Dunbar Hotel, Los Angeles African-American community hub in 1930s-40s
The Dunbar Hotel is a listed historic building on Central Avenue in Los Angeles, California, originally built in the 1920s as a hotel for Black travelers. The brick facade and ground-floor storefronts are still visible from the street, giving a clear sense of its original scale and layout.
The building opened in 1928 under the name Hotel Somerville, founded by John Somerville, the first Black person to earn a dental degree in California. It was soon renamed Dunbar Hotel in honor of Paul Laurence Dunbar, a celebrated African American poet.
The hotel was a meeting point for Black musicians, artists, and business owners who traveled to Los Angeles during the 1920s and 1930s. Walking past the building today, visitors can sense how Central Avenue once served as a center of Black cultural life on the West Coast.
The building stands on Central Avenue in South Los Angeles and is easy to view from the sidewalk. Combining a stop here with a walk along the surrounding blocks helps to understand the broader history of the neighborhood.
During the era of racial segregation, the hotel was one of the few places in the country where Black travelers could stay, which is why figures such as Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, and Louis Armstrong all checked in here. It was sometimes called the Black Beverly Hills of the West Coast because of who passed through its doors.
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