Posted by Jack Fox (216.175.124.64) on July 30, 2002 at 14:57:14:
In Reply to: Dubious? Yes. posted by Dan on July 30, 2002 at 04:39:37:
Dan
I reaction to your feeling attacked. This time I
understood where you are coming from. I suggest
that you look at things from the viewpoint of a
restorer...rather than just with the casual eye.
Of course the Ambassador has seen better..that is
why it closed in the first place. Like you said,
exterior actually looks quite nice...I would suggest
that you start by seeing what is already in a nice state
of repair, and then dream and wander about how you
would fix the place if given the opportunity. While
your comments did anger some (including myself initially)
I took the time to read and understand your latest
comments, and I could easily figure out where you
were coming from. I think that you went in to the building
(and I'd really like to know how you gained entry) and
expected the place to still be in it's grandeur...
after 11 years of non-use, AND some forty years of active
service as a hotel. Just as people change over the years
building evolve as well. This is what restoration is
all about. You take the walls an the floors and the ceilings
and you treat them like a living canvas ready to become
art. I guarantee you that if the hotel vanishes and a school
and a strip mall replace it...the empty Ambassador Hotel
will have seemed like a dream compared to the problems that
Wilshire Blvd will become (as if it is not bad enough
already!).
Also, I noticed that a few people out there really did become
a bit un-nerved by your comments. I apologize for my personal
comments as well, and I think I actually reacted to your
latest comments in a more appropriate way. I am an
amateur writer, a historian, and an architecture buff. I really
really want the hotel to be restored as a hotel...and I would
not have a problem volunteering time (possibly as a painter) to
help the project get underway. I am also a fairly good Swing Dancer
(Jitterbug, Charleston, etc)...and one of my dreams is dancing
to a live orchestra (Glenn Miller?) in the RESTORED Cocoanut
Grove.
One more thing....did you take any photographs of the interior (I have doubts
that your were allowed to) and just who did let you in?
Jack Fox