1 of Hotel’s Last 3 Tenants Loses Fight to Stay On

One of the final three tenants at the downtown Los Angeles Clark Hotel lost his fight to remain there Thursday.

Municipal Judge L.C. Nunley ruled that Ted Stathakis, 74, must leave the 550-room hotel where he has lived for 22 years, and that owner May Wah International Enterprises has the legal right to evict him.

May Wah, a group of Chinese investors planning to renovate the hotel into a first-class tourist operation with an exhibit hall, has long sought to remove the longtime tenants.

“All of these cases are sad,” Nunley said. “I get three or four a day. I cannot decide on the basis of sad or not sad.”

“They hold all the aces,” Stathakis, a retired printer who appeared in his own defense, told the judge.

“They hold the legal aces, you’re right,” Nunley said.

An owner planning to remove rooms from the rental market has the right to evict tenants as long as laws are followed and relocation fees required by the city are paid.

Curtis Westfall, May Wah’s attorney, handed Stathakis a relocation check for $5,000 as soon as the judge handed down his decision. The company will try to help him find a place to live, Westfall said, and has set no deadline for his departure.

Two other tenants, Clarke Cothran, 67 and John Duffy, 61, are due in court in early April for similar proceedings.

Stathakis said he did not know where he would live. “I’ll wait for the marshal,” he said.