Celestus A. King II, 85; Hotelman
A funeral service will be held today at 1 p.m. at Inglewood Park Cemetery for Celestus A. King II, who helped manage the venerable Dunbar Hotel in the years when it was host to nearly every prominent black visiting Los Angeles.
King was 85 when he died Sunday.
The Dunbar, at 42nd Place and Central Avenue, was home to such celebrities as Joe Louis, Lena Horne, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and Duke Ellington in an era when blacks were not permitted to stay in white-owned establishments.
King came to Los Angeles in 1937 after his uncle, James C. Nelson, purchased the hotel, named for black poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar. He remained as manager until it was sold to Bernard Johnson in 1968.
In recent years King had been involved in his son’s bail bond agency in South-Central Los Angeles.
His survivors include that son, Celestus III, four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
