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Originally Posted by Beaudry
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Very interesting article, Beaudry. Where and when was it published?
Reading it made me wanna look up the Westminster Hotel. It looked like a great building indeed.
I wouldn't doubt these pics of the Westminster Hotel were posted before (I'm too lazy right now to look through this thread) but I'll post some pics anyway.
Westminster Hotel in all its glory. The caption on this photo reads ca. 1900 but judging by the women's fashions, it looks more like between 1908-1910.
USC Archive
Here's the Westminster Hotel on the northeast corner of 4th and Main, around 1888-1898.
USC Archive
That same intersection some decades later in 1924, with the Westminster looking great surrounded by those other buildings from an obviously different later era but complementing each other nicely IMO. What a hustling and bustling part of downtown that was! Within a decade or so from when this picture was taken, this area would become a seedy rundown part of downtown.
USC Archive
The Westminster Hotel being demolished, 1960.
Another piece of LA Victoriana bites the dust.
For years after the Westminster Hotel was demolished, it was a vacant lot/parking lot. However in the last few years, a structure was being built on the northeast corner of 4th and Main. It's nearly finished, a development called the Medallion. Here are some pics of it which I've ganked from another thread on these forums, courtesy of colemonkee, another SSP poster. These pics were taken March 28, 2010, according to him.
While it's nice that something has been built here, it uh, still isn't the old Westminster Hotel.