Monday, April 27, 2009

Century Plaza Hotel faces demolition

The Century Plaza Hotel, 1966.  

The hotel once captured the essence of an American paradise.

By Sam Watters
 
To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, who had an office in Century City, here we go again.

In March, this column waved goodbye to the Robinsons-May in Beverly Hills. Up for the count this month is another monument in our dwindling legacy of under-appreciated midcentury modern. It is the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza hotel at 2025 Avenue of the Stars.
Minoru Yamasaki was the hotel's architect. From a childhood in a Seattle slum, he rose in a career that landed him the cover of Time. He rejected the classicism of early modernism for buildings that inspired through shape and decoration.

Century Plaza construction began in '64 and finished in '66. Alcoa supplied its new, gold-anodized aluminum to allow for maximum glass and light. To eliminate the gloomy straight halls of early hotels, Yamasaki swept the Century Plaza in a broad arc across the hilltop at the development's center. To keep the lobby open, he buried 32 shops, restaurants and a ballroom below grade.

Donald A. Robbins, senior designer for manager Western International Hotels, decorated the 800 guest rooms. Each had cutting-edge luxuries: wide sliders that opened onto balconies with an ocean or a mountain view, soundproofed walls, central air and heating, electric blankets, built-in vanities, ice machines, radios in the nightstands, and color television a decade before it reached most American homes.

Out of the box, Century Plaza became a VIP destination, where suntanned valets in Beefeater uniforms greeted the limos of movie stars, moguls and mistresses.

In the L.A. hotel tradition, the Century Plaza drove new business. It increased demand for apartments, office space, restaurants, shopping and entertainment, in and around Century City.

The year construction began on the Century Plaza, Yamasaki presented his plans for New York's World Trade Center.
 
http://www.latimes.com/features/home/la-hm-lostla25-2009apr25,0,4004631.story
 

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