Wilshire Grand Hotel Closes Doors Forever Just Shy of 60th Birthday
Tony Pierce / KPCC
Wilshire Grand hotel on Dec. 20, 2011, days before its closing
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — The heavy, gold-rimmed doors are closing forever at the Wilshire Grand Hotel in Downtown, and everything from the retro phone booths to the light fixtures are being sorted, counted and prepped for liquidators.
Once the hotel is officially closed the staff will have their holiday party, where they will get the chance to imbibe in some remaining goods, including a $2000 bottle of brandy left over from one of the bars.
The last hotel guests will stay the night of Dec. 22 and the last day of business will be Dec. 23.
The enormous hotel that opened in 1952, has slowly been scaling back in preparation for the close. The four, once-grandiose ballrooms and 44 smaller conference rooms are now eerily empty or quickly filling with stacks of mattresses, bath towels and chairs that were cleaned out from the closed rooms.
Only three floors of the hotel remain open in its final days, and the remainder are being foraged for liquidation.
However City Grill, one of the few hotel restaurants that remained open, was bustling at lunch time last week with holiday parties and office celebrations.
Opened as the Statler Hotel, the Wilshire Grand is currently owned by Korean Airlines (earmarked by the company's storefront next door to the hotel.)
"We have more problems than we have solutions, engineering-wise with the building," said Marc Loge, director of media relations at the hotel.
Actual guest numbers have stayed high in recent years, Loge said, adding that hotels are 1 of 5 top businesses that are still hiring.
Loge cited the hotel's lack of central air as it's central reason for demolishment instead of renovation. The almost 60-year-old hotel would need a complete, and expensive, installation of air to all the rooms. Instead, the Wilshire Grand will be torn down and two new towers, and office and a hotel, will be erected in its place.
There wont be a cinematic explosion as the hotel implodes though. Because of its location amidst the dense, downtown landscape the building will be taken apart piece by piece.
As the its shuttering day inched closer, only 3 floors remained open and a dwindling 200 employees worked in the hotel and its restaurants.
Many of the Grand's employees have worked there for decades; Loge said 30-50 years is pretty standard, and one Bell Captain has been there for 54 years.
"We're not a young, trendy hotel," Loge said.
He said the hotel has maintained the old-school mentality: be loyal to employees and they'll be loyal to you. Many of these maids, concierges and other rank and file workers were hired in an era where personality counted for more than skills. Now, the job market looks a lot different. And the hotel teamed up with the city to provide options for the employees who will now be out of a job.
Employees can choose either to take a severance package or to return with their seniority status when the new hotel opens in five years. For many older employees, this has encouraged them to take a well-deserved retirement. One young busser at the hotel's City Grill said he's decided to go back to school, and will try and return when the new hotel opens.
Other employees are on the job hunt and will take advantage of the job fairs and resume-building classes put on at the hotel.
Angela Reid and Gonzalo Martin help employees prepare for interviews, fill out job applications online and acclimate them to the tough new realities of job hunting.
The resume is just a first step, but learning how to market yourself is an ongoing effort.
"It's more like a process," Reid said.
The destruction of the hotel wont begin until nearly Spring of 2012, Loge said. In the meantime, all assets that can be sold will.
At a town hall meeting last year, Korean Airline's chairman Y.H. Cho said the Wilshire Grand's infrastructure was obsolete and the rooms, not functional.
"For everything there is a season, and this grand hotel’s season has come to an end," he said.
Ken Williams on December 20, 2011, at 07:04PM – #1
Not a young trendy hotel? Is that what you think this city needs? Then Korean Airlines, I see you'll be responsible for tearing down more historic buildings in Los Angeles. Because you are not from here, you have no attachment for any of our cultural history. You are why we Americans are starting to really resent immigrants. I think that when outsiders (immigrants) buy and then want to tear down our buildings, the city should allow the citizens of the city to vote on whether we want OUR building torn down by outsiders.
Mikecz on December 20, 2011, at 07:59PM – #2
Well, it's not "our" building. You're comment is unbelievably racist. The Wilshire Grande has seen better days. Yes, there have been some truly regrettable demolitions of our cultural history, but this is not one of them. Part of what makes a city alive is change. Some change is progress and some change is not. The Wilshire Grande is going out in style. I am a native Angelino and I have seen more change than you can imagine. I am looking forward to a new upscale hotel and the jobs it will provide.
Dion on December 20, 2011, at 08:25PM – #3
Exactly Mikecz. Cant wait for the new towers.
derblut on December 20, 2011, at 10:21PM – #4
@Ken Historic?? I would normally agree with you, but this building really has nothing going on architecturally. All the history of this particular part of downtown was bulldozed a long time ago in the name of progress.
Good riddance. Can't wait for the new one!
Downtowncommuter on December 21, 2011, at 09:24PM – #5
Ken Williams is 100 percent right.
Case in point: Another legendary hotel that recently met the wrecking ball...the Ambassador Hotel.
The damn ferriners who tore that beauty down should have been thrown onto the first slow boat to China.
Oh, wait, what's that you say? Our own LAUSD is responsible?
Well, as Ken Williams' favorite Governor would say, "Oops."
John G on December 21, 2011, at 10:11PM – #6
History in Los Angeles is in the making again...
Can't wait for the new two towers!
STARCHY on December 22, 2011, at 11:30AM – #7
well first of all "(Loge cited) the hotel's lack of central air as it's central reason for demolishment instead of renovation" is preposterous. why even attempt to mitigate any kind of backlash with such a weak and unsubstantiated claim? that alone makes me suspicious of their motivations and decision process.
what guarantees does the city of LA have that Korean Airlines will carry through with their ambitious plans? Five years from now we could be looking at another hole in the ground, with hundreds of lost jobs, and thousands of cubic yards of construction debris in our landfills. How does that make sense? This building is not obsolete. Significant or not, the existing structure represents a viable asset that should be utilized and improved, not plowed under for the whims of fleeting fashion.
LAofAnaheim on December 22, 2011, at 02:29PM – #8
Ken Williams: "Not a young trendy hotel? Is that what you think this city needs? Then Korean Airlines, I see you'll be responsible for tearing down more historic buildings in Los Angeles. Because you are not from here, you have no attachment for any of our cultural history. You are why we Americans are starting to really resent immigrants. I think that when outsiders (immigrants) buy and then want to tear down our buildings, the city should allow the citizens of the city to vote on whether we want OUR building torn down by outsiders."
How is this OUR building? Who's name is on the Title of Deed? Oh wait, not US, but Korean Airlines. We're not a 100% socialistic country where every building is owned by us.
Oh and if you resent immigrants, I hope you hate all those jobs and development in Little Tokyo, Koreatown, Thai Town, Chinatown, etc.. yeah, because all of that is racist as well. That means every single city in the darn world is racist. Any city that has foreign investors.
Obviously, you do not understand how world economics works anymore...
And yes, your comment is racist.
Militant Angeleno (@militantangleno) on December 22, 2011, at 10:51PM – #9
Haha, Ken Williams is too dumb to know the difference between an "immigrant" and an "expatriate."
James Fujita on December 23, 2011, at 01:24PM – #10
It would be awesome if they found a way to link the new towers with 7th/ Metro Center subway station next door.
Even just a direct Metro Rail entrance would be nice.
Tom Schmidt on December 23, 2011, at 03:40PM – #11
"Case in point: Another legendary hotel that recently met the wrecking ball...the Ambassador Hotel.
The damn ferriners who tore that beauty down should have been thrown onto the first slow boat to China."
Funny, I thought LAUSD had bought the Ambassador and turned the site into a high school. Some strange-looking foreigners, if you ask me. I just love it when xenophobes make ignorant racist remarks without any regard to the truth. But that's just me.
John G on December 23, 2011, at 07:12PM – #12
Starchy: "This building is not obsolete. Significant or not, the existing structure represents a viable asset that should be utilized and improved, not plowed under for the whims of fleeting fashion."
Here are some excerpts about this property from the L.A. Times:
The hotel owners had previously considered simply renovating the hotel while continuing to book guests, but they found that the 1950s design was so inefficient that it made more sense to replace the aging facility with a modern hotel with more efficient air-conditioning and heating systems, said Marc Loge, a hotel spokesman.
"There was no alternative to do this piecemeal," he said.
Well Starchy, according to the owners this building was obsolete to them. A central air ventilation system is an integral part of a building's environmental system. And its not just the A/C, but the age and overall design of the building for its intended purposes. Unless you have the money to fork over and do this project yourself, let the professionals do their jobs.
The real fleeting fashion is your romanticized Nostradamus outlook of this place. You want guarantees? Go buy a crystal ball...
Downtowncommuter on December 23, 2011, at 08:24PM – #13
Tom Schmidt needs to learn when someone's pulling his leg. But that's just me.
Vero Queero on December 27, 2011, at 08:09PM – #14
1952...isn't that when asbestos was popular? I wonder what hazards we'll be exposed to as they tear it down. After that part passes, I look forward to the new towers, but 2016? Jeez! I agree with mikecz, the current building is not architecturally redemptive. I love James Fujita's suggestion of a portal to the 7th St Metro stration, I hope the right people read this.
Morthos on January 25, 2012, at 09:02PM – #15
Ok, heres the deal. The wilshire grand hotel that is currently sitting there sucks, because it is boring and ugly, however, it is still a perfectly functional building. The new design for the towers is absolutely dull, nothing about them says "LA", and there is nothing at ALL that makes them individual, just a couple more shiny...things. I say that if they want to build those lame things, theres a perfectly good parking lot on 8th and figueroa (since they are so wet over building it on fig) that they could put those two stupid things on, and take the wilshire grand and use it for offices or apartments or a massive cheeseburger factory or whatever they feel like. You could argue and disagree with me, but you would be wrong.