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PHOTOS: Inside LA's Wilshire Grand Hotel during demolition
After 60 years of service, the Wilshire Grand Hotel will be demolished in the next year to make way for a new Wilshire Grand hotel and office tower. Some hotel rooms still have furniture, lamps, mirrors, and ironing boards left inside.
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The LAPD had access to the 14th floor during demolition to practice exploding doors open. After reconstruction, the hotel will be the tallest skyscraper west of the Mississippi river.
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A ground floor entrance area stores debris from the rest of the 16-story building. The demolition is set to take one year.
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The Wilshire Grand outdoor pool is used to hold debris from each floor. The $1 billion project is set to finish in 2017.
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Demolition crews take down walls separating each hotel room by driving machinery across each floor.
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The old Wilshire Grand Hotel served guests for 60 years, after opening in August 1952 as the Los Angeles Statler. The hotel was later known as the Statler Hilton, and the Omni Los Angeles.
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More than $4 million is being saved through recycling materials from the old Wilshire Grand hotel.
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Remnants from practice explosions by the LAPD remain on the 14th floor.
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Mirrors decorating elevators on the 15th floor are still left through the deconstruction.
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The Wilshire Grand Hotel had a $2 million liquidation sale that concluded during the summer. The sale included flat-screen televisions, china and glassware, and building fixtures, among other items.
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The walls separating rooms and hallways have been taken out on the 15th floor.
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Crews have begun demolition of the 60-year-old Wilshire Grand Hotel; they're clearing space for a new hotel and office tower. Here's your chance to take one last look inside the historic hotel.
During the past three weeks more than 150 workers have cleared out 1,275 hotel rooms and other spaces. Eventually, hundreds of workers will take part in the demolition each day.
The Los Angeles Statler, which came to be known as the Statler Hilton, the Omni Los Angeles, and eventually the Wilshire Grand, first opened to guests at noon on August 6, 1952 with 1,275 rooms. Shortly after opening, the hotel hosted the 1952 Emmy Awards. It later housed the 1966 NAACP convention.
The Wilshire Grand will be taken apart piece-by-piece with cranes through October 2013. The new 65-floor office building will be the tallest skyscraper in the West Coast, at 1,250 feet.
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