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Wilshire Grand, Destined for Demolition, Holding "largest garage sale Los Angeles has ever seen"

hotel-statler-postcard.jpg
The Wilshire Grand, once the Hotel Statler, is being liquidated (Vintage postcard)

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The Wilshire Grand Hotel closed its doors for good at the end of December, but before the walls come tumbling down to make way for a swanky high rise, all of the facility's furnishings are up for grabs.In what a liquidation representative is calling "the largest garage sale Los Angeles has ever seen,” the Downtown hotel is getting rid of just about everything from the property, according to CBS2.

The Wilshire Grand first opened in 1952 as the Hotel Statler, and had been at the time of its planning, the recipient of the largest single building permit the city had ever issued, at $15 million.

What's left inside now is worth about $2 million. On Thursday, the doors will open to the public again for a massive liquidation sale, where everything from pianos to televisions, fitness equipment, commercial kitchen appliances, linens and more are going to be up for sale. Some of the stuff from the 900 rooms dates back to 1952.

"Every piece is priced at about 25 to 30 percent off retail. But no haggling will be allowed, just buyers interested in a grand opportunity," notes CBS2.

The sale gets underway Thursday morning at 9, and will run until there's nothing left.

In the Wilshire Grand's place will be a 45-story hotel slated to open in 2015.

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