Perhaps the Los Angeles area’s earliest, best-known hotel was the 243 feet (74 meters) long, 50 feet (15 meters) wide, two stories high Convento wing of the San Fernando Mission, used by travelers on El Camino Real during the early 1800s.
As the city grew, so did the number of hotels. By the late 1800s and early 1900s the Los Angeles area offered visitors a diverse selection of accommodations. Among them were abodes that enticed the rich, the famous and the notorious.
Read MoreSooner or later each of us is tasked with escorting visitors around Los Angeles. No matter if these visitors are adventurous or timid or whether they are here on business, representing their government or simply families on vacation, when I ask, “What would you like to see?” the unvarying response is “Hollywood.” I have, hopefully, learned to mask my lack of enthusiasm.
In reality, it is the area that surrounds the intersection of Highland Avenue and Hollywood Boulevard that I am most averse to.
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