Aloha Apartment Hotel, Los Angeles California

Date added: February 07, 2025

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The Aloha Apartment Hotel is a multi-family, residential hotel building. Built during a time of rapid residential and commercial growth of Hollywood and the motion picture industry, this type of building was an architectural response to a tangible need. Its construction relates to the broader commercial development in the city in the 1920s and 1930s.

Development of the Aloha Apartment Hotel

The 1919 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map shows a one-and-a-half-story, freestanding house with a one-story front porch and a freestanding rear one-story garage. The house sat in the middle of a double lot. A 1921 Baist Real Estate Atlas shows the same configuration.

On October 8^th, 1928, a building permit was issued for a Class C apartment building with 142 rooms for seventy-two families. The four-story, brick building was to be constructed at a cost of $130,000. The owner is listed as William Berkowitz and Associates and the architect is Hillier and Sheet. The prior dwelling was presumably demolished in order for the construction to be completed. When the certificate of occupancy was issued on April 4^th, 1929, the building was listed as containing fifty-two apartments and sixteen hotel rooms. Both the 1950 and 1955 Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps show the same mixed function, and list the building as containing seventy-four apartments. Although the residential hotel did not include any commercial space, period journals refer to a lobby and service rooms.

In 1929, Berkowitz sold the building to W.J. Wallace on behalf Consolidated Hotels, Inc. for $325,000. The building was listed as having seventy-four apartments, including single, double, and bachelor units. Each of the double units offered two bathrooms. At the time, Consolidated Hotels, Inc. owned over one hundred other properties with more than 10,000 rooms in the area with a value of approximately $25 million. The Aloha Apartment Hotel was one of their largest holdings. This type of ownership transfer was typical in Hollywood in the late 1920s. As the construction of new apartment buildings showed no signs of slowing, owners of existing buildings were concerned with the viability of the market and frequently sold out to larger apartment management companies, who were able to consolidate "the ownership and operation of many of the buildings in an effort to control prices."

On June 6^th, 1937, Wallace sold the building to Mr. and Mrs. L.L. Border for $185,000. The reason for the sale is not known. The listing states that the building had seventy-four residential units, consistent with the 1929 listing.

Period advertisements for the building state that it was "priced to meet the market" with bachelor, single, and double units, as well as hotel rooms. Located in the "heart of Hollywood," all units were offered by the day, week, or month. The same advertisement described a, "modern, U-shaped building affording cool, airy outside exposures. Richly furnished, twin beds. Innerspring mattresses, showers, French windows, opening onto beautiful flowered patio and many other features that please the most discriminating tastes. Switchboard, garages, parking space, incomparable 24-hour service."

Specific amenities included the lobby, maid service, and electric refrigerators. From the 1930s through 1950s, single rates ranged between $40 and $75, doubles ranged from $60 to $100 and bachelor units ranged from $30 to $55.

In reviewing period newspaper articles and census records, the Aloha Apartment Hotel was home to a large range of transient tenants, most of who remained in the building for less than a year. Perhaps not surprisingly, there was a steady stream of semi-famous actors and actresses, who called the building home temporarily. These included Academy Award-nominated Bonita Granville (d. 1988), Ethel Grey Terry (d. 1931), who appeared in over fifty silent films, Carl Gerard, married to Terry and an actor in his own right, and Beryl Mercer, another stage and film actress.

The dominant resident type, however, was the average middle-income professional. The 1930 census shows the building primarily occupied by a combination of single people and married couples, some with children. Approximately three-fourths of the residents were native to the United States and were born in a range of states, including Michigan, New York, and Colorado. The remaining residents came from several countries, including India, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Russia, Denmark, South Africa, Poland, and England. Their professions were equally varied, including nurse, dentist, teacher, film editor, writer, actor, actress, engineer, naval lieutenant, dancer, pilot, and photographer.

The 1940 census shows a similar demographic with more of the married couples listed as having children. This is in line with period advertisements, which specifically state the building located nearby Hollywood High School. The birth countries of the foreign-born residents included Russia, Ireland, South Africa, England, and Peru. The range of professions remained varied, including journalist, salesmen, chef, artist, actress, accountant, actor, musician, and army captain.

In Living Downtown: The History of Residential Hotels in the United States, Paul Groth discusses the types of residents found in typical mid-level residential hotels, a description that coincides with those who lived at the Aloha Apartment Hotel at a number of points. Groth states that the entire reason that such a building type emerged was that it "supplied housing needed for a mobile professional population that was expanding the American urban economy." The professions listed above clearly fall into this category of expanding white-collar positions. It was also an "alternative choice of residence for people whose lives did not mesh with a six- to ten-room single-family suburban house."

Brief History of Hollywood

The larger area encompassing both Hollywood and East Hollywood was settled in the late nineteenth century as an agricultural community with ranches and farms and few residents occupying the bulk of the landscape. In 1887, Hobart Johnson Whitley bought a significant portion of the area, ultimately known as the Hollywood tract, and laid out the streets. By 1900, there was a hotel, post office, and various commercial offerings, which served a population of about five hundred. Commercial development was concentrated around Prospect Avenue, later Hollywood Boulevard, with large, single-family dwellings built to the north and south.

Hollywood was officially incorporated in 1903, with a population of seven hundred, and was annexed to the city of Los Angeles in 1910, in order to gain access to Los Angeles' water supply. By that time, the population had exploded to 5,000, ushering in the first substantial wave of commercial and residential development. This development was substantially buffered by the arrival of the first motion picture studio in Hollywood in 1911. Originally concentrated in New York and New Jersey, the industry had moved west in order to exercise its independence over the Motion Pictures Patents Company (MPPC), which owned most moviemaking patents and therefore an exorbitant amount of control over which movies were made and how.

Continuing its earlier trajectory, Hollywood Boulevard was very much the main street of the area, with a prominent trolley car system that had been established in 1904. As the first commercial center outside of downtown Los Angeles, Hollywood Boulevard became the "commercial, theatrical and financial core of the movie business … ".

Over the next ten years, the population of Hollywood increased to 36,000, by which time the area had firmly shifted away from agriculture, toward commerce and the "well-publicized lures of climate, motion pictures and oil." This development primarily took the form of two- and three-story commercial buildings, restaurants, theaters, and department stores.

This population growth was only possible if the new residents could be accommodated and there simply wasn't enough square mileage in Hollywood for those residents to all be accommodated in single-family homes. Consequently, the 1920s, in particular, became a "heavy period of growth and suburbanization in Hollywood" with "entertainment industry [as] the economic engine of the Hollywood area and a key stimulant of growth and housing demand in the first decades of the 20^th Century." In 1928, $16,322,049 worth of building permits were issued in Hollywood, which was an increase of $792,253 over the previous year. When the permit for the Aloha Apartment Hotel was issued, in October 1928, it was the largest in value during that month.

This trend was occurring throughout the rest of Los Angeles, as well, which was "rapidly taking leading rank in the county with respect to its fine apartment-house facilities. More than $100,000,000 has been expended on new apartment houses here in the last five years and this year, [1929] a total of 552 permits valued at $15,107,500, were issued for this type of structure."

In general, the development pattern consisted of concentrated commercial areas along the larger streets, such as Hollywood and Sunset Boulevards, with residential buildings filling the smaller streets in between. The Aloha Apartment Hotel is located off of Sunset Boulevard on one of these smaller streets. Leland Way was subdivided in the 1910s for the construction of freestanding bungalows, which were first replaced by duplexes and apartment buildings and later by commercial buildings and apartment complexes.

The buildings in these residential areas, which provided homes for both American-born and immigrant communities, took a range of forms, including apartment houses, bungalow courts, and residential hotels, often replacing older, single-family dwellings. Apartment buildings, in particular, "filled a need for denser, less expensive housing for the large number of new arrivals to the city and for those who preferred apartment living."

This boom was cited frequently in period newspaper articles and can been seen in the extant architectural fabric, including 1721 N. Kingsley Drive (1921), Halifax Apartments (1923), The Canterbury Apartment Hotel (1927), El Cabrillo (1928), Montecito Apartments (1930), and Strathmore Apartments (1937).

Following the Great Depression, the profits of many of Hollywood's motion picture studios plummeted, leading to a wider economic downturn that brought mass unemployment, the decline of commercial activity on Hollywood Boulevard, and a precipitous drop in the construction of new multi-family housing in the area. Taking advantage of this downturn, the Aloha Apartment Hotel saw the opportunity to market itself toward middle-income tenants by providing a much-needed housing option.

After World War II, the construction of the Hollywood Freeway, the decline of the motion picture industry, and an increased interest in a more suburban lifestyle perpetuated the decline of residential Hollywood, replacing it with more tourism-focused offerings.

The Growth of the Residential Hotel in the Early Twentieth Century

Hotels, as defined by early twentieth-century standards, arose in the United States for a variety of reasons, the most common being the rapidly increasing wealth of the American elite, a general restlessness of the American population, the rise of the city center, and the phenomenal growth of the railroads.

The first hotel in the United States was the City Hotel, which opened in 1794 on Broadway in New York City. Advancements in hotels quickly followed including the first hotel with a la carte dining in the 1820s, the first modern hotel in the 1830s, and the first hotel with all private baths in 1888.

In general, there are four broad types of hotels: palace hotels, mid-priced hotels, rooming houses, and cheap lodging houses. Of these, the first two are considered hotels in the twentieth-century sense. Almost from the beginning, they catered to both temporary and more permanent residents, a trend that continued until the 1960s.

The first apartment hotel was built in California in 1905,

due to the exigencies of a rapidly growing population, becoming widely available to an economically diverse population in Hollywood itself by the early 1920s. In 1926, the Los Angeles Times observed that by the end of the following year, Hollywood would have upward of ten apartment buildings "giving hotel service." "Hotels Rising in Hollywood," Los Angeles Times, December 5^th, 1926

At the time, a hotel was defined as "any house or building, or portion thereof, containing six or more guest rooms which are let or hired out to be occupied or are occupied by six or more guests." An apartment hotel, however, was classified as a multi-family residential building that provided tourists or new arrivals in a city with living quarters, a "temporary domicile," as one writer explains, accompanied by all or some of the services typically rendered by a hotel. A number of additional characteristics of a mid-priced residential hotel put the Aloha Apartment Hotel into a larger context.

In the 1910s and 1920s, as the concept of an apartment hotel was increasing in popularity, there was significant academic evaluation of the property type. It was felt that its success was derived from,

its many advantages in comfort, convenience and economy. It combines the service secured in the better class of family hotels with the convenience of the modern small apartment. The class of service and the appointment of apartments is governed by the price paid for such accommodations, which makes this kind of living quarters within the reach of many people. Robert Carroll Cash, Modern Type of Apartment Hotels Thruout United States

Additionally, to be successful, the apartment hotel "must give comfort and congenial surroundings to people who have been separated from the home life and habits which form the foundation of our present civilization." It provided customizable conveniences while offering the privacy that many residents craved in a large metropolis.

One of the most significant delineators between a hotel or residential hotel and a standard apartment building is the presence of a full kitchen. In the early twentieth century, an apartment was defined as "families living independently of one another and doing their own cooking." As none of the period advertisements mention either a kitchen or a refrigerator or any type of cooking device, it falls squarely under the category of residential hotel. The presence of a bathroom in every unit, as opposed to down the hall, also clearly places the Aloha Apartment Hotel in the category of a mid-priced establishment, rather than a rooming or lodging house, which would not have offered such a luxurious amenity.

Architecturally, the Aloha Apartment Hotel was consistent with its immediate surroundings and the larger typology of residential hotels. The use of a Revivalist style endowed the building with a glamorous and exotic air, which spoke to the larger ethos of Hollywood and categorized the building as a residential destination.

The configuration of the building itself was also in keeping with national trends. E-, U-, or H-shaped buildings were common as they maximized the number of rooms, maximized the number of desirable rooms, and enabled the introduction of cross-ventilation and light. They were also good for older people or transplants because such apartments require minimal maintenance and the courtyards provide a forum for social interaction. They also take the "place of the individual front yards of single-family houses. Courtyard apartment complexes delicately blend into residential streets where single-family homes were more common than multifamily housing." Additionally, "as the location, density and quality of courtyard housing shifted to accommodate a growing upper-middle-class clientele" the involvement of an architect rather than just a contractor, as was the case at the Aloha Apartment Hotel, was also typical.

The concept of a courtyard building was a denser evolution of the bungalow court, introduced in California in the early 1910s. This pragmatic response is an example of how the apartment buildings of Hollywood provided for a concrete need, housing for people moving to Los Angeles and Hollywood in particular, while also meeting the expectations of those who came to the city hoping to find an "exotic, fantasy-fulfilling environment compared to what migrants left behind." In keeping with the Aloha Apartment Hotel specifically, courtyard apartments often had entrances, porches, and rooflines to differentiate the units; hard and soft landscape features in the courtyard; and were built in a style that was "reflective of an increase of movies set in exotic locales in the 1920s and 1930s.

Hillier and Sheet

Harry Hillier (1901-1981), an engineer, and E. Allan Sheet (1898-1948), an architect, formed an architecture and engineering firm in October 1927. The firm, located in Los Angeles, specialized in Revivalist apartment buildings. Other projects include a Mediterranean Revival style, 49-unit, Class A apartment building at 1716 El Cerrito (1927, demolished); 601 N. Rossmore Avenue (1927, extant); Dover Apartments at 4649 Beverly Boulevard (1928, extant); The Monarch, a 53-unit, 8-story building at Fifth and Figueroa (1929, extant); Chateau Dijon, at Fountain and Sweetzer (1930, extant); 1201 N Crescent Heights (1931, extant); and a Mediterranean Revival style, four-story apartment house at 837 St. Andrews Place (1931, extant).

Building Description

The Aloha Apartment Hotel stands at 6731 Leland Way in Los Angeles, CA. The four-and-a-half-story, U-shaped Mediterranean Revival-style building sits on a flat, rectangular parcel and is primarily clad in painted stucco. The building faces Leland Way to the south and N. McCadden Place to the west. Each elevation has a paved sidewalk with a grassy buffer and one street tree on N. McCadden Place. The interior of the block to the north and east are bounded by narrow, paved alleys with metal gates at the sidewalk.

The property is one-half block south of Sunset Boulevard and one-half block east of N. Highland Avenue. The Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment Historic District is three blocks north. The surrounding area is a combination of low-rise commercial and single- and multi-family residential buildings.

The south, primary, elevation, faces Leland Way and is composed of a recessed central block (Block A) with two flanking sections to the east (Block B) and west (Block C) along Leland Way. Block A is four bays wide and Blocks B and C are each five bays wide, with a deep courtyard separating the two.

Block A has a slightly projecting scored stucco base with the balance of the elevation also clad in stucco. A simple stucco stringcourse exists between the third and fourth floors and a simple molded cornice remains along the roofline. The two center bays project slightly from the remainder. On the first floor, the outermost bays contain two 1/1 replacement windows. The center bays contain a projecting stucco portico with a shed roof, three arched openings and metal light fixtures. Behind are three additional arched openings, flush with the facade, the outermost of which contain a 4-light wood window in an arched surround with a single-leaf glazed replacement door in the center.

On the second floor, the outermost bays contain two 1/1 replacement windows. The center bays each contain paired 1/1 replacement windows with a continuous stucco sill. On the third and fourth floors, the outermost bays contain two 1/1 replacement windows. The center bays each contain a recessed, 3-light wood casement window behind a painted metal railing. Between the fourth floor and the roofline is truncated stucco fluting and there is an inset scalloped stucco pattern between the center bays.

The south elevations of Blocks B and C are largely identical. On the first floor, the two outermost bays contain 3-light wood casement windows in arched surrounds behind metal bars. Set into the surrounds are contemporary canvas awnings. The center bay of Block B contains a recessed replacement exit door with tiled steps. A metal gate is located at the top of the steps. The center bay of Block C contains a smaller, elevated 1/1 wood window with a stucco sill. On the second floor, the two outermost bays contain 2/2 wood windows with stucco sills. The center bay contains an open fire balcony that provides access to an ornate metal fire escape. On the third floor, the two outermost bays contain 3-light wood casement windows. The center bay contains an open fire balcony that provides access to an ornate metal fire escape. On the fourth floor of Block B, the three center bays project from the remainder of the facade with an arched stucco balustrade framing the openings. An irregular balcony with metal railings projects from these bays and rests on an arched base with stucco brackets.

The first, second, and fourth bays contain a recessed 3-light wood casement window with a low, metal railing. The third bay from the west contains an open fire balcony that provides access to an ornate metal fire escape. The easternmost bay contains a 2-light replacement window above infill. On the fourth floor of Block C, the westernmost bay contains a 3-light wood casement window. The second bay from the west contains a 2/2 wood window in an arched opening. The third bay from the west contains an open fire balcony that provides access to an ornate metal fire escape. The two easternmost bays contain 1/1 replacement windows. A projecting stucco balcony with arched brackets and a metal railing extends beneath the three westernmost bays. Above the second and third bays from the west on the fourth floor is a penthouse with an arched balustrade and shallow, stucco balcony with stucco brackets and a metal railing.

Block A is recessed from Blocks B and C, creating an inner courtyard, which leads to the centered main entrance. Along Leland Way, an original metal fence with four plaster bollards with scored stucco bases separates the courtyard from the sidewalk. The courtyard itself consists of an open, brick and tile space with perimeter plantings.

The west elevation of the courtyard is seven bays wide. On the first floor, the first, second, and fourth bays from the south contain 3-light wood casement windows in arched surrounds. The third and fifth bays from the south are blind openings with recessed stucco infill. The sixth bay from the south contains a 1/1 replacement window. The seventh bay from the south contains paired 2/2 wood windows. On the second floor, the two southernmost bays contain 2/2 wood windows. The third and fifth bays from the south are blind openings with recessed stucco infill. The fourth and seventh bays from the south contain paired 2/2 wood windows. The sixth bay from the south contains a 1/1 replacement window.

On the third floor, the two southernmost bays contain 3-light wood casement windows. The third and fifth bays from the south contain small 1/1 replacement windows. The fourth bay from the south contains a large 1/1 replacement window. The sixth bay from the south contains a 2/2 wood window. The seventh bay from the south contains a paired 2/2 wood window. On the fourth floor, the first, second, and fourth bays contain 3-light wood casement windows. The third and fifth bays from the south contain small 1/1 replacement windows. The sixth bay from the south contains a 2/2 wood window. The seventh bay from the south contains a paired 2/2 wood window.

The east elevation of the courtyard is seven bays wide. On the first floor, the first, second, and fourth bays from the south contain 3-light wood casement windows in arched surrounds. The third and fifth bays from the south contain small 1/1 replacement windows. The sixth bay from the south contains a 1/1 replacement window. The seventh bay from the south contains paired 2/2 wood windows. On the second floor, the two southernmost bays contain 2/2 wood windows. The third and fifth bays from the south contain small 1/1 replacement windows. The fourth and seventh bays from the south contain paired 2/2 wood windows. The sixth bay from the south contains a 2/2 wood window. On the third and fourth floors, the first, second, and. fourth bays from the south 3-light wood casement windows. The third and fifth bays from the south contain small 1/1 replacement windows. The sixth bay from the south contains a 2/2 wood window. The seventh bay from the south contains a paired 2/2 wood window.

The east elevation of the building is ten bays wide and clad in painted brick. All openings throughout have painted metal sills. On all floors, the first, fourth, and seventh bays from the south contain paired 2/2 wood windows in a single arched opening. The remaining bays contain single 2/2 wood windows of varying sizes in arched openings.

The north elevation of the building is fourteen bays wide and clad in painted brick. All openings throughout have painted metal sills. On all floors, the first, fourth, seventh, ninth, and eleventh bays from the east contain paired 2/2 wood windows in a single arched opening. The remaining bays contain single 2/2 wood windows of varying sizes in arched openings.

The west elevation of the building, facing N. McCadden Place, is ten bays wide.

On the first floor, the northernmost bay contains a 1/1 replacement window in an arched surround. The second, fourth, and eighth bays from the north contain 1/1 replacement windows.

The third bay from the north contains an elevated and recessed, single-leaf replacement metal door located behind a metal security door and up three tile steps. The opening is surrounded by stucco quoins. The fifth, seventh, ninth, and tenth bays from the north contain 3-light wood casement windows in arched surrounds. The sixth bay from the north contains paired 1/1 replacement windows in arched surrounds with stucco infill.

On the second floor, the first, second, fourth, ninth, and tenth bays from the north contain 2/2 wood windows. The third bay from the north contains an open fire balcony that provides access to an ornate metal fire escape. The fifth and seventh bays from the north contain paired 2/2 wood windows. The sixth bay from the north contains two small 1/1 replacement windows behind wood lattice. The eighth bay from the north contains one small 1/1 replacement window behind wood lattice.

On the third floor, the first, fifth, seventh, ninth, and tenth bays from the north contain 3-light wood casement windows. The second and fourth bays from the north contain 1/1 replacement windows. The third bay from the north contains an open fire balcony that provides access to an ornate metal fire escape. The sixth bay from the north contains two small 1/1 replacement windows behind wood lattice. The eighth bay from the north contains one small 1/1 replacement window behind wood lattice.

On the fourth floor, the first, fifth, seventh, ninth, and tenth bays from the north contain 3-light wood casement windows. The ninth and tenth bays from the north open onto an irregular balcony with metal railings projects from these bays and rests on an arched base with stucco brackets. The second through fourth bays from the north are framed by an arched stucco balustrade and open onto a continuous metal fire escape. The sixth bay from the north contains two small 1/1 replacement windows behind wood lattice. The eighth bay from the north contains one small 1/1 replacement window behind wood lattice. Small openings covered by lattice are also located above the first, fifth, and seventh bays from the north, just below the roofline.

The building has a narrow, shed roof along the west elevation and the outer portions of the south elevation. On the west elevation, the area above the second through fourth bays from the north has a secondary projecting shed roof. On the western portion of the south elevation, the area above the second and third bays from the west has a secondary projecting gable roof. On the eastern portion of the south elevation, the area above the three center bays has a secondary projecting shed roof. The remainder of the roof is flat with a shallow parapet. There is a one-story, stucco penthouse with an irregular footprint and a gable roof in the center of the north elevation and a second, smaller one-story, L-shaped stucco penthouse with a shed roof near the northeast corner of the floor plate. Mechanical equipment and solar panels are scattered throughout.

The interior of the building is largely the same on all floors. The units are arranged around the perimeter of the floor plate and are accessed by a centered, U-shaped double-loaded corridor. On the first floor, there is a lobby space in the center of the south elevation, adjacent to the primary entrance. Lobby finishes are a combination of original and replacement and include tile floors, painted plaster walls and ceilings, and painted plaster beams and moldings. In the center of the north elevation is a set of wood steps with wood railings, which access the elevated first floor. The elevated hallway is framed by wrought iron railings.

In the units, finishes include varnished wood floors, painted plaster walls and ceilings, and painted wood trim. Some of the perimeter walls are of exposed brick. The kitchens have late twentieth-century finishes and the bathrooms have largely original finishes. The hallways have varnished wood floors, painted plaster walls and ceilings, painted wood trim and flush doors, and exposed piping.

The building has three stairways, located near the center of the north elevation and at the north end of the east and west wings. Stairways are L-shaped with wood treads and risers. The center stairway has wrought iron railings and balusters. The east and west stairways have painted wood railings and balusters. There is no elevator. All circulation provides access between all floors.