Hotel Normandie

The Hotel Normandie is a historic boutique hotel within what is now Koreatown, Los Angeles. It is located at 605 S. Normandie Ave. It has 92 guest rooms and suites. It was built in 1926 in the Wilshire district in the Renaissance Revival style and was designed by Los Angeles architects Percy Eisen and Albert R. Walker.[1]

This article is about the hotel in Los Angeles, California. For the hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, see Normandie Hotel.

Author Malcolm Lowry wrote a significant portion of the novel Under the Volcano while residing at the hotel.[2] Under the Volcano is now listed at #11 on Modern Library's list of 100 Best Novels.[3]

The hotel was listed as Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #1013 in 2012 by the Cultural Heritage Commission City of Los Angeles.[2]

Hotel Normandie in the 1940s, Looking SW at the intersection of 6th and Normandie.
Fully restored lobby with original Moorish details (2016)
The rooftop sign from the 1940s, taken in 2016.
Original signage from a barber shop that once occupied part of the hotel's retail space

History

In March 1925, plans for the four story store and hotel building were prepared for Karl Elliot by Architects Walker & Eisen. It was projected to cost $200,000 and would have stores on the first floor, with a hundred rooms on the upper floors. In 1931, it was selected as the official hotel for Stanford University alumni, as well as University of Southern California and University of California Los Angeles.

In 1964, a $250,000 modernization took place, scheduled by Paul and Adelaide Stockhammer. They purchased the building from the Hotel Normandie Ltd for more than $750,000. The Stockhammers had operated hotels and motels in New York, Massachusetts and Florida, according to John Barbarey, a real estate broker who represented the purchasers.

In the late 1970s, the hotel became the Normandie Wilshire Retirement Hotel.

References
  1. http://www.hotelnormandiela.com/
  2. https://www.laconservancy.org/locations/hotel-normandie
  3. http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-novels/

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