Hollywood Knickerbocker Hotel facts for kids
The Hollywood Knickerbocker Apartments, formerly the Hollywood Knickerbocker Hotel, is a historic former hotel, now a retirement home, located at 1714 Ivar Avenue in Los Angeles, California.
History
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Designed in 1923 by architect E.M. Frasier in the Spanish Colonial Revival style, the building was built as the Security Apartments, but never opened. It was finally completed in 1929 and rechristened the Hollywood Knickerbocker Hotel in June 1929.
The hotel catered to the region's nascent film industry, and is the site for some of Hollywood’s most famous dramatic moments. On Halloween 1936, Harry Houdini's widow held her tenth séance to contact the magician on the roof of the hotel. On January 13, 1943, Frances Farmer was arrested in her room at the hotel after failing to visit her probation officer when scheduled. On July 23, 1948, filmmaker D. W. Griffith died of a cerebral hemorrhage on the way to a Hollywood hospital, after being discovered unconscious in the lobby of the hotel. Contrary to popular belief, Rudolf Valentino was not a regular at the bar, as the hotel opened after his death in 1926.
The hotel retained its glamor through the 1950s. Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio often met in the hotel bar. On December 1, 1954, a camera crew from the NBC program This is Your Life surprised retired comedy legends Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy in room 205 of the hotel. The duo was relaxing there with a couple of friends who were in on the gag. While both comedians were polite throughout the show, Stan Laurel was apparently privately somewhat displeased to be put on television without his consent or prior notice. Elvis Presley stayed at the hotel (Room 1016) while making his first film, Love Me Tender (1956).
On March 3, 1966, veteran character actor William Frawley was strolling down Hollywood Boulevard after seeing a film when he suffered a major heart attack. His nurse dragged him to the hotel where he died in the lobby. Contrary to popular belief, Frawley did not live in the hotel at the time. Although Frawley had spent nearly 30 years living in a suite upstairs, he had moved to the nearby El Royale Apartments several months before.
In 1968, Graham Nash was staying there the day Cass Elliot picked him up to go meet Stephen Stills and David Crosby.
In 1970, a renovation project converted the hotel into housing for senior citizens. In 1999, a plaque honoring Griffith was placed in the lobby.
