[QUOTE=tovangar2;5936751]The Afton Arms (6141 Afton Place at El Centro, Hollywood) rivals even the Alexandria Hotel for faded glamour, murders, drug-deals-gone-wrong and a clinging rep for
noir. Persistently, but implausibly, rumored to have been built at the behest of Joseph P. Kennedy for Gloria Swanson (she was said to have frequented the only two-story apartment in the building, a luxe space with a spiral staircase). Gracious, beautifully-appointed apartments with dressing rooms and luxurious Batchelder-tiled bathrooms, together with spacious, light-filled hallways (courtesy of each apartment's French front door) made the place, nicknamed the Malaga Castle, a highly desirable address for actors and directors working at nearby Columbia, RKO and Paramount. Dumbwaiters ferried meals to residents from the basement kitchens. In 1947 the Hollywood Ten used the Grand Ballroom for meetings to plan their response to HUAC. After hitting a real low in the 1970's (unfortunately the time I knew it), the Afton Arms is struggling back. Designed by Leland Bryant in 1924, five years before he did the Sunset Tower/Argyle/St James Club. Historic Cultural Monument #463.
Afton Arms (Leland Byant, 1924)
the city project/flickr
6141 Afton Place, at El Centro
panoramino
allenellenberger.com
ecru64/flickr
the discreet side door
hollywoodrounder
Gloria Swanson, 1919
lolitaclassics
7 of Ten
spartacus
Stars march in support of the Ten
truthdig
My first apartment was at the Afton Arms when I moved to Hollywood in 1976. Looks much nicer now.