Ambassador wake (sniff!)

January 18, 1921: The Ambassador Hotel opens with a ball, with LA's top society figures and Hollywood elite dancing at the Cocoanut Grove.

January 16, 2006: The Ambassador Hotel's destruction is complete. The Cocoanut Grove remains, to be retooled by the LAUSD, which will build a school on the site.

February 2, 2006: The Ambassador Hotel wake. The brainchild of the people behind the Ambassador's Last Stand, folks at the LA Conservancy and the help of a company called the Spin Shoppe, the wake is being held at The Bounty, a bar right across Wilshire from the Ambassador site. Reservations are required; call 310-858-2224 to make yours. We'll be there. Wearing black.