>Designed by architect Robert Brown Young (1855-1914), this four-story brick hotel, occupying a corner at the intersection of 4th Street and Main Street in Downtown Los Angeles, CA, was in operation by at least 1888. It was Italianate in style, with three stories of bay windows and a notable turret rising above its corner location. Hotelier Milo M. Potter (born 1854) operated the Westminster c. 1890-1896; Potter would later manage the Los Angeles Van Nuys Hotel (c. 1896-1900) and establish the lavish Potter Hotel in Santa Barbara, CA, (1902-1903). F.O. Johnson was the proprietor, c. 1900. New management took over in 1914.
>An advertisement in the Overland Monthly of 1912 described the hotel: “The name of the Hotel Westminster is inseparably associated with the names of Los Angeles’ best people; for years it has been the rendezvoud of the most substantial among the permanent residents of Los Angeles and of the solid, well-to-do tourists. The Hotel Westminster is one of the most centrally located in the city, situated as it is at the corner of Main and Fourth streets, and on the section of the latter known as the ‘Wall Street’ of Los Angeles. From immediately in front of the door, electric cars leave for any point in the city, for the mountains or for the beaches. The larger theatres of the city are within a stone’s throw, while the shopping district is in the immediate vicinity.” (See “the Hotel Westminster, Los Angeles,” Overland Monthly, vol. LIX, no. 3, 03/1912, p. 287.) As noted in this article, The Hotel Westminster stood in the midst of the city’s financial center, and, therefore, could charge luxury prices from its business and tourist clients. It came equipped with a cafe and dining room, as well as ladies’ and gentlemen’s writing rooms.
moose098 says
>Designed by architect Robert Brown Young (1855-1914), this four-story brick hotel, occupying a corner at the intersection of 4th Street and Main Street in Downtown Los Angeles, CA, was in operation by at least 1888. It was Italianate in style, with three stories of bay windows and a notable turret rising above its corner location. Hotelier Milo M. Potter (born 1854) operated the Westminster c. 1890-1896; Potter would later manage the Los Angeles Van Nuys Hotel (c. 1896-1900) and establish the lavish Potter Hotel in Santa Barbara, CA, (1902-1903). F.O. Johnson was the proprietor, c. 1900. New management took over in 1914.
>An advertisement in the Overland Monthly of 1912 described the hotel: “The name of the Hotel Westminster is inseparably associated with the names of Los Angeles’ best people; for years it has been the rendezvoud of the most substantial among the permanent residents of Los Angeles and of the solid, well-to-do tourists. The Hotel Westminster is one of the most centrally located in the city, situated as it is at the corner of Main and Fourth streets, and on the section of the latter known as the ‘Wall Street’ of Los Angeles. From immediately in front of the door, electric cars leave for any point in the city, for the mountains or for the beaches. The larger theatres of the city are within a stone’s throw, while the shopping district is in the immediate vicinity.” (See “the Hotel Westminster, Los Angeles,” Overland Monthly, vol. LIX, no. 3, 03/1912, p. 287.) As noted in this article, The Hotel Westminster stood in the midst of the city’s financial center, and, therefore, could charge luxury prices from its business and tourist clients. It came equipped with a cafe and dining room, as well as ladies’ and gentlemen’s writing rooms.
[source](http://pcad.lib.washington.edu/building/9821/)
[Here’s](https://imgur.com/a/9i54qs0) some more photos, [here’s](https://imgur.com/a/gXx126a) the menus from a few days in 1901. [This](https://www.google.com/maps/@34.04812,-118.2472146,3a,75y,85.72h,100.97t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1so8eFl_HbezJoQhv6f4drvA!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3Do8eFl_HbezJoQhv6f4drvA%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D63.072884%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656) is the spot today. For some reason this building is a particularly depressing lose for the city of Los Angeles.
-Mamba- says
Los Angeles really messed up it’s downtown. It used to be on par with San Francisco.