A 120-year-old shingle-style house that was the centerpiece of the Hollywood Center Motel, a vacant but historic site on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles that was the backdrop for movie scenes and a hangout for rock stars, has been destroyed in a fire, officials said.
On Sunday around 4:30 a.m., firefighters responded to reports of a rubbish fire at the motel site. They arrived to find the main structure, a boarded-up, three-story building dating to 1905, engulfed in flames, Capt. Adam VanGerpen of the Los Angeles Fire Department said in video footage from the scene that the department shared on YouTube.
Firefighters could hear someone inside the dilapidated building calling for help, and rescuers guided a man down a ladder to safety, Captain VanGerpen said. The person they rescued, a 42-year-old man, was taken to a hospital in stable condition, he said, and two other people who emerged from the back of the structure wandered off.
It took 70 firefighters an hour and 12 minutes to knock down the fire.
In an interview on Tuesday, he said it was the fourth time in recent months that firefighters had been called to the site. After the fire was extinguished, the building was torn down because it was structurally unstable. “As soon as we leave, sometimes people will go back in there,” he said.
The cause of the fire is under investigation, he said.
In a region still recovering from wildfires last year that destroyed buildings that symbolized the architectural legacy of Los Angeles, the loss hit hard. Preservationists said the city’s Cultural Heritage Commission voted on Dec. 4 to consider the site as a potential landmark as part of the city’s architectural and cultural legacy.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
Already a subscriber? Log in.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.