Holiday Inn Signage Comes Down in South Park
Eric Richardson
[Flickr]
Workers remove the 'd' from the Holiday Inn sign atop what will now be the Luxe City Center hotel.
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Holiday Inn's rebranding to the Luxe City Center moved one very visible step closer today as a small crew from San Diego-based Ultrasigns spent the day removing the building's large west-facing neon sign.
The move is part of a multi-million dollar renovation to the 1964 structure. A floor-by-floor upgrade is currently ongoing inside, the result of which will be a trendy boutique with 200 rooms. Work is expected to be completed in June.
Operator Luxe Hotels recently sent out a press release saying that the redo will give the property an "upscale urban residential atmosphere with a touch of elegant old silver screen."
The hotel is across the street from the $2.5-billion L.A. Live entertainment complex, where a 878-room JW Marriott and a 123-room Ritz-Carlton recently opened.
The Luxe is only the hotel's third "flag," or brand, in its 56-year history. It opened in 1964 as the Doric Dinkler Hotel, and was purchased in 1967 by Holiday Inn. The building is now owned by Emerik Hotel Corp.
Guest on April 20, 2010, at 09:06AM – #1
Will they add any signage to the hotel?
Eric Richardson (@blogdowntown) on April 20, 2010, at 09:13AM – #2
Guest: You would assume they would. I wouldn't be surprised to see signage show up there in the next few days.
JDRCRASHER on April 21, 2010, at 04:26PM – #3
The main part of this building is 40 feet away from Figueroa.....how will this renovation possibly "give the property an upscale urban residential atmosphere with a touch of elegant old silver screen."...?
Guest on April 22, 2010, at 06:19PM – #4
I am thinking that awesome , vintage, Holiday Inn neon sign should be preserved in a sign museum. It is a piece of classic Roadside Americana that is disappearing from our landscape at an incredible pace. I sent a request to Ultrasigns,regarding such, with no response.
Steven on May 31, 2010, at 01:42AM – #5
It seems ironic to me that they would be taking down the Holiday Inn sign which will now be across from the most ugly building in downtown Los Angeles. What were they thinking when they put the different colored glass panes on a tall, dull, uninspired building. (Take a lesson from Steve Wynn ... FIX IT FAST!) It looks better at night with the light strip. I would favor the Ritz and JW Marriott be draped in an advertising billboard that changes each month. How did the city let this get built and with the CRLA and its art department involved ... what the hell happened? Ugly, ugly, ugly ... is there some other place in this blog for this topic?