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November 22, 2009
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Ear to the Ground

A Campus Is Born on Spot Where RFK Was Shot

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Posted on Oct 14, 2009
Wikimedia Commons / Subsven

The Ambassador Hotel before its demolition and rebirth as an educational collection.

If things had worked out a little differently, the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, where Robert Kennedy was gunned down in 1968, might have become a Wal-Mart or one of Donald Trump’s gaudy creations. Instead, it is now a center of education, home to two elementary schools and, next year, the new Robert F. Kennedy High School.

Progress, sure, but there’s something sad about the passing of the Ambassador. The hotel was a Hollywood hot spot dating back to 1921. Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks cut the rug there. It was the home of the Cocoanut Grove nightclub, where Frank Sinatra and the Supremes performed. Presidents stayed there. It was the site of the Academy Awards a half-dozen times. So much history. 1921 may not be that old for America, but it’s ancient for Los Angeles.

Here’s hoping those kids who never heard of Errol Flynn learn something about the spirits haunting their classrooms.  —PS

Los Angeles Daily News:

Among obstacles that had to be overcome were Donald Trump’s dream to build five towers at the site, one of them 125 stories tall, plans by Wal-Mart to put a store at the location and a movement by the Los Angeles Conservancy to preserve the landmark.

“Robert Kennedy told us what makes life worthwhile is the health of our children and the quality of their education,” Schrade said.

Kennedy was gunned down at the Ambassador Hotel just minutes after winning the Democratic Party’s 1968 California primary, an attack in which Schrade was also wounded.

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By Kevin Gardner, October 15 at 11:25 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

It may be a bit premature, but I hope the high school will include in its ciriculum a course on non-violent conflict resolution. RFK’s death marked a sharp turn in a very bad direction for this country. For starters, half the names on the Vietnam Memorial wouldn’t be there had RFK been elected in 1968.

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By MarthaA, October 14 at 11:06 am #

It should be an honor for students to attend a school where a democratic presidential candidate, who would have been the next President of the United States,  gave his life trying to protect democracy.

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