Where Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Count Basie stayed and played: Tour L.A.'s Dunbar Hotel

Where Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Count Basie stayed and played: Tour L.A.’s Dunbar Hotel

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The Dunbar Hotel’s $30-million makeover (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Visitors wander around a courtyard during the opening of the renovated Dunbar Hotel in South Los Angeles in 2013. The hotel welcomed African Americans visiting L.A. around World War II, when segregation prevented them from staying at downtown hotels that catered only to white people.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

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A view of the lobby in 2013 while artists restore an old Southwest mural in the historic Dunbar Hotel.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Workers paint the exterior of the historic Dunbar Hotel in 2013.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Sarah Hawkins, 71, welcomes visitors to her apartment during the opening of the renovated Dunbar Hotel in South Los Angeles in 2013.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

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Visitors wave from a balcony in the atrium of the renovated Dunbar Hotel in South Los Angeles in 2013.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

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A photograph hanging on the wall at the renovated Dunbar Hotel in South Los Angeles shows Billie Holiday performing at the hotel in the 1940s when segregation prevented the legendary jazz vocalist from performing or staying at other hotels in Los Angeles.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

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The Dunbar Hotel on Oct. 6, 2008.

(Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

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An exterior view of the historic Dunbar Hotel on May 31, 2013.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Visitors tour the renovated Dunbar Hotel in South Los Angeles on June 26, 2013.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

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Visitors have a look around the renovated Dunbar Hotel in South Los Angeles in 2013.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

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A crowd is reflected in the framed photograph of jazz great Duke Ellington during the opening of the renovated Dunbar Hotel in South Los Angeles on June 26, 2013.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

By Lisa BooneStaff Writer

Jan. 29, 2016 7 AM PT

During the 1930s and ‘40s, when most Los Angeles hotels were segregated, the luxurious Dunbar Hotel on Central Avenue served as a vital center for the African American community in South Los Angeles.

“It was the heart and soul of jazz and blues on the West Coast in a time when the country was polarized and divided -- and a place African American performers could stay because no one else would let them,” City Councilwoman Jan Perry told The Times in 2012.

Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Joe Louis and Thurgood Marshall all performed or stayed there.

But over the years, the Dunbar fell into debt and disrepair and closed in 1974. In 1990, it reopened as low-income housing and, after experiencing further financial trouble, fell into foreclosure in 2008.

Today, following a $30-million renovation, the property, now called Dunbar Village, features 83 units of affordable housing, 41 of which are specifically for seniors, and a restored art deco atrium that serves as a gathering place for residents.

With the recent addition of two new, full-service grocery stores and a neighborhood city hall, the hope is that the renovated housing project, which received a preservation award from the Los Angeles Conservancy in 2014, will boost community engagement and civic pride.

In honor of Black History Month, the Los Angeles chapter of the American Institute of Architects is hosting a tour of the hotel, at 4225 S. Central Ave., at 11 a.m. on Feb. 21. Tickets are $35 for chapter members and $50 for the general public. Purchase three tickets and receive a fourth ticket free.

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