School Design & Construction

The $500-million Los Angeles Unified School District’s Central L.A. Learning Center No. 1 project, which includes an elementary, middle and high school, preserves the former Ambassador Hotel’s history.

By David Silva

When it was decided four years ago that the Ambassador Hotel – the storied L.A. venue where Sen. Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1968 – would soon be demolished, historical preservationists lamented that an important piece of the city’s past would be lost forever.

And even though the Southern California legend was demolished, its cultural legacy and much of its architectural character have been preserved in the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Central L.A. Learning Center No. 1, a $571-million project being built on the site of the former hotel.

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Originally called the Heritage K-12 Campus, the project includes an 83,000-sq-ft, 840-seat elementary school; 438,000-sqft, 3,440-seat middle school/high school; and 1/3-acre park along Wilshire Boulevard. Work began on the elementary school in June 2007, and it should be ready for student occupation in September. Construction of the middle school/ high school and park started in December 2007, and both should be open for business in September 2010.

The schools can’t open soon enough for the children they will serve, says Harry Drake, a principal of Pasadena-based project architect Gonzalez Goodale Architects. Some of them have never had the experience of walking to school from home.

“There’s no better way to honor the memory of Sen. Kennedy than building a school campus, especially since there are 4,400 students who all live within nine blocks of the site,” Drake says. “This is one of the most densely populated areas of Los Angeles. Until now, kindergartners have been bused out of the area. Starting in September, they’ll be able to attend a community school for the first time.”

A rendering of the middle school building.

Drake says much of the Ambassador’s iconic architecture will be preserved or reconstructed throughout the school campus. The hotel ballroom where Kennedy gave his last speech has been reconstructed to appear exactly as it did when it first opened in 1929. It will serve as the campus library.

The Ambassador’s celebrated Cocoanut Grove nightclub is being painstakingly recreated for use as the high school’s 14,000-sq-ft, 500-seat auditorium.

Another nod to the Ambassador’s history is a series of metal panels depicting celebrities who appeared at the Cocoanut Grove from 1921 to 1968. The work, designed by artist Gail McCall, will be installed along Campus Drive.

“We’re also reconstructing [the hotel’s] coffee shop, which was designed by Paul Williams,” Drake says. “Williams was a famous black architect in L.A. in the ’40s and ’50s. We were able to preserve the stainless-steel bar, and are reconstructing the booths and barstools to how they looked in the ’50s. That will be the faculty dining lounge.”

The middle school portion is getting closer to completion

The park will serve as much-needed open space and as a memorial to Robert Kennedy. Along with benches bearing information about Kennedy’s work, the park will feature a 20-ft-high by 30-ft-wide, stainless-steel wall displaying excerpts from one of the senator and presidential candidate’s most famous speeches.

“We call it the ‘Ripple Wall,’” says LAUSD senior project manager Rick Hijazi. “The excerpts are from the speech Kennedy gave in South Africa, in which he said that if enough people did good things, their deeds would cause ripples that would ultimately create a giant wave.”

The Central L.A. Learning Center No. 1 Project Team
Owner: Los Angeles Unifi ed School District
General Contractor: Hensel Phelps, Irvine
Project Architect: Gonzalez Goodale Architects, Pasadena
Steel Erector: Beck Steel, Lubbock, Texas
Electrical Contractor for elementary school: Morrow-Meadows Corp., City of Industry
Electrical Contractor for middle school/ high school: Critchfield Mechanical Inc., Los Angeles