In my batch of 1956 Disneyland and Mission Inn slides there were a few of the Cavalier Hotel, located at 10724 Wilshire Boulevard near Westwood Village in Los Angeles. Zooming in to see the sign:
This shot of the pool area is everything. ALMOST postcard perfect.
Look at those gals soaking up the sun, slathered in tanning oil. Yes people...oil, not lotion, back before SPF, harmful rays, and ozone had become part of our lexicon.
There didn’t seem to be too much info about this place on the net, other than this vintage card which had sold on ebay. The front:
…and the back. Apparently it was part of the Lee Hotel chain. Is that Sara Lee? Or Robert E. Lee? Inquiring minds want to know.
I also found this image of a vintage ashtray for the hotel:
Apparently the Cavalier is long gone. This is the massive building that replaced it. Sigh.
9 comments:
What a cool old place, Dave. Not many like this are left.
That pool reminds me of a vintage motel in Waikiki where we had dinner last year.
Thanks for these.
JG
that new building is soulless
Dave, my computer just got out of surgery so for the first time in a month I got to browse your photo posts. Love the D-land stuff the best ... but post what you want to and I will look!
Max - no argument there!
Welcome back, Nick - and thanks!
Lived there as a 5 year old kid for a year with my family. Tom Gries and his kids lived there as well at the time . Manager was a guy named Jim Mittendorf and receptionist was named Magda.
Was a part-time desk clerk there in the mid-70's. It's now the Park Wilshire, a 12-story monster condo, NOT the one in MacArthur Park. Interesting people (Roy Scheider, Amidou, Lee Remick, Iranian family paying in gold and smelling like livestock, Malibu owner had hot girlfriend he poached off his good-looking son -- bought her a Porsche). Walter Matthau came in, vaguely threatening me for a room number, after first calling on the phone, looking for his beautiful daughter, who had shacked up with Amidou. Fun times. No bar, thank God. I think of the place often. Life in the Fast Lane, "you can check out anytime you like...". The album came out when I was there.
I’m trying to figure out if my mom lived there in 1979/1980 before it was torn down. I’m pretty sure she did but can’t find anything. Did CTW/Children’s Television Workshop (now Sesame Workshop) put people up there in the late ‘70s/80?
I was a part timer there too in 1977. Erika Sleazak, John Heller, Bob Crane and a slew of Sasoon students were regulars.
After moving to LA from NYC, lived in the Cavalier Hotel for about five months. I was about 6 yrs old and it was 1957. The place was like new and just beautiful. Many people lived there and it felt safe and wonderful. Took swimming lessons !
It was like a dream living there. Westwood Village was equally magical.
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