It was also home to the Cocoanut Grove nightclub, a premier Los Angeles night spot for decades; and host to six Oscar ceremonies and to every United States president from Herbert Hoover to Richard Nixon.

The Santa Barbara property burned down soon after on April 13, 1921, the Alexandria left the chain in 1925, while the Ambassador Palm Beach joined in 1929.

For decades, the hotel's famed Cocoanut Grove nightclub hosted well-known entertainers as patrons and/or performers, such as Lucille Ball, Shirley Bassey, Vikki Carr, Charlie Chaplin, Ray Charles, Nat King Cole, Natalie Cole, Perry Como, Bing Crosby, Dorothy Dandridge, Sammy Davis Jr., Douglas Fairbanks, Shep Fields,[6] Henry Fonda, Sergio Franchi, Clark Gable, Judy Garland, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman, Cary Grant, Merv Griffin, Dick Haymes, Katharine Hepburn, Lena Horne, Evelyn Knight, Liberace, Little Richard, Martin and Lewis, Liza Minnelli, Marilyn Monroe, Mary Pickford, Richard Pryor, Ginger Rogers, Norma Shearer, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Yma Sumac, The Supremes, Gloria Swanson, Norma Talmadge, Spencer Tracy, Rudolph Valentino, Vivian Vance, Veloz & Yolanda,[7] John Wayne, Nancy Wilson, Anna May Wong, Loretta Young, and many others.

The Cocoanut Grove was aptly named, guests agreed as they were escorted by the maître de and captains down the wide plush grand staircase...

Stars twinkled in the blue ceiling sky, and on the southernmost wall hung a full Hawaiian moon presiding over a painted landscape and splashing waterfall.

[11] As Burk recalled, the famous artificial palm trees that adorned the Cocoanut Grove were left from Rudolph Valentino's 1921 silent romantic drama film The Sheik.

"[12] On June 5, 1968, the winner of the California Democratic presidential primary election, United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy, gave a victory speech at the Ambassador Hotel to supporters.

[8] After the speech in the Embassy Room, Kennedy was shot three times along with five other people in the pantry area of the hotel's main kitchen soon after midnight.

During the demolition of the Ambassador Hotel in late 2005 and early 2006, portions of the area where the 1968 shooting occurred were eliminated from the site.

The Location Managers Guild organized an event together with the Jefferson High School Academy of Film and Television in March 2005, entitled Last Looks: The Ambassador Hotel.

On September 10, 2005, a final public auction was held for the remaining fittings in the hotel's parking lot,[18] with demolition commencing soon afterwards.

Studies by the LAUSD determined that the integrity of the Cocoanut Grove was weaker than anticipated and that they could neither use it within the planned school nor move it without risking its destruction.

Litigation between the district and the Los Angeles Conservancy, which had sought to preserve the hotel, was settled out of court on December 18, 2007; demolition began on January 22, 2008.

[23] In the 1980s and early 2000s, the hotel was filmed in Beverly Hills, 90210; Blow; Catch Me If You Can, Forrest Gump; The Italian Job; Mafia!

[citation needed] The last project filmed in the Ambassador Hotel's kitchen was "Spin the Bottle", a 2004 episode of the TV series Angel.

[citation needed] The hotel served as the filming location for the video of the 1997 Marilyn Manson single "Long Hard Road Out of Hell," off the soundtrack for the Todd McFarlane motion picture Spawn.

[27] In November 1997, punk-rock band Green Day filmed the video of the song "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" in the hotel.

[28] Also on October 29, 2002, rock band Linkin Park held their press photo shoot for their album Meteora at the hotel.