Night Clubbing With The Italian Crooners!  5/21/2023

Did You Know? - The Ambassador Hotel on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles threw open its doors on the stroke of midnight on January 1, 1921 and was described by the Jazz age novelist F Scott Fitzgerald – author of The Great Gatsby– as the "greatest, gaudiest spree in American history." There were 1,000 guest rooms and bungalows, restaurants, shops, a cinema, a "beach" and a mini golf course on the 27-acre site. The hotel's famous nightclub The Cocoanut Grove opened four months later, decorated in Moorish style and with a ceiling painted to resemble a starry sky.

There were soaring coconut palms made of papier mache and swinging from the branches were stuffed monkeys with electric amber eyes. The nightspot became an instant hit and the Hollywood elite that included Charlie Chaplin, Rudolph Valentino and Greta Garbo used it as their playground.

Minnie and Mickey Mouse were guest of honor in 1930 as Walt Disney celebrated the second birthdays of his famous and beloved cartoon characters. The actor John Barrymore, a resident like F Scott Fitzgerald, often set his pet monkey Clementine loose among the coconut palms. Freddy Martin, an American bandleader and tenor saxophonist, provided the music along with his orchestra.

Several academy Awards ceremonies were held in the magnificent nightclub and an MGM film Star Night at the Cocoanut Grove featured a galaxy of Hollywood stars singing and dancing in Technicolor. The decline of the Ambassador probably started in 1968 when Robert F Kennedy was assassinated by gunman Sirhan Sirhan in the kitchen of the hotel after he had addressed a crowd of supporters.

Did You Know? - A crooner is a singer, especially a man who sings jazz standards. Frank Sinatra was a well-known crooner. The noun crooner describes a silky-voiced singer of sentimental jazz favorites, particularly a male singer. Crooners were especially popular from the late 1920s until the early 1950s.

Did You Know? - At the end of WWII, themes in music shifted from soldiers' experiences at war to coming home, marrying their sweethearts, and returning to civilian life. The music itself also shifted, with crooners such as Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra replacing the Big Bands of years past.