Gentrification Up-Date

It's as if they've done to Hollywood what was done to Times Square except on a much larger scale & w/o any Disney involvement we're aware of. The St. Francis Hotel (not San Fran's Westin St. Francis) gone, converted to apartments. Leased apts., yet. How veddy up-scale.

Something we didn't know until we looked: James Earl Ray started thinking of assassinating Martin Luther King, Jr. while staying at the St. Francis. And he frequented the Sultan Room on the first floor. (Now we're almost sorry that in the 40 yrs. we've been in town we never stopped in for a shot & a beer. And now the bar is a yoga dump. Not calling it a studio. What the hell is that about?)

Also didn't know it was re-named the Gershwin in 2000. Out of the loop. Here's a closer shot from the evil-doing douchebags at Google.

Note that the grassy lot in the next block (at one time it had a round bldg. that housed a crummy restaurant, can't remember its original round purpose) is now apts. as well.

But what of the non-gentry? Where did they go?

From 13 yrs. ago:

From outside, the hotel appears to be a nondescript, five-story apartment building, but inside, an unusual mix of hipsters, artists, drug addicts, Satanists, drag queens, at least one “resident crack whore” (and, yes, pirates) live in perfect harmony — or as close to it as possible under the circumstances. 

Now we're almost sorry we read that story, because honor & justice require the death of squealers, finks, stoolies & informers, & the owner (at least in 2000) fits that bill.

Still, Jakob did his best to clean up his demi-hood. He fired what he refers to as the former drug-dealing/whore-pimping general manager and cleared out some of the building’s most unsavory characters, albeit in a slightly unorthodox manner. Local police were supplied with a list of residents and their room numbers, and determined which hotel dwellers had outstanding arrest warrants. “On a Sunday morning around 6 a.m., they raided the place, tore down doors and pulled people out,” remembers Jakob.

Now we see the face of gentrification. It has a toothbrush mustache under its nose, & a comb-over. Full name: Urs Jakob. An absolute pig.