The Dunbar hosted Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Lionel Hampton, Count Basie, Lena Horne, and many other jazz legends.

No longer a hotel, the building was renovated in the 2010s and is now part of a larger residential community named Dunbar Village.

[7] In 1929, when Oscar De Priest (the first African American to serve in Congress in the 20th century) visited Los Angeles, he was met at the station "by a large delegation of colored people, who formed a parade and escorted him to the Dunbar Hotel.

[7][9] The lobby was said to look like "a regal Spanish arcade, with open balconies and steel grillwork, as opulent as the Granada Building at Lafayette Park.

"[3] Unlike earlier segregated hotels and boarding houses, the Somerville (and later the Dunbar) offered luxury amenities – a restaurant, cocktail lounge and barbershop.

[12] With ownership being restored to an African-American, the "debilitating impact of John Somerville's loss was reversed, and the hotel once again became the gem of black Los Angeles.

At the Dunbar Hotel ... you could dance to the sounds of Cab Calloway, laugh till your stomach hurt with Redd Foxx and maybe, just maybe, get a room near Billie Holiday or Duke Ellington.

"[17] In 1940, radio comedian Eddie "Rochester" Anderson used the Dunbar as his headquarters while "campaigning" for the honorary seat of "Mayor of Central Avenue.

"[18] The Dunbar also became the place where African American political and intellectual leaders and writers, including Langston Hughes, W. E. B.

The nightclub at the Dunbar was the home-away-from-home for, and the stage for performances by, artists including Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Louis Jordan, Count Basie, Lionel Hampton, Lena Horne, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Cab Calloway, and Nat King Cole.

[22] "Jack Johnson ... ran his Showboat nightclub in one corner, and black bands practiced on the mezzanine for acts across town later that night.

"[17] The hotel was also popular with the white community, and many from Hollywood spent their Saturday nights at the Dunbar and surrounding clubs.

"[19] Musician Jack Kelson recalled the sidewalk in front of the Dunbar as the most desirable place to hang out on the city's coolest street.

"[23] Another writer recalled the area around the Dunbar as "a place where people love to congregate and have a good time, check out the new models and pick up on the latest lingo.

"[11] The Dunbar built a reputation in the 1930s as "the symbol of L.A.'s black nightlife," as "regular jamming sessions and meetings in the hotel lobby elevated the structure to a practically mythical status.

I remember a chauffeur would drive Stepin Fetchit, the movie star, up to the curb in a big Packard, and he'd look out the window at all the folks.

He recalled the Dunbar as "jumping" with loads of people trying to get a glimpse of the celebrities, and parties thrown by Duke Ellington and his guys with "chicks and champagne everywhere.

"[15] For a brief period during the Great Depression, the Dunbar was converted into a hostel for members of the Peace Mission Movement of Father Divine.

[13] The Peace Mission Movement, run by Father Divine, operated a multi-racial religious colony at the Dunbar, with members using the dining room (formerly the site of a cabaret) for Holy Communion ceremonies.

[25] The Dunbar was sold to the Nelson family in the late 1930s, and it resumed its role as the cultural center of the Los Angeles black community.

[16] That year, a plan was announced to convert the Dunbar into low-income housing units with a museum of black culture on the ground floor.

[7] Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley attended the rededication ceremony and praised the efforts to "breathe new life and vigor into this magnificent hotel.

The Dunbar was in such disrepair pigeons and rats were living in the vacated apartments and drug dealing was prevalent in the area some time after that.

After the city foreclosed on the property, in partnership with Coalition for Responsible Community Development was selected through a competitive bidding process to redevelop the Dunbar Hotel.

The new owner installed a state-of-the-art camera system to help deter the rampant criminal activity occurring in the buildings.

Preserving Dunbar Hotel's historic brick facade, grand entry and lobby, the new design provides 41 residential units of affordable housing for seniors with amenities that include a community room, communal kitchen, media lounge, billiard table, library area and fitness room.

"Dunbar Village will preserve our shared history, create quality jobs for local youth, and offer much-needed affordable housing for families and seniors.