Mardi Gras + Super Tuesday = Drinks with LAist @ Seven Grand tonight. SUPER TUESDAY DRINKS WITH LAist It’s Super Tuesday and Mardi Gras. What other reason do you need to celebrate with LAist? Come to Seven Grand tonight to watch election returns. (Who knew that primaries would be this exciting?) You never know…people may start flashing for beads after a few Glenlivets. For questions or to RSVP: events@laist.com (Note: Seven Grand is a......

Built in 1921, famous for its celeb/political/royal visitors and the six academy award shows, the Ambassador Hotel's Coconut Grove nightclub is a Los Angeles landmark officially slated for destruction (most of it at least) on January 22nd, compliments of the Los Angeles Unified School District. The battle was long-fought, even involving Donald Trump at one point, but in the end, a $4-million settlement by LAUSD paved way for a new 4,200-student K-12 campus on the......

It's the end of another year and LA has lost yet another handful of important buildings. LA Weekly has the goods on the "big ones" that were lost this year including the Ambassador Hotel and Cocoanut Grove, Trader Vic's, Johnie's Broiler, Mann National Theatre and our personal vote for deepest loss of the year, Tail o' the Pup. It seems we're not the only ones who mourn the loss of our favorite hot dog......

The Cocoanut Grove at the Ambassador Hotel was the place to go for live entertainment in Los Angeles. Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Judy Garland, Sammy Davis Jr., and Merv Griffin were among the many legends to perform there. This weekend Pink Martini will recreate the nightclub's magic at The Hollywood Bowl. Merv Griffin was to have performed at these concerts. Now the evening will include a tribute to him. The one and only Carol......

If one were to name an LA blogging power-couple, LAist would look no further than Franklin Avenue's Mike and Maria. Just over the last few months the pair led a 15+ mile walk down the entirety of Wilshire Blvd., Maria was nominated for a Grammy, they've continued their food blog Rate a Restaurant, as well as kept us up-to-date on the very sad demise of the Ambassador Hotel. This morning we join them in bidding......

Apparently, no one told Scott Michaels not to play with dead things. Especially celebrities. For the past decade Scott has made a most unusual career out of the stories, death locations, and objects of celebrities who have sauntered off to that great Swifty Lazar after party in the sky. He started with a small business selling celebrity curious (he owns a brick from the Manson Murders a piece of the Hindenburg and a John......

- Just like the old days, tonight on the Late Show with David Letterman, Kramer will burst into Jerry Seinfeld's spotlight and apologize for his racist remarks. Word is Richards doesn't apologize any better than he delivers stand-up. Kyle Doss and the other African Americans who were at the Laugh Factory show on Friday probably won't be satisfied - Defamer - UPDATE: CBS News has posted a clip of the interview on their site......

When the Ambassador Hotel was knocked down, parts of its pantry went into storage. The pantry, of course, is where Robert F. Kennedy was mortally wounded after speaking to supporters in the hotel's ballroom; he'd just won the 1968 California Democratic primary. Now the LA Times catches up with 29 items, socked away in storage. There's a cabinet door. There are some fixtures. There's a table. But there's not actually a pantry anymore, even......

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......

As the Ambassador Hotel has been ignominiously knocked down, we've been following its last days on Ambassador's Last Stand. Well, it's over, kids. Yesterday, as we were overtaken by Golden Globe Fever, ALS announced that the rest of the hotel was gone. Only the Cocoanut Grove remains: the LAUSD has plans for it — it's going to be an atrium or a library. (We can't find the current plan online, but we admit, our......

Eric Lynxwiler is the Indiana Jones of Los Angeles. He braves hostile bureaucrats, crumbling building sites and dangerous junkyards to ferret out Los Angeles's lost treasures. Characterizing himself as an "urban anthropologist," Eric shares his knowledge of the city's past with those lucky enough to get a seat on one of his Museum of Neon Art’s Neon Cruises, a nighttime open-air bus tour of LA neon signs. Eric's latest research project is the book,......

An overlooked LA landmark: Bob Hanifen visits Santa Monica's Camera Obscura for Gridskipper. We didn't know exactly what a Camera Obscura was, but he explains. It's pretty cool. A disappearing LA landmark: Franklin Avenue has new shots of the continued destruction of the Ambassador Hotel. We just walk by and cringe, but they know what was where. The (historically important) kitchen seems to be open to the elements. A wishful thinking LA landmark: A......

Today in Traffic: The Gilroy Dispatch came south for Thanksgiving and took record of the trip in the ride; new lamps in Hollywood; Brad Sherman got a little money for the Valley's traffic goals last week; and, a future with a west side subway is still a possibility. Tookie Watch: Michael Ackley takes issue with the media. Earl Ofari Hutchinson writes his 4th or 5th editorial in a week urging clemency. - Franklin Avenue......

While we are madly in love with LA, we do have a little crush on New York. So when this week’s copy of the New Yorker arrived, we were thrilled to find a piece by Dana Goodyear on LA’s own Ambassador Hotel and one of its pioneering architects, Paul R.Williams. The hotel, which closed in 1989, has been the subject of a massive financial, cultural and ethical tug-of-war between the LAUSD, who own the......

Once again the Los Angeles Unified School District has displayed a lousy vision for educating Los Angeles youth and managing the historic resources under their stewardship. After years of uncertainty and discussions between LAUSD, developers, and preservation advocates, yesterday’s 4-3 vote in favor of Superintendent Roy Romer’s plan made it official — most of the Ambassador Hotel will face the wrecking ball within a few years. It was clear that the Board members had......

If the Los Angeles Unified School District has its way, the historic Ambassador Hotel will soon be reduced to little more than a reconstructed facade after being demolished to make way for a badly needed school (badly needed due to the LAUSD's bungling attempt to build the Belmont Learning Center on a toxic waste site). Historic preservationists are understandably upset as, once again, Los Angeles prepares to raze its cultural heritage in the name......