Robert Kennedy assassinated at the Ambassador Hotel - Los Angeles, CA
Posted by: calgriz
N 34° 03.725 W 118° 17.826
11S E 380298 N 3769798
The Ambassador Hotel, where Presidential candidate Senator Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated after he won the 1968 California Primary.
Waymark Code: WM826F
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 01/12/2010
Views: 9
Source- LINK: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Robert_F._Kennedy
The Ambassador Hotel, in the pantry area of the hotel's main kitchen, shortly after midnight on June 5, 1968 and following a short victory speech in the Embassy Room ballroom of The Ambassador Hotel, the winner of the California Democratic presidential primary election, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, was shot along with five other persons. In the kitchen pantry, there is a floor brass disc were Kennedy died. Palestinian immigrant Sirhan Sirhan was arrested at the scene and later convicted of the murder. Kennedy died one day later from his injuries, while the other victims survived their wounds. During the demolition of The Ambassador Hotel in late 2005 and early 2006, portions of the area where the 1968 shooting took place were set aside and removed from the site. The portion of Wilshire Boulevard in front of the hotel has been signed the "Robert F. Kennedy Parkway"
The death of Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) coincided with the beginning of the hotel's demise, hastened by the decline of the surrounding neighborhood. By the 1970s, the gang and drug problems in the area near the hotel were already becoming severe, and worsened as time went on. Despite a renovation of the Cocoanut Grove in the mid-1970s, under the creative control of Sammy Davis, Jr., the hotel was unable to return to its former splendor, and was closed in 1989 to guests, but remained open for filming and private events.
**UPDATE 2012: The property was sold to the Los Angeles Unified School District for a new High School. Large portions of the structure was demolished for new school construction. Portions of 'The Pantry' with bronze Robert Kennedy memorial plaque were preserved and incorporated into the new structure.