Ambassador Site
* Contrary to Shawn Hubler’s assertion (Jan. 10), the Los Angeles Unified School District does not face a stark choice between new school facilities and preservation of the historic Ambassador Hotel on Wilshire Boulevard. It can have both.
A comprehensive reuse study prepared for LAUSD indicated that LAUSD can feasibly build a school utilizing portions of the historic hotel. In all of the options studied, the costs of rehabilitation were significantly less than the costs of new school construction.
The 23.7-acre Ambassador site can accommodate some combination of a school, school district offices, new commercial development, and housing--as part of an exciting mixed-use complex using the historic hotel as a centerpiece. The large frontage along Wilshire Boulevard affords sufficient room for new retail development and a large multiplex cinema.
The Ambassador Hotel, along with the Regal Biltmore Hotel downtown, has been one of the two most historic hotels in all of Los Angeles. Its property should not be treated as if it were a vacant parcel--a blank slate to be carved up between educational and new commercial uses.
LINDA DISHMAN
Los Angeles Conservancy
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