The Ambassador Hotel has a history, both good and bad. Since 1921, it was the place where people would congregate, to listen to music at the Cocoanut Grove. Presidents, heads of state, movie stars and the well to do, would stay at the Ambassador Hotel, to see and been seen.
The bad thing that happened, was on the morning of June 5th 1968. Robert Kennedy, A Presidential Candidate for the Democratic Party, had his victory speech early that morning. He had just won the California Primary and on his way out of the hotel, he was shot and killed, in the pantry of the kitchen. I was not aware of this, but back in those days, the Secret Service did not protect Presidential Candidates. President Lyndon Johnson, changed that and now days, all candidates are protected.
Things were not going well for the hotel before this, but afterward, this literally killed the hotel. It remained empty for decades, until the Los Angeles Unified School District won its fight to build several campuses on the site.
What they also did, was make a pocket park in front of the school, right on the street. It is quite moving to see, with many quotes of Robert's or others speaking of him. Unfortunately, there are also homeless men living on the steps, with tents pitched and luggage hanging around. I found that very sad.
"My brother need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life, to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it."
"Those of us who loved him and who take him to his rest today, pray that what he was to us and what he wished for others will some day come to pass for all the world. As he said many times, in many parts of this nation, to those he touched and who sought to touch him: 'Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not.'"
Definitely worth a visit, if you are in Los Angeles.
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