LAPL
1942: At its peak of rooms. I still would like to know more about the "auto entrance direct to
the hotel lobby"....
3940-- you're amazing... as more of an armchair explorer of old L.A., I'm deeply impressed with your intrepidness...intrepidation?... Anyway, thanks for those pictures. You can get an idea of the tunnel's onetime grandeur, the marble panels and cornice.... I'm sure the pipe came later.
Now, of course, I must figure a way to make good on my offer of dinner at a defunct Restaurant Row "eatery" (I hate that word--think it's stomach-turning--but can't think of another synonym for "restaurant"... but I digress). Perhaps the next time I'm in L.A. we can meet--I can accompany you on a daring underground adventure--and we can have a glamorous evening at Philippe's on me--still a noirish experience in the evenings, at least I like to think so. I make it a point to go when I'm out there.
Horthos-- very glad to hear that the Rosslyn actually may be habitable now. That 2001 article was hair-raising....
Here's another underground passage you might look into. I know we covered a pedestrian subway that once ran under Olympic (or Pico?) in Mid-City, but I can't find it now. Here's another one in Beverly Hills. The pic is labeled "Wilshire and Rexford, 1928." No evidence of it in Google Street View....
USCDL