten that the redevelopment was supposed to rid the area of said crime, but whatever.

The Hotel Rector was demolished in July 1993.

LA Times 5/8/2001

In March 1996, the CRA granted Smedra a sixth extension on the terms of his loan (no interest paid). The corner of Hollywood and Western continued to decline, with more boarded-up structures as a result of the Northridge Earthquake. As of February 1998 the parcel remained vacant. Construction on the retail portion of the project finally got underway around late 1999. In May 2001, still only partly completed, Smedra requested another $37 million for the senior housing portion of the complex, which was used as a scapegoat for the lack of progress. The senior housing opened in October 2003. The CRA purchased the project upon its eventual completion and turned the housing wing over to a nonprofit Retirement Housing Foundation.

The Hollywood Boulevard facade of the Hotel Rector property today. Google map image.

 

 

 

Welcome to Los Angeles, 1926

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26-lightenedRED JADE, my first Avery Shepard novel, takes place in and around Los Angeles in late 1926. Modern day time travelers might need to orient themselves if they were to visit that world, for the Los Angeles of “then” has some notable differences to “now.” Continue reading →

Jack Dempsey

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jack_dempsey_1926

He started as the “Manassa Mauler” and became the Heavyweight Champion of the World- but for a little while, in the mid 1920s, Los Angles could claim Jack Dempsey as one of its own. Local fight fan gathered around their radios listened in disbelief on September 23, 1926 when the Champ lost his title to Gene Tunney in Philadelphia. Continue reading →