LOS ANGELES
DOWNTOWN
NEWS
The Force of Fela! 15
PROFESSIONAL
W W W. D O W N T O W N N E W S . C O M
December 19, 2011
Volume 40, Number 51
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Memories of the Wilshire Grand
INSIDE
After 59 Years, the Landmark Hotel Is Closing. Some of the Longtime Employees Recall Visits From the Pope and Other Highlights PROFESSIONAL
Urban Scrawl on a city scandal.
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Downtown’s two powerhouse teams.
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Redrawing the Downtown maps.
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photo by Gary Leonard
The Wilshire Grand closes this week after 59 years of service. Some of the hotel’s approximately 480 employees worked there for decades.
Shifts in the restaurant sector.
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Checking out Downtown’s museums.
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by RichaRd Guzmán city editoR
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he hotel at 930 Wilshire Blvd. opened on Aug. 6, 1952. On Friday, Dec. 23, its last guest will check out. The 896-room establishment, which became the Wilshire Grand in 1999, will be demolished by its owner, Korean Air. The land on the northwest corner of Seventh and Figueroa streets will become
the site of a $1.1 billion, two-tower project. The first portion, a 45-story hotel and condominium skyscraper, is slated to open in 2015. The end of the Wilshire Grand after 59 years means that the last of the building’s 480 employees are out of a job (the hotel has actually been downsizing for several months). Although most of the union employees have been promised a position when the new hotel opens, for many it’s too long to wait. The
hotel recently hosted a job fair for its workers. Some of the employees have worked at the hotel for decades. Many call it a second home, and refer to their longtime colleagues as family. Some of them recently recounted their memories of the Wilshire Grand, detailing a mayor who wanted a bathrobe, the Pope’s luggage, broken sprinkler heads and more. see Wilshire Grand, page 8
A Visit to Santonio Claus The Return of an Imaginary Holiday Tradition of Gift Requesting by Jon ReGaRdie executive editoR
Five great entertainment options.
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n the weeks leading up to Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa, Downtown Los Angeles enjoys one of its most unique traditions: On one day in December, officials from local business and poTHE REGARDIE REPORT
litical circles dress in their finest and head to City Hall. They take a gold-plated express elevator to the mayoral suite and are put in a pen, I mean a room, with hundreds of others. One by one, they are told to get on their knees and hobble into the diamond-bedecked chambers of Santonio Claus. There, they see a joyously grinning individual sitting on a platinum throne made higher because it is placed on the backs of 12 city employees. The figure, a combination of Nero, JFK
and Dr. Seuss’ Yertle the Turtle, holds a scepter fashioned from silver and the bones of his fallen opponents. When Santonio Claus nods, the guest has exactly 39 seconds to ask for something. Afterwards, Santonio’s elves escort the visitor to a spot on the cold, hard pavement outside City Hall. Here is a glimpse of the completely imaginary visitors who came to Santonio Claus this year. Visitor No. 1: A 50-something man named Rudy M. Santonio Claus: Ho ho ha ha ha! I remember you. You’re the head of a local department. Do you still have the sense of entitlement that I gave you several years ago? I’ll answer that. Of course you do! For the love of Los Angeles, fair housing for all and Listerine Breath Strips, what do you want this year? see Santonio Claus, page 12
The Voice of Downtown Los Angeles