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Article snippet: “It must have been marvelous when the century was young,” Eve Babitz wrote of the Garden of Allah hotel in 1977. By the time Ms. Babitz — whose frothy, witty, cutting books about Los Angeles have gained a new cult following since being recently reissued — was writing about the famed Hollywood hotel, it had already been demolished, bulldozed in 1959 to make way for the Lytton Savings bank. Then the bank was demolished to make way for a shopping center on the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Laurel Avenue. It, too, may soon be taken down so that Frank Gehry can lay the foundations for a sprawling glass-and-metal mini-village, the plans of which include two residential towers, a shopping center and communal green space. Mr. Gehry has said that he kept the spirit of the original Garden of Allah in mind when designing the project. As he told Architectural Digest: “I wanted to capture the feeling of that place, which was vibrant and memorable.” Los Angeles often has a short memory when it comes to preserving historical sites, but there is a persistent sense of romance that swirls around its hotels, even those that no longer exist. Perhaps this has something to do with the fact that Los Angeles began as a transient industry town — actors, writers and filmmakers would pass through and do long stints at hotels while on seasonal studio contracts. Those temporary lodgings often became roiling social clubs, and the Garden of Allah was a prime example. The stories about the hot... Link to the full article to read more