The rundown Hollywood Premiere Motel just made history
The designation came during the July 30 city council meeting, at which everyone seemed to have a one-liner locked and loaded for the first motel to ever make the list.
'It may have a 1.7-star Tripadvisor rating, but we don't judge our landmarks by thread count,' Councilman Hugo Soto-Martinez said in a statement.
Commission President Barry Milofsky was more skeptical, saying, 'My initial response, looking at the nomination, was, really?' But in a town that lives and dies by good reviews, the motel at 5333 Hollywood Boulevard proudly defied the odds with a unanimous vote to add it to the list.
The Hollywood Premiere may be the first motel to land on the Historic-Cultural Monument list, but its architect, Joyce Miller, is only the third woman to have a building make the cut. Built in 1960, the Hollywood Premiere features 42 units and its now-iconic Googie-style neon sign. Like everything else in Los Angeles, it's served as a filming location for a wide variety of projects, including Twin Peaks, Season 3 of Fargo and the Justin Timberlake "Can't Stop the Feeling" music video.
The Historic-Cultural Monument List includes a wide variety of Los Angeles buildings, from the obvious (Griffith Park Observatory) to the French restaurant Taix and, well, the Hollywood Premiere Motel. But inclusion on the list does not automatically protect a structure from demolition or renovation. Its designation merely requires the Office of Historic Resources to review permit applications before any alterations, while an environmental review is needed before demolition can move forward.
But before you rush out to book a room at the first motel to make the Historic-Cultural Monument list, you may want to skim those TripAdvisor reviews—although, to be fair, the most recent review was written in 2018. "Looks like a snuff film set," one visitor wrote. Well, maybe what's on the outside really is all that matters. It is Hollywood, after all.
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