Is There A Casino Near Alexandria La
Louisiana's premier casino resort features a 100,000 square foot gaming floor, luxurious hotel rooms, a luxury RV resort, fabulous restaurants, live entertainment and more. Alexandria is a city in and the parish seat of Rapides Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies on the south bank of the Red River in almost the exact geographic center of the state. It is the principal city of the Alexandria metropolitan area (population 153,922) which encompasses all of Rapides and Grant parishes. Our hotel puts you near the best attractions around this historic city. Explore the Alexandria Museum of Art, Louisiana History Museum, or bring your kids to the T.R.E.E. House children’s museum. There are also a number of historic homes nearby including Arna Bontemps African-American Museum, the Kent Plantation House, and Bennett Plantation. This is a very beautiful plantation home with large majestic oak trees that is located in Alexandria near the England Air Park. This home was originally built in 1870 and the latest alteration to the home was completed in 2008. The Hotel Alexandria is a historic building constructed as a luxury hotel at the beginning of the 20th century in what was then the heart of downtown Los Angeles.As the business center of the city moved gradually westward, the hotel decayed and gradually devolved into a single room occupancy (SRO) hotel housing long-term, low income residents and gained a reputation for crime and being unsafe.
| Hotel Alexandria | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Location | 501 South Spring Street, Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Coordinates | 34°02′50″N118°14′59″W / 34.047222°N 118.249722°WCoordinates: 34°02′50″N118°14′59″W / 34.047222°N 118.249722°W |
| Opening | February 12, 1906 |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 12 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | John B. Parkinson (original building), Parkinson & Bergstrom (1911 addition) |
| Developer | Bilicke-Rowan Company |
The Hotel Alexandria is a historic building constructed as a luxury hotel at the beginning of the 20th century in what was then the heart of downtownLos Angeles. As the business center of the city moved gradually westward, the hotel decayed and gradually devolved into a single room occupancy (SRO) hotel housing long-term, low income residents and gained a reputation for crime and being unsafe.
Due to its elegant design and the fact that its public rooms sat disused for decades, it has been the site of countless film shoots, and its iconic Palm Court ballroom is a protected Los Angeles landmark. As the area was revitalized in the first decade of the 21st century, the building found itself at the heart of this and has recently been remodeled as apartments. The building continues to advertise itself for movie locations and social events.
Early years[edit]
The Hotel Alexandria, designed by architect John B. Parkinson of the firm of Parkinson & Bergstrom and constructed by developers Albert Bilicke (1861–1915) and Robert Arnold Rowan (1875–1918), opened on February 12, 1906 as an 8-story luxury hotel at the southwest corner of Spring and 5th Streets in downtown Los Angeles.
Its popularity resulted in Parkinson & Bergstrom designing a twelve-story addition, which was built behind the original building in 1911. Bilicke died in 1915 when he went down with the ocean liner RMS Lusitania. Rowan died not long after. Their widows, Gladys Huff Bilicke and Laura Schwarz Rowan, sold the hotel in 1919 to the builders of the nearby Ambassador Hotel, and the Alexandria was for a time part of the Ambassador Hotels System.
The hotel was the most luxurious in Los Angeles for a number of years until the construction of the Biltmore Hotel three blocks west in 1923. The Ambassador Hotels System sold the hotel in 1927, and it was sold again in 1930, before going bankrupt and closing in 1932.[1]
The hotel's gold leaf ceilings, furniture, chandeliers and other fittings were sold in 1934 to pay off debts. The hotel was sold again in 1937, to film producer Phil Goldstone, who renovated and reopened it. At this point, the original two-story lobby was cut into two rooms, a mezzanine ballroom with the decorative ceiling from the original lobby and a modern art deco lobby below. The hotel changed hands multiple times after World War II. It was acquired by real estate developer S. Jon Kreedman in 1961, who renovated it in 1970 in a faux-Victorian style.[1][2]
Decay[edit]
The Palm Court, by the early 1970s, was in relatively good shape, and was declared as a city historic-cultural landmark on March 3, 1971. By this time, there had been a gradual westward movement of the entire downtown business district. The old heart of Los Angeles along Broadway was abandoned and a new downtown grew up west of the Biltmore along Figueroa. The hotel was gradually transformed into a Single Room Occupancy or SRO hotel, housing long-term low-income residents. Its location near Los Angeles's Skid Row meant that it had long since ceased to attract overnight guests. During this period the building became notorious for drug crime and its generally dangerous character.
Rebirth[edit]
In 2005, as the area around the hotel was gradually transformed with the conversion of numerous buildings to expensive lofts, the new owners of the hotel converted it permanently into an apartment building. Remodeling was conducted gradually, as short-term tenants moved out. The building today contains a mix of market rate and subsidized housing.[3] The building was declared a historic place.[1][4] Its elegant ballrooms are frequently rented for events, filming and weddings.[5] From 2010-2014, its lobby featured The Gorbals, a restaurant run by Top Chef winner Ilan Hall.[6]
Is There A Casino Near Alexandria La Louisiana
Phantom Wing[edit]
The Hotel Alexandria has an additional wing, on the 5th Street side, that is no longer part of the hotel. It was built by local businessman William Chick, who owned the land, in conjunction with the main hotel in 1905.[7] It mirrors the main hotel's design. Each floor offered guest rooms on a hallway that connected to the hallways of the Alexandria.
When the wing's new owners came into conflict with the owners of the Alexandria in 1938, the Alexandria simply bricked up the hallways on all seven floors at the end of their property, making the hotel rooms in the smaller wing completely inaccessible, as Chick had not constructed stairs or an elevator in his wing, relying on those in the main hotel. The retail spaces on the ground floor remained in use over the ensuing years, while the hotel rooms sat as largely untouched time capsules.
The entire building was finally sold in 2012 for conversion to condos, with no connection anymore to the adjacent Alexandria Hotel.[7]
Is There A Casino In Alexandria La
Film location[edit]
The hotel has played host to countless film shoots. Its ornate public rooms, marble staircases and decaying grandeur have made it a favorite of movies, music videos, television commercials and fashion shoots. In David Fincher's Se7en (1995), it served as the residence of the killer, John Doe, for a lengthy chase sequence through much of the hotel. Other films shot in the Alexandria include A Midnight Romance (1919), Dreamgirls (2006), Water for Elephants (2011), Spider-Man 3 (2007), and Domino (2005).
References[edit]
- ^ abc'CHC-2013-1551-HCM: Approval of Expansion of Historic-Cultural Monument #80 (Palm Court) to Include Alexandria Hotel and Additions 501 S. Spring Street'(PDF). City of Los Angeles. August 12, 2013. Retrieved July 31, 2018.
- ^'Grand Hotel All Spit and Polish'. News-Journal. Mansfield, Ohio. August 26, 1970. p. 5. Retrieved August 31, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^'Residences at Hotel Alexandria'. Affordable Housing Online. Retrieved July 31, 2018.
- ^'Alexandria Hotel'. Los Angeles Conservancy. Retrieved July 31, 2018.
- ^'Venues at the Alexandria: Cocktail Lounge, The Palm Court, The King Edward, The Mezz'. The Alexandria Ballrooms. Retrieved July 31, 2018.
- ^Kang, Matthew (October 30, 2014). 'The Gorbals Moving Locations in Downtown, Changing Menu to Mostly Vegetables'. Eater Los Angeles. Retrieved July 31, 2018.
- ^ abVincent, Roger (October 24, 2012). 'In downtown L.A., sealed-off hotel rooms offer peek into the past'. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 31, 2018.