The Dunbar
*This date celebrates the opening of the Dunbar Hotel of Los Angeles in 1928. Built by John Sommerville, it stands today at 4225 S. Central Avenue in Los Angeles.
Originally called the Hotel Sommerville, it opened with an attendance of over 5,000 people. Because of the stock market crash of 1929, it was sold and renamed the Dunbar Hotel after the Poet Paul L. Dunbar. At one time, it was a very fashionable hotel and was the site of the first NAACP national convention to be held in the western region of the United States.
The Dunbar was the most popular Jazz and Blues scene in Los Angeles for more than 20 years.
Guests such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Langston Hughes, and W. B. Du Bois frequented it.
Dunbar Hotel
4225 South Central Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90011-3000
(323) 234- 7882
