Historic South-Central neighborhood of LA was home to many african-americans in the early 1900s. One of the most famous spots is the Dunbar Hotel, which is not here. Here you will find something else, but perhaps just as big! Have a seat.
The Dunbar first opened in 1928 (as the Hotel Somerville) and in the '30s and '40s, when the fancy hotels Downtown were segregated, hosted African-American greats (and their fans) including Cab Calloway, Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, and Lena Horne. Original builder John Somerville (USC's first black graduate) lost the hotel after the stock market crash of 1929 and new owners renamed it after poet Paul Laurence Dunbar. Once other hotels started taking black guests, the Dunbar fell on tough times and closed in 1974. It operated in the '90s and aughts as low-income housing.
Map of Historic South-Central:
